Coyote Ridge prison inmate dies in a Tri-Cities hospital after a head injury

Corrections officials are investigating the death of a 30-year-old prisoner, who may have been injured in the head during a fight with another inmate.

Matthew Patrick Kinzer died Nov. 12 at Kadlec Regional Medical Center, four days after he was admitted to the Richland hospital.

Kinzer had been locked up at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell.

Susan Biller, the Washington state Department of Corrections’ communications director, could not be reached Wednesday for more information. The state has released no information about a Connell inmate dying.

An employee at the prison told the Tri-City Herald it may be a homicide because there was an assault on Nov. 7.

However, Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary told the Herald he has not yet determined the cause of death.

“We were hoping for something definitive, but nothing was definitive,” said McGary.

The autopsy was done Monday at the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office.

McGary said the pathologist thought it would be good to study Kinzer’s brain a little more because he had a head injury.

Experts should be able to look at the tissue and see what kind of trauma he had, whether accidental, natural or something else.

McGary said it will take about two to three weeks for the histology report to be completed, along with a separate toxicology report on any possible substances in Kinzer’s body.

In the meantime, Kinzer has been released to the family so they can make funeral arrangements, he said.

Kinzer was from Everett and was a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, according to his Facebook page.

He was sentenced in February to three years and seven months in prison for a second-degree burglary conviction out of Snohomish County.

Online court records show in addition to the most recent 2019 case, Kinzer had four prior burglary convictions.

Investigators with the Department of Corrections are looking into Kinzer’s death.

It is not known if the department has identified a suspect in the prison unit. But the employee who asked that his name not be used told the Herald that the possible perpetrator was moved into segregation.

Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant said he is aware of the death and the investigation, but nothing has been forwarded to his office yet to review for possible charges.

This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 12:59 PM.