Suspect in Two Rapes Hangs Self in Jail, Sheriff’s Department Says

A suspect in the rapes of two women committed suicide in his cell at the Orange County Jail on Thursday, authorities said.

Calvin Cunningham, 24, of Huntington Beach was found hanging by the neck in his single cell about 11 a.m., an Orange County sheriff’s spokesman said.

“I can’t tell you any more than that,” Lt. Richard Paddock said.

Cunningham was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, where he died, officials said. The Orange County district attorney is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death, Paddock said.

Cunningham had been booked into the jail last month on charges of kidnapping and indecent exposure. Then, earlier this week, he was linked through DNA tests to the rapes of two women.

Cunningham was a suspect in the rape of a jogger grabbed from behind and dragged into bushes at Fairview Regional Park in Costa Mesa on Feb. 22. He was also suspected of an attack July 3 in Westminster, where a woman was grabbed from behind and dragged away.

“We’re guessing there are more victims,” an investigator said Tuesday.

Cunningham made his first appearance in court Wednesday on the rape charges, but his arraignment had been postponed until next week.