Killer’s Parents Seek Probe of Prison Suicide

Attorneys and the parents of abortion clinic attacker John C. Salvi III charged Monday that prison officials are lying when they claim there were no warnings that the convicted double-murderer was suicidal.

They called for independent state and federal investigations into Salvi’s prison-cell death. State officials say it apparently was a suicide, but one of Salvi’s lawyers said the inmate’s hands and feet were tied.

“We’re not looking for anything, any monetary gain,” said Salvi’s father, John C. Salvi II. “What we’re looking for is to see that this doesn’t happen to someone else, to some other family.”

He told reporters that he called the prison to check on his son, “and we were told it was none of our business. OK, but it was their business. And he obviously wasn’t all right, and it was obvious to everyone who met him and saw him.”

Salvi, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder for the killings of two women who were working at two abortion clinics in Brookline, Mass. He was sentenced to life without possibility of parole.

During his trial, Salvi’s lawyers acknowledged he committed the crimes but said he was driven by insane urges.

Salvi was found dead Friday in his cell at the state’s prison in Walpole. Guards found his body under his bed with a plastic trash bag tied around his head.

Prison officials have said Salvi showed no signs of requiring psychiatric help and denied that his family had brought concerns about him to their attention.