An inmate at the Burleigh County Detention Center has died in an apparent suicide.

Kevin Thomas Tormey, 48, died Thursday night in an apparent hanging in his cell.

Burleigh County Sheriff's Major Les Witkowski said jail staff found Tormey during a cell search around 10:30 p.m. Staff began resuscitation efforts, but Tormey was later declared dead. He said the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which will investigate the death, has a log of when Tormey's cell was last checked before he was found.

Witkowski said an autopsy was planned for Friday. BCI will interview detention center staff as well as the seven or eight inmates in the same cell block as Tormey, Witkowski said.

Liz Brocker, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office, said she could neither confirm nor deny BCI's involvement with the investigation.

Witkowski said such investigations are turned over to BCI anytime the sheriff's department feels there may be a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest in doing the investigation internally. Detention center staff are employees of the sheriff's department.

"It's easier to have someone from the outside come in and do it than have a question raised,"he said.

Witkowski said staff at the detention center do cell checks at least once an hour, but usually more often than that. After conferring with Capt. Lisa Wicks, who runs the detention center, Witkowski said officers get around the cells more often at night.

Tormey had been in the detention center since Tuesday night, when he and three other people were arrested on charges related to an alleged heroin distribution operation. He was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and ingestion of a controlled substance. The drug paraphernalia charge refers to allegations that Tormey and others had latex balloons to package heroin.

Tormey had been accused of swallowing heroin as law enforcement approached on Tuesday, leading to the ingestion of a controlled substance charge. A co-defendant, Ted Pierce, remains hospitalized after swallowing some of the drug on Tuesday.

Tormey also was facing a revocation of probation from a possession of a controlled substance conviction. He had been convicted in July of possessing Adderall, an amphetamine used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy. He received a deferred imposition of sentence.

The suicide appears to be the first by a Burleigh County inmate since 1990 and the first in the current detention center. The last known suicide was that of Shawn Ray Price in May 1990. That also was a hanging.

The current detention center has been open since September 1992. Though there have been a number of suicide attempts since that time, the inmates in those instances have been stopped by jail staff. The detention center, which has a capacity of 138, currently houses 115 inmates.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)