A shocking sequence of violence and death that began with a police officer being run over and killed in South Laurel on Friday, June 27 ended two days later with the man accused of killing the officer dying in an Upper Marlboro jail cell.

The FBI and the Maryland State Police have taken over the investigation into the death of Ronnie White, 19, the accused killer. White died Sunday while in solitary confinement in the Prince George's County Correctional Center.

A medical examiner later found that White, of North Laurel, had been strangled. The finding sparked angry complaints of vigilante justice, even as family and friends of the slain Prince George's County police officer were mourning his death.

The tragic sequence began on Friday afternoon, when county Police Cpl. Richard Findley was in a parking lot on Laurel-Bowie Road, monitoring a pickup truck that he suspected was stolen, according to county police.

When he attempted to stop the truck from leaving, the driver rammed Findley's cruiser. When Findley got out of his cruiser and fired his gun at the truck, the driver ran over Findley, police said, dragging him through the parking lot.

Findley was taken to nearby Laurel Regional Hospital, where he died of his injuries.

White was arrested later that day and charged with first-degree murder in Findley's death.

After White's death and the medical examiner's finding, county officials said they suspected foul play.

"We will work hand-in-hand with the FBI and state police to ensure that whoever is responsible for this is brought to justice," County Executive Jack Johnson said in a June 30 news conference announcing how White had died. "If we allow people to get away with vigilantism, our society will fall apart. ... Mr. White had a right to his day in court like anyone else."

White's family could not be reached for comment. But at a news conference Tuesday, family attorney Bobby Henry said the family "is absolutely, unequivocally outraged and incensed and deeply saddened that the loss of life for their loved one ... taken so callously, while he was in the custody of law enforcement officials."

Henry said it was premature to say whether the family is considering a lawsuit, but added: "If any one person is denied justice, everybody is. ... This did not happen on some dark, abandoned, lonely road."

County Public Safety Director Vernon Herron said White was being held in a cell by himself, which he said is standard procedure for high-profile offenders.

Herron added that as part of the standard procedure, White was checked every 30 minutes by a correctional officer.

Johnson said that at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, a correctional officer found White alert and responsive. But when another correctional officer delivered White's lunch 20 minutes later, he found White unresponsive and without a pulse. White was declared dead at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly about an hour later.

Officer mourned

While officials investigate White's death, family and friends mourned the death of Findley, 39, a 10-year veteran of the county police department who lived in Carroll County with his wife and two daughters, 8 and 5.

Friends remembered Findley, a volunteer at the Beltsville Fire Department for the last 23 years, as a caring family man and dedicated police officer.

Al Schwartz, chief of the Beltsville Fire Department, said Findley loved his wife and two daughters. But more than anything else, he remembered Findley as a jokester.

"The sun was always shining in his eyes," he said. "Everyone in this place could be completely depressed for whatever reason, and he would find a way to make us all smile and laugh."

Rev. Randolph Gurley, a pastor for the Tabernacle Church in South Laurel, worked with Findley in his community outreach efforts.

"He was a good man and he was working just as hard as anyone else to solve the gang problems in our community," Gurley said.

Findley was to be memorialized in a service Thursday, July 3, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Beltsville.

The last Prince George's police officer to die in the line of duty, Steve Gaughan, was shot and killed in June 2005 less than two miles from where Findley was run over.

Suspect grew up in Laurel

White grew up in the city of Laurel, attending Laurel High School. He recently moved to North Laurel in Howard County, where he lived on Tumbleweed Run.

While at Laurel High, White was believed to have become involved with a local gang known as Currupt Mindz, principal Dwayne Jones and county police said.

"We've been dealing with this (gang) for a couple of years now," Jones said.

According to court records, White pleaded guilty to possession of a regulated firearm while under 21 on Nov. 28, 2007 in Howard County Circuit Court. He received a jail term of two years with all but one year, five months and 23 days suspended, according to records.

White also was previously charged with first-degree assault, armed robbery, robbery and use of a handgun in the commission of a violent crime, according to court records. Those charges were dropped on Oct. 23, 2007, in Howard County District Court.

Gurley, who has worked with several former members of Currupt Mindz, trying to get them steady jobs, said the gang "has been around for quite some time."

Gurley said the gang often begins recruiting members as young as 13, asking them to steal a car as their "rite of passage" at 14 or 15.

"These boys see the thug life dramatized on TV and ... they want to be part of it," he said.

White's MySpace page is littered with references to Currupt Mindz, including pictures of young men flashing gang signs and holding guns, and a rap song about guns and violence in Laurel.

Mike Santa Rita contributed to this article.

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