Cody Armistead, 22, of St. James was found dead at 7:54 p.m. on Feb. 15 at Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point. An autopsy has been conducted and results determining his cause of death are not yet available.

His death is being investigated by the Office of Professional Standards and local law enforcement.

Armistead was two years into serving out a 34-year sentence for first-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse. 

According to prior reporting by the Saint James Press, on Sept. 16, 2020, Armistead, who was 17 at the time at the time of the incident, 18-year-old Enoch Phillips and an unnamed 15-year-old boy from Carthage ran away from the St. James campus of Great Circle, a behavioral health facility.

Armistead and Phillips returned to Great Circle the following day, and allegedly told another client they’d killed the boy. This client came forward with the information.

In later interviews with law enforcement, Armistead and Phillips both confessed to assaulting and strangling the boy.

Armistead led investigators to the location of the body, which was found in the 600 block of Meramec Street.

He was sentenced on Jan. 20, 2023 after pleading guilty. Armistead is the third inmate to die in Potosi Correctional Center this year, after Ronald Halkmon and Willie Crenshaw were each pronounced dead within three days of each other at the facility in January.