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Wife learns of husband’s death on Facebook

Posted at 5:55 PM, Jun 21, 2013
and last updated 2013-06-24 06:20:20-04

PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) - A Virginia woman can't understand why she learned news about her husband death, not through officials, but through Facebook.

"My brother called me to tell me it had been posted on Facebook, that my husband had hung himself," Samantha Starr said.

Her husband, Victor Starr, committed suicide on Father's Day while incarcerated in Riverside Regional Jail.

"The medical examiner puts his time of death at 6:15 a.m. I found out about 7:45 a.m.," Starr said.

She said she is upset about how she and other family members learned of Victor's death. She wants someone at Riverside Regional Jail held accountable for the information getting out and for not contacting her in a timely fashion.

"I'm outraged, I think there needs to be more done. Families need to be contacted before anything is leaked," Starr said. "Whether it's an inmate or whether it's a corrections officers. I should have been notified one way or another, without Facebook."

Starr said she does not know if there was a phone call made to someone who posted it originally or if the post came from someone inside the jail. Either way, she said she wants an explanation.

When contacted to answer some questions, CBS 6 was told jail officials had "no comment at this time."

Victor Starr was arrested in May after a domestic dispute with his wife. Family members said Starr was dealing with personal demons and said they thought he was under a suicide watch in the jail.

"Be Victor a monster or be he not one, he still deserves some respect," Samantha Starr said.