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Ryan Lynn Horton, was found unresponsive in his cell on April 11, Eric Tice, superintendent of the State Correctional Institution at Somerset announced.
"Prison staff and medical personnel immediately responded and provided life-saving measures. EMS arrived and advanced life support measures were continued," Tice stated in the release.
Horton was declared deceased at 6:16 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the release.
Horton was serving a life sentence for the first-degree murder of Edward Gilhart of Hancock, Maryland, according to previous releases by Pennsylvania State Police. Gilhart's bullet-riddled body was found on Buchanan Trail West near Mercersburg on Thursday, June 2, 2016, around 4 a.m., state police said. Horton, then 27 years old, along with then 19-year-old Christian Sage Harris, and 21-year-old Emily Belle Tucker had been attempting to rob him. The trio was from McConnellsburg, Fulton County, public records show.
Hurton was the mastermind who came up with the idea to leave a duffle bag along the side of the road and ambush whoever stopped and rob them, Tucker explained to State Police while reporting a domestic assault at his hands the following Monday, court records detail.
Gilhart was on his way to work at JLG in McConnellsburg when he stopped and approached the bag, the trio, who had been hiding behind a rock, ambushed him, shooting him in the head, neck, chest, and shoulder, according to police.
"At the end of the day they walked away with $24," Trooper Hicks said. "This guy lost his life over that."
Gilhart previously served in the US Army and was "survived by his wife Bonnie (Bingaman) Gilhart; sons, Joshua Gilhart, of Hancock, and Eric Gilhart, of Berkeley Springs, W.Va.; a granddaughter, Ariel Gilhart; three sisters; and one brother," as stated in his obituary.
All three were convicted on homicide charges, according to court documents.
Prior to the murder, Horton had a criminal record for burglarizing a gunshop and selling two of the guns for cocaine, according to the US DOJ. He was in federal prison from 2009 until about 2013, and was under federal supervision until February 2015, according to court records.
Horton had been residing in SCI Somerset since February 19, 2021, as explained in the DOC release.
"In accordance with state policy, the Pennsylvania State Police were notified and will conduct an investigation. The official cause of death will be determined by the Somerset County Coroner's Office," Tice said.
His next-of-kin has been notified, according to the DOC.
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