October jail death confirmed to be overdose
Autopsy results for the October death of a man in custody at the Jackson County Detention Center confirm that he died of a drug overdose.
“Based on examination and investigative results, my opinion is that the cause of death is acute Fentanyl toxicity, in the setting of Cocaine abuse and ischemic hypertensive cardiovascular disease,” the report of the medical examiner’s autopsy reads.
Kevin Scott Watson, 30, of Sylva, passed away at the detention center on Oct. 20 after being found unresponsive in his cell. According to information obtained from the medical examiner and the State Bureau of Investigations investigator, the decedent had a history of drug abuse and drug trafficking. He was arrested and placed in the jail on the evening of Oct. 19.
“The following morning, he appeared to be fine, but later on in the morning, his cellmate stated that he was having difficulty breathing. Later that morning, 911 was called and a resuscitation was attempted, and multiple vials of Narcan were administered, to no avail,” the report reads.
Watson was being held on $190,000 secured bond after being arrested on drug-related charges after a traffic stop made by Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies.
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On Oct. 20, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations received a request from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch to investigate the death of an inmate at the Jackson County Detention Center.
According to the toxicology report, examiners found Watson to have cocaine, opioids, benzoylecgonine and fentanyl in his system. naloxone, a substance that can be injected or administered via nasal spray to reverse an overdose from opioids was also present in Watson’s body, likely a result of the Narcan administered during resuscitation attempts.
State law requires jailers to visually check on all inmates at least twice per hour and to lay eyes four times per hour on inmates who are suicidal, mentally ill, intoxicated, violent or erratic.
Watson’s death marked the fifth time in nine years that someone has died while incarcerated in the Jackson County Detention Center. His death followed closely on the heels of the death of Eddie Columbus Taylor, 45, who died while detained last June . In 2021, Jackson County paid $725,000 in a wrongful death lawsuit after Melissa Middleton Rice died by suicide while left alone in the jail’s booking room in 2019. There have been two other suicide deaths inside the Jackson County Detention Center in the past nine years. Charles “Chuckie” Moose died on Nov. 21, 2014, and Steve Ross on March 13, 2015.
Watson’s death came near the end of Sheriff Chip Hall’s term. Since he was replaced by Sheriff Doug Farmer, no deaths have been reported in the detention center.
