Sheriff declines open record in jail house death

Woman's death remains a mystery

Bosque County – Little is known about the final hours of the life of April Richardson Troyn, a 36-year-old mother charged with child endangerment who died under mysterious circumstances in the county jail on May 4.

Sheriff Anthony Mallot and the legal authorities in this rural county are in no rush to clear up questions surrounding her death. The Texas Rangers are in charge of the investigation.

Clifton Police released a copy of the offense and arrest report in the case that began on December 16, 2012, when employees at a Dairy Queen in Clifton complained that a 5-year-old boy had wandered in alone, complaining of hunger.

According to the report, the boy walked to the busy location on Highway 6 from an apartment in the 500 block of Ave. D, about five blocks distant. When Ms. Troyn was contacted, she said she did not know where her child was.

Officers contacted Child Protective Services workers on that day and released the child to his mother, according to an offense report.

It was not until Feb. 19, 2013 that a local magistrate signed an arrest warrant, and Ms. Troyn was not apprehended until May 2 at a local convenience store. On that day five months later, she persuaded Detective Darrin Glenn to let her register her daughter at Clifton Middle School before he transported her to the Bosque County Jail at Meridian.

What happened next is not clear. When contacted, the records clerk at the Bosque County Sheriff's Office declined to release booking information, or any other report of Ms. Troyn's arrival at the jail, or how she spent her time while there during the hours leading up to her alleged suicide.

She contacted The Legendary later in the day by e-mail, saying the CountyAttorney has advised her to release no details of the case because the case is under investigation by the Texas Rangers. (click here for a previous report)

The matter is highly irregular because for the past few years, female prisoners have not been housed at the Meridian lockup due to strictures imposed by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, which has found conditions there to be substandard.

Females must be segregated by sight and sound from male inmates. That's impossible in the small confines of the Bosque County Jail. Female inmates are transferred to the Hill County lockup, their board paid by the Commissioners Court.

The last to see Ms. Troyn alive is said to have been a fellow inmate who checked out of the jail during the morning of May 4. When jailers checked on her later, she was unresponsive.

Justice of the Peace Ray Ballman ordered an autopsy at the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences at Dallas.

According to Detective Glenn's report, “I spoke with her about an unrelated incident then transported her to county jail.”

Among friends and family of Ms. Troyn, there is much speculation that thedetective spoke to her about an alleged case of arson at 811 AlphaPlace in Clifton, for which her sister Hope Lane and her brother-in-law Michael Green have been charged.

Detective Glenn closed his arrest report dated May 6 with these words.

“1. On Saturday May 4, 2013, we were informed by the Bosque County Jail that our suspect April Troyn, who is an inmate there, died by an apparent suicide.

“2. There are no other suspects. Case is closed.”

This is a video record of The Legendary editorial staff making an open records request at the Clifton Police Department and the Bosque County Sheriff's Department.