April 13th, 2018 by WCBC Radio

The Cumberland Times News reports an inmate of the Western Correctional Institution was pronounced dead Thursday night after he was found unresponsive by a correctional officer. Acording to the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services spokesman Gerald Shields Fernando Asturizaga, 51, was found unresponsive at about 8:45 p.m. A death investigation is being conducted by the department’s Internal Investigative Division along with Maryland State Police.

The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will make the final determination on the cause of death, Shields said.

At a press conference Thursday, the Montgomery County Police Department labeled Asturizaga as a person of interest in the May 2000 disappearance of 45-year-old Alison Thresher from her College Park apartment.

Her body was never found and the case has been investigated for the past 18 years by the Montgomery County police.

In 2010, Alison Thresher's daughter, Hannah Thresher, came forward and informed Montgomery Police that Asturizaga had victimized her by becoming involved in an inappropriate and illegal sexual relationship with her from 1999 to 2001. He was a Spanish teacher and she was his student at the Friends Community School in College Park.

An investigation led to Asturizaga’s arrest on multiple counts of second-degree rape, second-degree sexual offense and child abuse.

He was convicted of 16 counts of second-degree rape and was serving a sentence of more than 100 years. He was convicted after a 2012 trial in Montgomery County.