MADRID, Spain — An American man accused of killing a Connecticut jewelry store owner and stealing $300,000 in diamonds before fleeing to Europe was found hanged in his prison cell in Spain, authorities said.
Andrew Robert Levene was found dead Thursday in the Modelo prison in Barcelona, where he was recently arrested after an international manhunt, the justice department of Catalonia said.
An investigation into the death was under way, but all signs indicated he had committed suicide by hanging himself with a sheet, a spokeswoman said.
Levene, 41, was charged with federal murder, robbery and firearm offenses in the Dec. 8 shooting of Yekutiel Zeevi, owner of YZ Manufacturers LLC store in Westport, Conn. Extradition proceedings in Spain had not yet begun.
The justice department spokeswoman said that, as with all people admitted to prison, Levene had been interviewed by prison authorities and showed no signs that he might do himself harm.
Ronen Konfino, an executive at a New York diamond business, also was shot during the Connecticut robbery, but survived, and helped police with the probe.
Westport city official Gordon Joseloff called Levene’s apparent suicide “a cowardly confirmation of his guilt.”