Dyteon Simpson, killer of LSU basketball star Wayde Sims found dead in Louisiana jail

BATON ROUGE, La. — A man recently sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an LSU basketball star has died of an apparent drug overdose.

The attorney reports, citing Baton Rouge authorities, that Dyteon Simpson, 23, was found unconscious around 8 p.m. Sunday at the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail. Staff members were unable to revive him and he was later pronounced dead, sheriff’s spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said.

Simpson was from Baker. He had been convicted in the shooting death of LSU basketball player Wayde Sims.

Authorities said Simpson shot Sims, 20, in the face with a 9mm pistol after Sims intervened in a fight to defend a friend outside a frat party just off the University of South on September 28, 2018.

Simpson was arrested the next day while sitting in the front passenger seat of his girlfriend’s car. A 9mm pistol found under that seat matched the bullet recovered from Sims’ body and a casing recovered from the shooting scene, prosecutors said.

Simpson was officially sentenced to life in prison, the mandatory sentence for second-degree murder, last week.

Hicks said a preliminary toxicology on Simpson’s body showed signs of fentanyl. The East Baton Rouge Coroner will conduct an inquest.