Aiken County officials have released the name of the inmate who died after being found unresponsive in his cell early Saturday at the Aiken County Detention Center.
The Coroner’s Office identified him as 37-year-old Kevin V. Rodriguez of Aiken, according to Aiken County Coroner Daryl Ables.
“Detention Center staff found the inmate unresponsive in his cell hanging by a sheet at 3:20 a.m.,” the coroner said in his press release Sunday. “Detention Center staff performed CPR until the arrival of Aiken County EMS, but efforts to revive the inmate were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at 5:20 a.m.”
An autopsy will be performed next week in Newberry to determine the cause and manner of death. Investigators said there were no immediate signs of suspicious circumstances. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is assisting in the investigation, which follows standard procedure for in-custody deaths.
Rodriguez had been booked into the jail two weeks ago on a charge of malicious injury to personal property. His bond was set at $1,087.50.
According to jail and court records, Rodriguez had been booked into the Aiken County Detention Center eight times in the last decade, mostly for low-level or misdemeanor offenses. He spent time in the jail in September on a disorderly conduct charge and was held twice in 2022 for probation violations. He also faced malicious injury charges in 2021 and 2018, along with older charges including failure to comply and littering.
In 2020, Aiken Public Safety charged him with indecent exposure after a neighbor reported seeing him nude inside his home near a second-story window. Reports noted that the alleged flashing occurred inside the residence.
Rodriguez’s death marks the third fatality at the detention center in the last two years. In July, 35-year-old Tonya Zorn of Warrenville was found dead in her cell while awaiting placement at a residential treatment facility. In March 2024, 34-year-old Tony Muldrow of Florence died after experiencing a medical emergency while in custody.
Sheriff’s Maj. Nick Gallam said detention officers followed procedure during Saturday’s incident.
