St. Louis County Jail Inmate Darrin Tiessen Dies After Being Found Unresponsive During Overnight Cell Check
What authorities say happened
A 35-year-old man held at the St. Louis County Jail in Duluth, Minnesota, died after he was found unresponsive in his cell during an overnight check, officials said.
Corrections staff found the inmate, identified as Darrin John Tiessen, unresponsive in a single-occupancy cell at about 1:05 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 27. Staff began emergency medical efforts immediately, including CPR and use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), and emergency medical services were called to the facility. Tiessen was transported to a local hospital, where he did not regain consciousness and was later pronounced dead on Monday, Jan. 30.
Custody status and booking information
Tiessen had been booked into the jail two days earlier, on Wednesday, Jan. 25, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said. He was being held on an active arrest warrant issued by Minnesota’s Sixth Judicial District Court after he failed to appear at a prior court hearing.
Officials have not released additional details about Tiessen’s medical history, whether he had requested medical care while in custody, or whether he was on suicide watch or other monitoring protocols at the time he was found unresponsive.
Investigation and what is known about the cause of death
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is conducting an independent investigation into the death, consistent with procedures commonly used when a person dies in custody and an outside agency is asked to review the circumstances.
No official cause or manner of death has been publicly confirmed in the Tiessen case as of publication. In in-custody death investigations, medical examiner findings and toxicology results can take weeks or longer to complete, and agencies typically withhold conclusions until those reports are finalized.
Context: recent in-custody death investigations at the same jail
The Tiessen case follows another BCA-investigated death at the St. Louis County Jail in 2025. In that earlier case, a 56-year-old Duluth man, Keith Jrome Taylor, was found unconscious and unresponsive during routine checks on June 24, 2025. He was pronounced dead after life-saving measures failed. Investigators reported no obvious signs of trauma in the preliminary review, and the cause of death was pending at the time of the public update.
Key facts at a glance
Name: Darrin John Tiessen
Age: 35
Location: St. Louis County Jail, Duluth, Minnesota
Found unresponsive: about 1:05 a.m., Friday, Jan. 27
Pronounced dead: Monday, Jan. 30, at a local hospital
Investigation: Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
Independent investigations typically focus on the timeline of checks and staff response, available medical screening information, surveillance footage where applicable, and forensic findings from the medical examiner.
What to watch for next
Further public updates are expected to depend on the completion of the BCA review and the medical examiner’s determination of the cause and manner of death. Officials have not announced a timeline for releasing those findings.