A man serving a 20-year prison sentence for viciously sexually assaulting and attempting to kill two women in East Hartford a decade ago is believed to have died by suicide just days after allegedly attacking a state correction officer, officials said.
Jaishon Bellamy, 27, of East Hartford was found unresponsive in his cell at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution on Thursday around 2:30 a.m. when a correction officer was conducting a routine tour of the facility and noticed the window to Bellamy’s cell was obstructed, according to the Connecticut Department of Correction.
The officer called for Bellamy to remove the covering of the window and got no response, DOC officials said. Officers then entered the cell and found him with a bedsheet tied around his neck and the other end of the sheet secured to a bed frame, according to the DOC.
Staff immediately initiated life-saving measures before Bellamy was taken in an ambulance to Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, where he was pronounced dead at 3:48 a.m., officials said. He had turned 27 on Sunday.
According to the DOC, the death is being investigated as an apparent suicide. The Connecticut Office of Inspector General said it appears that Bellamy “fashioned a ligature from bed sheets” and “asphyxiated himself.”
Bellamy was the only individual in the cell at the time, officials said. He had been transferred to the facility from Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers on Monday after allegedly assaulting a correction officer, according to officials.
DOC officer assaulted at CT correction facility. Union officials allege it was attempted sex assault
DOC officials allege that he attacked a correction officer at Osborn on Monday without “warning or provocation.” Officials said he allegedly began choking her and punching her in the face as she was conducting a security check.
AFSCME Council 4 union officials allege that the woman was working in the industries area at Osborn when she was “violently attacked” by Bellamy in what they described as an attempted sexual assault. Bellamy allegedly attacked her from behind and dragged her into a “dead zone” where there is no camera coverage, union officials said.
The two were separated by other staff members who responded to the area, the DOC said. The correction officer was taken to an area hospital where she was treated and released, according to the DOC.
Bellamy was transferred to MacDougall-Walker’s Restrictive Housing Unit.
The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was expected to conduct an autopsy to determine Bellamy’s cause and manner of death. The death is being investigated by the Inspector General with assistance from the DOC Security Division and Connecticut State Police.
In September 2016, Bellamy was sentenced to 20 years in prison after prosecutors said he viciously sexually assaulted and tried to kill two women a year prior in East Hartford. He took a plea deal that required him to plead guilty under the Alford doctrine — meaning he disputed some of the allegations — to one count each of first-degree sexual assault by use or threat of force and attempted murder, court records show.
One Of Jaishon Bellamy’s Victims Describes The Attack She Endured And The Aftermath
Bellamy was initially charged as a juvenile before his case was sent to the adult docket based on the seriousness of the crimes. He was 16 years old at the time of the attacks and had turned 17 before facing sentencing.
According to previous Courant reporting, a prosecutor said each of Bellamy’s survivors endured hours long assaults. The first incident occurred on Sept. 3, 2015, when a 38-year-old woman pulled her overheating car into a commuter parking lot on Main Street. Bellamy attacked her as she got out of the car to get some antifreeze, according to reports.
Bellamy sexually assaulted the woman, beat her and choked her and, at one point, she blacked out, court records show. When she pretended to be dead two hours into the attack, Bellamy reportedly threw her body to the ground and took off in her car, according to court records. When she awoke, she sought help at a nearby motel.
The second attack occurred on Sept. 19, 2015. The woman, who was also 38 at the time, had fallen asleep with a bedroom window open and awoke to find Bellamy standing beside her bed, according to previous reports. Court records show that Bellamy climbed through the window to her home on Collimore Road.
Authorities said Bellamy then sexually assaulted the woman and beat and choked her until her body went limp, court reports show.
In a letter read at sentencing, the woman told a judge Bellamy pounced and locked her in a hold, using his hand to close off her nose and mouth, according to previous reports. She had a gun in her nightstand but was unable to get to it, reports said.
“The defendant attacked me in my bed,” she told a judge. “My safe place. My refuge after tough days. The place where I loved to curl up with a good book. While I slept. The place where I — where anyone — would be the most vulnerable. Jaishon Bellamy didn’t even give me a sporting chance to defend myself. And he forever took that haven away from me.”
Bellamy was linked to the attacks after investigators questioning individuals in the neighborhood following the second incident found out from one of his family members that he had been out all night and had fresh scratches on his face, previous reports said. He agreed to provide a DNA swab to investigators, which ended up matching DNA recovered from both survivors.
According to the DOC, Bellamy has been in custody since Sept. 25, 2015. He was set to be released from prison no later than December 2034, records show.
The plea deal Bellamy accepted included 10 years of probation and a lifetime registry as a sex offender.