TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WAWV/WTWO) — An inmate already serving multiple life sentences has been sentenced to life in prison again after he murdered his cellmate at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
The murder happened in January of 2016, and Joshua T. Mebane, 29, of Silver Spring, Maryland, pled guilty to the crime in October of 2024.
“On January 26, 2016, inmate Michael Tucker moved into Mebane’s cell. Just two days later, correctional officers went to retrieve Mebane for a medical appointment and called for both inmates to be present at the cell door,” prosecutors wrote. “As the officers again called for Tucker to be handcuffed, Mebane admitted, “My cellie (cellmate) is dead… I killed my cellie on Wednesday.”
Prosecutors said the officers entered the cell and found Michael Tucker lying face-up in the bottom bunk bed, covered by a blanket. His body was cold to the touch and without a pulse.
The medical examiner ruled the official cause of death to be asphyxiation and determined the manner of death as homicide.
“This life sentence reflects our office’s commitment to justice for all victims, including those who are incarcerated in federal correctional facilities. The horrific murder deserves one of the harshest penalties allowed under the law, and I sincerely hope that the completion of this prosecution brings some measure of closure and peace to Mr. Tucker’s family,” said John E. Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.
