An inmate died in custody at the Carter County Detention Center on Thursday morning.
Corrections officers at the detention center found 58-year-old Debra Faye Yourgulez, of Johnson City, unresponsive in her assigned cell block around 4:20 a.m. on Thursday, Carter County Sheriff Dexter Lunceford said.
Yourgulez was being housed in an open-area female dormitory at the detention center, Lunceford said. Video surveillance of that portion of the jail showed Yourgulez collapse, he added.
“There is absolutely no indication of foul play whatsoever,” Lunceford said.
The death appears to be from natural causes, but Yourgulez’s body was sent to the William B. Jenkins Forensic Pathology Center so an autopsy can be completed to determine an exact cause of death.
Yourgulez had been an inmate at the facility a number of times, Lunceford said, adding the woman suffered from some medical issues.
“It’s just a terrible thing, a tragedy,” the Sheriff said.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is conducting the investigation into Yourgulez’s death.
Officers of the Sheriff’s Department arrested Yourgulez on Monday and charged her with violating an order of protection. Yourgulez had been out on bond on a charge of aggravated assault at the time of her arrest on Monday. Her bond was revoked by order of the General Sessions Court following her arrest on Tuesday.