Murder Suspect Found Hanging in Jail Cell has Died

LONGVIEW – A man accused of capital murder in Tyler has died after he was found hanging in his Longview jail cell. Tony Waters, 55, of Kilgore, was arrested in Longview on Tuesday. He is accused of the Monday shooting of three persons at a Tyler home. Two of the persons died. Shortly after 12:15 Wednesday afternoon the jail staff, making a regular welfare check of the inmates, found Waters hanging in his cell. He had used his clothes to fashion a makeshift rope. The jail staff started CPR. Waters died Saturday at a Longview hospital. His body was sent for autopsy. The Texas Rangers are investigating the incident.

Waters was being held on a $1 million bond in the shooting deaths of Charlie Verdell, 51, and Daquan Munson, 17. Munson, a student at Robert E Lee High School, was the son of a woman who was also shot. She remains hospitalized and her condition has not been released. Tyler police spokesman Don Martin said the mother and son recently moved into the house and that Verdell had been dating the woman. He said Waters was the woman’s ex-boyfriend.