Family fears foul play in jail death

SEABROOK, Texas (FOX 26) - The life of a man ended inside the Seabrook City Jail at around 6 p.m. on Saturday. Police say 27-year-old Richard Aycock was found hanging in his cell. The medical examiner has ruled it a "suicide," a call that Aycock's family isn't buying.

"He had a new job, he had fiancé, he had all of us," said Joann Medina, Aycock's mother. "He was very positive. Never, never depressed never." 

Aycock was arrested while driving his fiancé's truck and pulling a borrowed trailer with license plates that were determined to be stolen. Officers also discovered a rifle in the truck.

Here's where the story takes a peculiar turn.

The stolen license plates belonged to a Seabrook police sergeant who, according to attorney Randall Kallinen, violated protocol by both entering Aycock's cell and then berating the suspect's fiancé and parents in the police department lobby.

"He said that he was a piece of crap and that he was a low life, he was a liar," recalled Medina.

"If he's that wrapped up to tell the parents, who have done nothing, to attack the parents in this manner, what did he do in that cell to Richard?," asked Randall Kallinen, attorney for Aycock's family.

Kallinen hopes unreleased jail surveillance video and an ongoing investigation by the Texas Rangers will provide solid answers as to why and how a young man facing misdemeanor charges would cut short his own life.

"Something smells wrong here," said Medina. "I want justice for him. He would have never hurt himself, never."

"We need justice," added Nicole Tristan, Aycock's fiancé.  

In a brief prepared statement, Seabrook police said the death is also under investigation by the Harris County District Attorney's Office and the department's own detectives.

Heartbroken, Aycock's twin brother issued a last plea for the truth.

"Now I'm without him," said Van Medina. "We don't know why and we want the answers. We don't know why." 

While Aycock had a felony conviction for burglary and served time, family and friends say he had turned his life around.