Purdue shooter Cody Cousins found dead

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Cody Cousins, the former Purdue student convicted of killing another student in a classroom in January, was found dead in his prison cell of an apparent suicide.

Cousins, 24, admitted to killing Andrew Boldt, and was sentenced to 65 years in prison for Boldt's murder on Sept. 19.

His attorney, Kirk Freeman, said Cousins' death proves he was "so sick he didn't know how sick he was."

Cousins had arrived at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City on Oct. 23, and was still being kept in a unit for new arrivals when he died.

Superintendent Ron Neal said Cousins was found in his cell Tuesday night with "self-inflicted lacerations to his neck and both arms."

Staff attempted CPR, but Cousins was pronounced dead at 9:20 p.m., Neal said.

An autopsy began early Wednesday afternoon, with results expected later in the day.

"It will determine what was used -- it is an apparent suicide with some lacerations and avulsions to his body from a shaving razor -- so we will look at the angle of the (cuts), the depth of them, the amount of blood that was lost and when he was last seen alive," said Laporte County coroner John Sullivan.

During the September trial, experts testified that Cousins was bipolar. Prosecutors argued Cousins had been envious of Boldt, but he shocked the courtroom when he said, "I killed Andrew Boldt because I wanted to."

Boldt was shot five times and stabbed 19 times, a murder pathologist Dr. Elmo Griggs testified as "the worst homicide I have ever seen."

Judge Thomas Busch rejected Cousins' insanity defense, saying the murder was a "violent action" and "a crime of terror."