Joshua Wade, Alaska Serial Killer Who Killed 5 People, Dies in Indiana Prison at Age 44

Wade admitted to killing two women and three men between 1994 and 2007

Serial killer Joshua Wade, who admitted to killing five people in Alaska between 1994 and 2007, has died in prison. He was 44.

According to a statement from the Indiana Department of Correction shared with PEOPLE on Sunday, June 23, Wade died on June 14 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

Department of Correction spokesperson Brandi Pahl told PEOPLE that Wade was "found unresponsive in his cell."

"Despite life-saving measures being performed, he was pronounced dead," Pahl continued. He added that an autopsy will be conducted.

A cause of death was not released. The LaPorte County coroner was not immediately available for comment.

Alaska Public Media reported earlier this week that although Wade was convicted of state and federal charges in Alaska, he was transferred to an Indiana prison in 2014 after accepting a deal with both state and federal prosecutors.

Per a June 2014 press release from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Wade admitted to murdering Anchorage-area woman Della Brown in 2000 when he was 20 years old, and her body was found in a shed. That year, Wade was charged with killing Brown by hitting her over the head with a large rock, but a jury convicted him only of witness tampering and acquitted him on murder and sexual assault charges, the Associated Press reported.

According to Alaska Public Media, soon after Wade finished his probation for the witness tampering case in 2007, he kidnapped and murdered Mindy Schloss, a nurse practitioner and his neighbor in the Sand Lake neighborhood of Anchorage. Investigators in that case said that he tortured Schloss and shot her to death, and her body was found more than one month later about 40 miles outside of the city after she was reported missing, the outlet added.

Wade pleaded guilty to carjacking and killing Schloss in 2009, and as a part of the conviction, he admitted to killing Brown almost 10 years prior.

According to the FBI, Wade later told Anchorage police and FBI agents that he also killed two other men in 1994 and 1999, as well as another man on the same night he murdered Brown in 2000. Investigators believe the men he murdered in the 1990s were 38-year-old John Michael Martin — when Wade was 14 years old — and 30-year-old Henry Ongtowasruk, according to the FBI's press release.

Wade was sentenced to 99 years in prison by an Alaska state court, and a federal court sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the AP reported. At each sentencing, Wade apologized. At the state sentencing, he told the families of the two women: "I deserve much worse. I’m sorry."

In federal court, Wade also had a tense exchange with U.S. District court Judge Ralph Beistline when he tried to apologize again.

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"What an evil thing you’ve done," Beistline said at the time, according to AP. "What kind of person could take pleasure in the random destruction of another life?"

In response to Beistline calling him selfish and a coward Wade told the judge, "Don’t push it, man," according to AP.

Wade was born in Great Falls, Montana, and moved to Alaska as a child, according to Alaska Public Media. He lived with his father in Anchorage and spent time in juvenile jail facilities as a teenager. Many experts have highlighted his killings as an example of the high number of violent crimes against Alaska Natives, the outlet added.

In its 2014 press release, the FBI asked the public to report any information about Wade's murders, including the unidentified man he admitted to killing in 2000.

"If anyone has information they have not previously provided to law enforcement concerning these crimes, they are asked to call Anchorage Police Detective Sgt. Markiewicz at (907) 786-8582 or the FBI at (907) 276-4441," the FBI wrote at the time. "Tips can be submitted anonymously via telephone by calling Crime Stoppers at 561-STOP or online at www.anchoragecrimestoppers.com."

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

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