COLUMBUS, Ohio – Records show an Ohio prisoner convicted of killing five people including a Bible studies teacher told a prison chaplain he wasn't suicidal before apparently hanging himself.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press through a records request show that Lawrence Michael Hensley had discussed with the chaplain whether his decision to turn down medical treatment for cancer was equivalent to suicide.
The records show the chaplain assured Hensley in the June 16 conversation that his decision didn't fit a Biblical definition of suicide.
Records indicate Hensley assured the chaplain he wasn't considering killing himself.
The 46-year-old Hensley was found hanged in his cell five days later.
Hensley killed three teenage girls and the Bible teacher in 1999 and a fellow prisoner in 2012.