Man serving life sentence dies at Iowa Medical and Classification Center

CORALVILLE - A convicted murderer serving a life sentence died after being found unresponsive in his cell at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center late last Thursday.

In a news release, the Iowa Department of Corrections says Lucas Faulkner, 25, was found in his cell around 11:18 p.m. He was rushed to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where he was pronounced dead early Friday morning.

Spokesman Fred Scaletta said Faulkner died of natural causes from a pulmonary embolism. A pulmonary embolism is when one or more pulmonary arteries in the lungs become blocked. In most cases, pulmonary embolism is caused by blood clots that travel to the lungs from the legs or rarely other parts of the body, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Faulkner was serving a life sentence from Wright County for murder first degree. He had been in prison since May of 2011. Faulkner was convicted of killing a man with a hatchet in May of 2010.