Autopsy shows inmate had flesh-eating bacteria

An autopsy shows that a Dixon Correctional Center inmate died of blood poisoning and a rare flesh-eating disease.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office conducted the autopsy after 32-year-old Robert Turner died Friday at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Turner was transferred from Dixon to the Chicago hospital Wednesday. He was serving a 40-year sentence for killing a man during a home invasion robbery in 1998.

The medical examiner’s office says Turner died of necrotizing fasciitis and sepsis. His death was ruled natural.

Infections by flesh-eating bacteria can destroy muscle, fat and skin tissue.