The man who died last week at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland has been identified.
Darren Laney Jr., 37, of Big Lake Township was found unresponsive in his cell on Friday morning, and jail staff unsuccessfully tried to revive him, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
The Maine attorney general’s office confirmed Laney died at the jail in a Thursday morning email to the Bangor Daily News.
Laney allegedly stabbed his father, 62-year-old Darren Laney Sr., to death with a pair of scissors on March 10, 2022.
Laney, who had been living in Portland at the time, had come to Baileyville, where his parents picked up on the morning of March 10, 2022. During the car ride to his parents’ Sunshine Lane home in Big Lake Township, he made “bizarre” remarks, including that “something bad was going to happen to them all” when they got to the house, according to a police affidavit.
His parents had discussed taking him to a hospital, but decided to go home.
Laney’s mother later told police she didn’t hear her son and his father arguing or even talking before the attack, and while she was on the phone with Laney Jr.’s girlfriend, she heard Laney Sr. yell that he was being stabbed.
She ran to a neighbor’s house, where she called the police.
When police arrived, they found Laney Sr. dead on the living room floor with a pair of scissors sticking out of his chest.
Laney Jr. later told police that he came home to confront his father about alleged sexual abuse from his childhood.
Laney was indicted on a murder charge by the Washington County grand jury on May 18, 2022.
His cause of death remains under investigation, which is being overseen by the Maine attorney general’s office. The Portland Police Department, the Maine Department of Corrections and the Maine medical examiner’s office are investigating the death.
