Ione, CA…Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) officials are investigating the death of an inmate as a homicide. During a routine security check on Monday, April 9, inmate Robert E. Hunter was found unresponsive in his cell with blunt force injuries to his face. Prison medical staff pronounced him deceased at 7:57 a.m.

Hunter, 77, was received by CDCR from Riverside County in January 2010 with a 15-years-to-life sentence with the possibility of parole under California’s “Three Strikes” law on a charge of oral copulation of a child.

Hunter’s cellmate, Matthew Wanser, was taken into custody as a suspect. Wanser, 46, is serving a life-without-the-possibility of parole after being committed from San Diego County in November 1998 with two counts of first-degree murder.

The incident is currently being investigated by the prison’s Investigative Services Unit. The Office of the Inspector General was notified.

Inmate movement has been limited as the investigation continues.

MCSP, which opened in 1987, houses more than 4,100 minimum-, medium- and maximum-security inmates. The prison, located in Amador County, provides educational, medical and mental health services and employs more than 1,400 people.