A former middle school teacher, Ernest Nichols, who was serving time for repeatedly raping a 15-year-old student, has been killed inside a North Carolina prison by another inmate convicted of murder.
Nichols was discovered dead beside his bunk at Greene Correctional Institution around 6:50 a.m. on October 5, 2025, according to prison authorities.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed that 41-year-old Wilbert Baldwin, another inmate at the facility, has been charged with murder in connection with Nichols’ death.
Baldwin, who was already serving a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder committed in Richmond County in 2007, has now been transferred to Maury Correctional Institution and is being held without bond.
Nichols, who once worked as a middle school teacher, was convicted in 2011 for statutory rape involving a teenage student in Mecklenburg County. He had been serving his sentence for over a decade and was scheduled for release in September 2027.
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