Convicted Child Molester Is Allegedly Killed by Prison Cellmate — at Same Facility as Recent Conjugal Visit Deaths

California prison officials are investigating whether a detainee killed his own cellmate behind bars — at the same facility where two women were killed just months apart on conjugal visits.

Officers found Robert E. Cole, 48, unresponsive in his cell on Friday, April 4 at around 6:30 a.m. at Mule Creek State Prison, about an hour east of Sacramento.

When officers arrived at Cole’s cell, they initiated “life-saving measures and activated 911,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement. But when paramedics arrived, they pronounced Cole dead at 6:43 a.m.

Authorities are investigating whether Cole’s cellmate, Justin P. Welsh, had any role in Cole’s death. 

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Cole was brought to Mule Creek in 2019 when he was sentenced to life for sexually assaulting several children between the ages of 10 and 18 years old, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Welsh, 36, came to the prison in 2023 when he was sentenced to 18 years for corporal injury on a person within seven years of a prior conviction and assault with a firearm. Additional charges were added for inflicting great bodily injury – which included domestic violence. 

Welsh has been placed in restricted housing pending the investigation, according to officials. 

This homicide comes after two women were found strangled to death at the same California prison during separate conjugal visits to their husbands, just four months apart. 

The Amador County Coroner has yet to determine the exact cause of Cole’s death, according to prison officials.