Woman who died in Linn County Jail identified

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Linn County Sheriff’s Office has identified the woman who died Thursday morning while being held in the Linn County Correctional Center overnight.

Malorie Shea Hults, 31, was found unconscious, lying on the floor, by a corrections officer at 2:12 a.m. Thursday. Hults wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a detectable pulse, officials said. Corrections staff administered CPR, and Hults was taken to Mercy Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

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The cause of death still is unknown, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. Hults’ body has been transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny for an autopsy.

Hults, of Cedar Rapids, was taken into custody by Cedar Rapids police Wednesday evening on a charge of assault domestic abuse, with injury, without intent.

This is the sixth death that has occurred in the Linn County Jail since the beginning of 2020, according to Sheriff Brian Gardner. Two of those deaths were suicides, two were from heart attacks and one was caused by an overdose.

Hults’ death is being considered a medical incident, although the exact cause is not yet known.

The jail did not see any in-custody deaths in the four years prior to 2020.

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