DC Man Accused Of Abducting Girlfriend Found Dead In Prison Hours After Arrest

A Washington D.C. man who was accused of abducting his girlfriend last year has been found dead in prison three hours after his arrest.

Marquez Parker, 44, was found unconscious and not breathing when officers conducted a prisoner check at the Second District cell block on the morning of Feb. 2, Washington Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said, according to WUSA9.

Emergency officers administered Narcan, started CPR and attempted to use an automated external defibrillator on Parker. However, he was pronounced dead after they could not find any signs of life. His body was moved to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Hours before he was found dead, Parker was taken into custody "without incident." There were "no physical injuries to him" during the arrest, MPD noted in a statement. The suspect appeared to be in fine health when the officers moved him to the Second District station.

Officials reportedly said they have "reasonable suspicion" that Parker suffered a drug overdose but are waiting for a report from the medical examiner's office to determine the exact cause of death. The officials could not find any drug paraphernalia at the scene, but the symptoms he was experiencing led to the assumption of overdose.

Parker's arrest stemmed from an incident that took place on July 27, 2022. Officers responded to the scene after they received a report of a man forcing his girlfriend into a vehicle at gunpoint. The unidentified girlfriend was found safe, but officials did not release further details about the case, ABC 7 News reported.

Meanwhile, Parker's death is being investigated by MPD's Internal Affairs Bureau, and an unidentified officer has been placed on "non-contact status" as part of the probe, a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) spokesperson reportedly said.

Internal affairs investigation involves the review of bodycam videos, cell block surveillance videos and interviews with the officers who arrested the man and those who were managing the cell block.

In a similar incident earlier this month, an Oregon man who was at the center of a statewide manhunt for allegedly bounding and beating a woman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an hours-long standoff with authorities. Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, died at a hospital shortly after he was taken into custody.