Two inmates convicted of sex offenses involving children died last week in the same upstate New York prison.
Robert Fisher, 34, died Oct. 22 at 1:50 a.m. at the Elmira Correctional Facility in Elmira, New York, according to the state Department of Corrections, WRGB-TV reported. About an hour later, fellow inmate William Brand, 51, followed.
Causes of death for both men remain unclear.
Fisher was sentenced last month to up to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to the 2023 rape and murder of 3-year-old Josefina Cunningham at a Rensselaer, New York home, according to the Times Union.
Josefina was left in Fisher's care after he befriended the toddler's mother. He drugged, raped, assaulted and killer her, prosecutors said, the paper reported.
Rensselaer Police Chief Warren Famiglietti confirmed Fisher's death in a scathing Facebook post, last week.
"I already see comments online expressing joy and relief from the news of his death," he wrote, in part. "Being careful not to express my personal beliefs on a professional platform, I will say that I would find it impossible to compose a rational, articulate argument in opposition of those expressing relief... it appears that justice was ultimately served by a power much greater."
In April, Fisher's fellow inmate Brand was arrested on several charges of child sex crimes, including child sex abuse, according to New York State Police.
He was sentenced to 10 years after he was convicted of first-degree sexual conduct against a child, WRGB reported.
