Apparent suicide claims inmate’s life
Trinity Standard , March 2007

GROVETON – Although a formal ruling in the death was pending the results of an autopsy, investigators believe the death of a Trinity County prisoner was the result of suicide.
Terrence Keith McNiel, 51, was pronounced dead about 4 a.m. Saturday at a Newton County detention facility which houses Trinity County prisoners.
Jailers discovered McNiel hanging from the cell’s bars by his bed sheet during a routine bed check.
According to Chief Deputy Jim Gratz of the Trinity County Sheriff’s Department, McNiel was arrested in Montgomery County on Friday on a revocation of probation warrant issued in Trinity County.
He had been convicted in November 2005 on a Trinity County burglary of a building charge and was placed on probation for two years.
Gratz said the arrest warrant was issued after McNiel failed make restitution payments as well as payments covering his fines and court costs. The payments were required under the terms of his probation.
In addition, McNiel also was alleged to have violated his probation by being arrested in December 2006 on a driving while intoxicated charge in Montgomery County.
While McNiel was a former resident of Trinity County, Gratz said at the time of his arrest on Friday he was residing in Montgomery County.
After being taken into custody in Montgomery County, McNiel was brought to the Trinity County Jail in Groveton where he was processed into the criminal court system.
Because of space limitations at the local jail, most county prisoners are housed in detention facilities in either Newton or Falls counties.