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A Selma man who was an inmate at the Dallas County Jail was found dead in his cell last week.

According to Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson, John Murray, Jr., 26, was found dead from what Jackson called an apparent “drug reaction.” Murray’s body has been sent to forensics for a toxicology report and a full autopsy to determine his cause of death.

Jackson said that the State Bureau Investigation was called by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the matter, and SBI has taken over the case and sent investigators to look into the matter.

In 2014, Murray, who was 18 at the time, admitted to murdering Stephen Sizemore in the victim’s Selma home on Dallas County Road 74.

Investigators learned Sizemore sold items from his home and that Murray was a regular customer. Deputies discovered Sizemore’s body when family called saying Sizemore was on the floor of his home, unresponsive. Dallas County Sheriff Mike Grantham, who was a sergeant with the DCSO at the time, said Sizemore sustained a gunshot wound to his upper body and that blood was splattered everywhere and the house was in disarray.

“[Murray] told us that he got there and things didn’t go like he wanted,” Grantham said. “One thing led to another.”

The investigation revealed less than $100 was taken during the robbery

“You can see where a struggle had taken place,” Grantham said at the time. “There were signs where someone had ransacked the house looking for something.”

Grantham said Murray told investigators he confessed, because he wanted to “get it off his mind.”

 

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