Russell Stout Dies In a Cell at Tippecanoe County Jail Indiana
Indiana State Police reports on a jail death that occurred Tuesday night. Details follow.
At approximately 11:55 a.m. on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, police received a report of a man passed out behind the wheel of a car at Veterans Memorial Parkway East and Fastline Drive. The man was identified as Russell Glen Stout in Lafayette, Indiana. Paramedics were called to the scene, and Mr. Stout was rushed to the hospital for treatment. He was medically cleared to be jailed later that day.
At 3:35 p.m., Russell Glen Stout was booked into Tippecanoe County Jail. That night at about 11:30, jail officers were conducting a routine inmate check and noticed that Mr. Stout was unresponsive in his cell. The jail officers attempted to provide medical aid, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Russell Stout was pronounced deceased in Tippecanoe County Jail sometime in the half hour before midnight on August 12, 2025.
Mr. Stout was in the Lafayette jail on suspicion of driving while impaired and violating community corrections, jail records show. According to court records, in February 2025, he was sentenced to community corrections after pleading guilty to the possession of a syringe. He had a history of drug-related charges and driving charges.
Tippecanoe County Coroner Carrie Costello said there were no signs of trauma to Mr. Stout’s body, and foul play is not suspected. On Thursday, August 14, 2025, a forensic autopsy was conducted, after which Mr. Stout’s cause and manner of death were listed as pending. The toxicology report, which typically takes six to eight weeks to complete, is also pending.
Tippecanoe County Sheriff Bob Goldsmith said the sheriff’s department is investigating whether the department’s policies and procedures were followed.
The address of Tippecanoe County Jail is 2640 Duncan Rd, Lafayette, IN 47904. The jail’s bed capacity is 603.
Troy Pownell Dies of Sepsis After Allegedly Being Denied Timely Medical Care in Tippecanoe County Jail
Troy Pownell was arrested on a warrant and booked into Tippecanoe County Jail on April 2, 2024. He was in seemingly good health at the time. Two medical assessments were made at the jail, and no concerns were found, nor did Mr. Pownell report any symptoms.
On the evening of April 3, however, he began feeling ill. Mr. Pownell exhibited that he kept feeling worse, mostly lying on a mattress on the floor. By April 6, he was moved after he began dry heaving and experiencing worse abdominal pain.
His pain was excruciating by the predawn hours of April 8. At about 7:30 p.m., Mr. Pownell began convulsing. His cellmate banged on the cell door to get the attention of jail staff. A nurse and two corrections officers responded to his pleas for help four minutes later. Medics transported Mr. Pownell by ambulance to Franciscan East Hospital, and a physician noted that he had suffered a heart attack, acute respiratory failure, and required endotracheal intubation. Mr. Pownell was pronounced deceased at the hospital.
The Tippecanoe County Coroner Carrie Costello found that Mr. Pownell’s cause of death was sepsis due to a perforated duodenal ulcer with cirrhosis of the liver contributing.
Death by sepsis is preventable if antibiotics are given in time. It is not unusual for inmates to be denied the medical care they need. One statistic shows that in county jails, detainees who suffered from chronic conditions received no medical care during incarceration nearly 70% of the time.
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