Coroner: Autopsy Shows Woman at Oconee County Jail Died of Suicide by Hanging

An autopsy shows the preliminary cause and manner of death of a 49-year-old Colbert woman who died Tuesday while in custody on a DUI charge to be suicide by hanging, according to Oconee County Coroner Ed Carson.

Carson said the autopsy of Tracie Kesler was performed on Thursday at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Medical Examiner's Office in Decatur.

Kesler was brought to the Oconee County Jail on Tuesday, July 16, around 10 p.m. by the Georgia State Patrol and transported to Athens Regional Medical Center around 40 minutes later after jail staff found her in distress, according to earlier reports.  She was pronounced dead at the hospital, authorities said. 

As is procedure following an in-custody death, the Oconee County Sheriff's Office turned the investigation over to the GBI.  That investigation is ongoing, Carson said.