A 63-year-old man with Valley ties serving time for first-degree burglary was found dead in his cell Saturday, The New Haven Register reported.
John Filippone is thought to have committed suicide, according to a prison spokesperson cited in the Register article. Guards found a ligature around his neck.
Filippone was serving a five-year prison sentence for breaking into a 78-year-old woman’s house on Tremont Street in Ansonia in 2013 while she slept.
He forced the woman to the floor and kept her face down by stepping on the back of her neck, according to an arrest warrant. He stole a purse.
The victim was able to identify Filippone because he grew up in the neighborhood.
Filippone had a lengthy criminal record and was homeless at the time of the burglary.
