Marion County Inmate Charged With Manslaughter After Fatal Altercation With Fellow Inmate – The Published Reporter®

Marion County Inmate Charged With Manslaughter After Fatal Altercation With Fellow Inmate

Eric Thanal Lutterloah
Eric Thanal Lutterloah, 52, and the victim, Cory Merchant, 35, were involved in a physical altercation while housed at the Marion County Jail. The incident took place after lockdown, when Lutterloah was in his assigned bunk and the victim was talking with other inmates.

MARION COUNTY, FL – On November 7, 2021, at approximately 1:00 a.m., Eric Thanal Lutterloah, 52, and the victim, Cory Merchant, 35, were involved in a physical altercation while housed at the Marion County Jail. The incident took place after lockdown, when Lutterloah was in his assigned bunk and the victim was talking with other inmates.

According to authorities, Lutterloah confronted Merchant about talking loudly and an argument ensued. Lutterloah pushed the victim and struck him several times, causing Merchant to fall to the cement floor, where he apparently struck his head and became unconscious. Detention deputies entered the area to render aid to Merchant and he was transported to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on November 13, 2021.

Lutterloah was detained and interviewed about the incident and stated he was awoken by Merchant talking and laughing with other inmates. He stated he was agitated and continually told the victim to leave the area, but the victim refused to do so. Lutterloah then stated the physical altercation began, during which he punched Merchant, rendering him unconscious. Video evidence and eyewitness statements corroborated Lutterloah’s account of the incident.

On November 30, 2021, Major Crimes Detectives arrested Lutterloah for Manslaughter. At the time of the offense, Lutterloah was being held without bond at the Marion County Jail for the charges of armed kidnapping, sexual battery, two counts of failure to comply with sex offender reporting requirements, forgery, and giving a false report of a crime.


FREE DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION: GET ONLY 'FEATURED' STORIES BY EMAIL

Big Tech is using a content filtering system for online censorship. Watch our short video about NewsGuard to learn how they control the narrative for the Lamestream Media and help keep you in the dark. NewsGuard works with Big-Tech to make it harder for you to find certain content they feel is 'missing context' or stories their editors deem "not in your best interest" - regardless of whether they are true and/or factually accurate. They also work with payment processors and ad-networks to cut off revenue streams to publications they rate poorly by their same bias standards. This should be criminal in America. You can bypass this third-world nonsense by signing up for featured stories by email and get the good stuff delivered right to your inbox.
 

Merchant was in jail on three charges from incidents which took place between 2014 and 2018, lewd and lascivious battery, unlawful sexual activity with a minor, and lewd and lascivious exhibition. Merchant had plead not guilty to all three.

MERCHANT
The victim, Cory Merchant, 35
Comment via Facebook

Corrections: If you are aware of an inaccuracy or would like to report a correction, we would like to know about it. Please consider sending an email to corrections@publishedreporter.com and cite any sources if available. Thank you. (Policy)