UTAH STATE PRISON -- An inmate serving two five-years-to-life sentences for the 1982 deaths of two men outside a Millcreek Canyon restaurant was found dead Thursday in his Utah State Prison cell.
Michael Patrick Moore was found hanged with a bed sheet at 9:30 a.m., according to a department of corrections press release. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. Prison officials said Thursday they had no reason to think Moore's death was anything but a suicide. No suicide note was found.The state medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Moore, 43, was convicted of fatally shooting Jordan Rasmussen, a 32-year-old manager of Log Haven restaurant, and Buddy Booth, a 24-year-old laundry truck driver who stumbled onto the murder scene. Moore killed Booth in order to eliminate him as a potential witness.
Denied parole on two previous occasions, Moore was set to go before the Board of Pardons again in 2002.
While in prison Moore has completed two college degrees and taught himself several languages. He also taught English and reading to other inmates and was employed by the prison to do computer work.
Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies are conducting an investigation into the death.
Department of Corrections executive director Pete Haun said Friday Moore's death comes during the middle of an internal probe into a possible security breach. Haun, however, would not say if Moore was a target of that probe or if his death is linked to suspicions that surfaced after an audit began of the prison's computer system.