3 Nevada inmates, including Las Vegas killer, die in state prisons

Three inmates died in a two-day span at Nevada prisons, officials said Monday.

Jasson Pacheco, 50, died at High Desert State Prison on Friday, according to a statement from the Nevada Department of Corrections. He was sentenced in December for attempted coercion with force or the threat of force.

The prison is about 40 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

On Tuesday the Clark County coroner’s office ruled that Pacheco died by hanging and that his death was a suicide.

The next day, fellow High Desert inmate Christian Walker, 44, died at the prison. He had been moved from the neighboring Southern Desert Correctional Center on Thursday, prison officials wrote in the statement on Monday.

Walker was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 28 years in the 1997 killing of his 17-year-old girlfriend, according to Review-Journal archives. Maureen McConaha, a Sunset High School student, was shot to death near U.S. Highway 95 and East Tropicana Avenue.

Northern Nevada Correctional Center inmate Harold Bratcher, 79, also died Saturday. He had been serving a life sentence for two counts of lewdness with a minor and was denied parole in October, according to jail records.

Prison authorities did not provide further details on the deaths.

If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.