Richmond Child Molester Deandre Austin Killed In Prison; Cellmate Held For Homicide

IONE, Amador County (CBS SF) -- A Richmond man serving a life sentence at an Amador County prison for child rape and sex abuse was found dead in his cell and his cellmate was being held in his killing.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said officers found 46-year-old Deandre Austin unresponsive in his cell at Mule Creek State Prison Wednesday evening after responding to a call of a "man down." He was later pronounced dead despite life-saving measures by emergency personnel, CDCR said.

Austin's cellmate, identified as Rodney Jordan, was placed in segregated housing pending an investigation.

Austin was sentenced in 2008 to a life sentence with the possibility of parole for the continuous sexual assault of his three elementary school-aged nieces when they shared homes in Richmond between 2002 and 2006.  He was convicted of rape, lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under age 14, continuous sex abuse of a child under 14, penetration with a foreign object with a victim under 14, oral copulation and sodomy.

Jordan was serving a two-year term for a first-degree burglary conviction from Los Angeles County. He was paroled on July of 2018 and returned from parole two months later after a new conviction, sentenced to five years for second-degree robbery.