What happened to Ricky Dubose? Georgia man sentenced to death for killing prison guards found dead inside cell

Georgia's 29-year-old resident, Ricky Dubose, who recently received a death sentence for the murders of two prison guards during an attempted escape five years ago, died by suicide behind bars, corrections officers said.

According to sources, Ricky Dubose hanged himself to death. Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sill told The Union-Recorder,

"He committed suicide. The suicide could be done about as quickly as it took for him to murder Billue and Monica. It doesn't take long to do it. If somebody is going to do it, it can happen in a matter of seconds."

According to the sheriff, Georgia Department of Corrections personnel confirmed Dubose's death. In a news release published on Sunday, the agency omitted the cause of death.

---

Ricky Dubose was allegedly found unresponsive in his cell

According to a Department of Corrections press statement, corrections officers discovered Ricky Dubose unconscious in his cell at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson at around 4:45 p.m on Sunday. The guards started to provide aid and called for medical assistance. At 5:56 p.m, the coroner at the prison pronounced Dubose dead.

The Department of Corrections authorities said,

"Emergency Medical Services were called and life-saving measures were performed. Dubose was pronounced deceased by the coroner at the facility at 5:56 p.m. GDC, in conjuction with the GBI is conducting an investigation into the death, as standard procedure."

According to sources, Attorney Gerard Ward was saddened by Ricky Dubose's demise. He said,

"This is extremely devastating to all of us, even though I'd only known Ricky closely for about a year."

In a prison transport van in June 2017, Dubose and a fellow prisoner named Donnie Rowe overpowered two prison officers named Curtis Billue and Christopher Monica.

Dubose shot them dead with one of their weapons. After robbing a passerby, he and Rowe escaped and eventually arrived in Tennessee. According to Bedford County Sheriff Austin Swing, at the time, they kept the prisoners tied up and seized their belongings and clothes. In the end, the fugitives gave themselves up.

According to law enforcement, they turned themselves in to a local man rather than to authorities.

While both men were tried and convicted separately, Dubose received the death punishment as the actual gunman. Rowe was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole. In court, Dubose's counsel claimed that Rowe controlled their client's behavior and that their client had an intellectual disability.

Defense Attorney Gabrielle Pittman described,

"Ricky did shoot at people, Ricky did. But you know who was driving and who put the guns in his hands...that was Donnie."

However, Dubose was referred to by prosecutor T. Wright Barksdale as "an intelligent, calculated criminal."

The decision and punishment against Dubose were hailed by the families of victims Billue and Monica.