ST. PAUL -- The former Lakeville middle school principal found dead in Crow Wing County jail Nov. 20, died by his own hand, according to a medical examiner.
According to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office, Christopher Jerome Endicott, 53, died of suicide by asphyxia.
Endicott was sentenced in 2019 to eight years in prison for identity theft, stalking and burglary. He was being held in the Brainerd jail on a Minnesota Department of Corrections warrant.
Crow County Sheriff Scott Goddard reported that Endicott was found unresponsive in his cell and lifesaving measures were unsuccessful.
Endicott, formerly of Apple Valley, pleaded guilty in June 2019 to two counts each of gross misdemeanor stalking and felony burglary in connection with a rash of crimes he blamed on “financial ruin.” In February 2019, he pleaded guilty to felony identity theft as well.
ADVERTISEMENT
He was the principal of Century Middle School when the Lakeville School District learned he had remotely accessed computer devices of a school employee. He resigned in May 2018.
During the investigation it was discovered that Endicott had broken into his neighbors’ houses, stealing jewelry and sports cards.
At his 2019 sentencing in Dakota County, Endicott apologized to his 18 victims, including former colleagues, neighbors and in-laws; a teacher whom he had an affair with in 2011; and an Apple Valley police officer.
