MONROE, Wash. - A guard at a Washington state prison has been found strangled inside the prison's chapel.
Prison spokesman Chad Lewis said 34-year-old Jayme Biendl was found dead Saturday night in the chapel at Monroe Correctional Complex, where she worked.
Lewis said Sunday that an inmate, who had been missing during a routine count, was found in the chapel lobby and told officers he had planned to escape.
Monroe police are investigating whether that inmate or someone else strangled Biendl.
Teamsters 117 spokeswoman Tracey Thompson says Biendl, who had been with the department since 2002, had complained to her union shop steward and prison supervisors about being the sole guard working in the chapel and feeling unsafe.