BILLINGS — Taylor Lee Plain Bull, who admitted chasing down, shooting, and killing his ex-girlfriend Lenita Goes Ahead on Blue Creek Road in October, was found dead Monday in his Wyoming jail cell.
Big Horn County (WY) Sheriff Kenneth Blackburn told MTN News on Tuesday that Plain Bull was found unresponsive in his cell last night.
Sheriff Blackburn said jail and medical personnel tried unsuccessfully to revive him.
The sheriff said that although foul play is not suspected, authorities contacted the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, which will now conduct an independent investigation into Plain Bull’s death.
Plain Bull was awaiting sentencing for his role in the death of Goes Ahead. He pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Prosecutors said that Plain Bull ran Goes Ahead off the road when he saw her driving with their daughter and her new boyfriend. Prosecutors said that Goes Ahead locked the doors of the vehicle when Plain Bull approached, and he fired two shots into the vehicle, killing her. In his plea, Plain Bull claimed the shooting was accidental, and the gun discharged when he went to hit Goes Ahead's boyfriend in the temple with the butt of the gun.
Plain Bull was arrested three days after the shooting following a standoff with police at the Rodeway Inn in Billings. He had been scheduled to be sentenced July 23 in U.S. District Court in Billings.
