Amber Nicole May
Amber Nicole May was 35 years old and had once worked at a nursing home before her marriage and the birth of her twin girls. Her family said she lived with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression. She died on April 21, 2014, while held at the Ochiltree County Jail in Perryton, Texas, and a news report listed the cause as suicide. Her family's lawsuit, filed with help from the Texas Civil Rights Project, said she had been placed in a cell with two metal telephone cords, and that a jailer said he checked on her a couple of times before she was found slumped over with two cords around her neck. In April 2017 the county settled the suit, agreeing to set up a trust fund, improve training, increase monitoring and build suicide-proof cells.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (neglect alleged). A news report and a Texas Attorney General custodial death report describe the death as a suicide, and a family lawsuit says a jailer checked on her only a couple of times before she was found hanged with two telephone cords, which the county settled in 2017 with agreed changes to training and monitoring.
Reported by: news report; Texas Office of the Attorney General (outside investigators); Amber May's family, through their lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: Her family sued Ochiltree County with help from the Texas Civil Rights Project, and the county settled in April 2017 by agreeing to a trust fund, better training, heightened monitoring and a suicide-proof cell design, without a reported dollar amount.