Andrew Wiley, who was charged with killing his 12-year old daughter and dumping her body in the Georgia woods, has died in the Leon County jail, the Sheriff’s Office announced.
Wiley, 36, was the father of Lori Paige, who went missing in Tallahassee two years ago.
In a news release the evening of June 19, sheriff’s spokesperson Javonni Hampton said Wiley “experienced a medical emergency” at the jail, “was taken to the medical unit and treated.”
“LCSO detention staff began life-saving measures and were assisted by emergency responders upon their arrival,” Hampton added. Wiley “was pronounced dead at approximately 5:36 p.m.”
The news release also said Wiley “had been in custody at the detention facility since April 2025. His next of kin has been notified. All standard protocols for an in-custody death are being followed. The Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy to determine cause and manner of death.”
No further information was released, including whether Wiley died by suicide.
Wiley makes eighth Leon County jail inmate death in last two years
Wiley is now at least the third inmate death in the Leon County Detention Facility this year, and the eighth death in the last two years, according to previous reporting.
A 26-year-old woman died in February, also after experiencing a medical emergency.
That inmate, whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. “No foul play is suspected,” a news release at the time said.
A month before that, Nicholas Shoemaker, a 36-year-old man, died at the jail after being found unresponsive by detention deputies. LCSO said no foul play was suspected in that death either.
In 2024, at least five jail inmates died, either at the jail or after being taken to a hospital.
Locals in Tallahassee gathered in memory of Griffin Middle schooler Lori Paige at Adderley Amphitheater for a candlelight vigil and bubble blowing ceremony after TPD solved her nearly two years old missing persons case Sunday, April 13, 2025.
Lori Paige was missing for almost 2 years when remains found
Paige had been the subject of a missing child case police were working for nearly two years when her remains were found after a prescribed burn, in a “remote, brush-covered area of Thomas County, Georgia,” police said.
The Griffin Middle schooler went missing in June 2023; she was 12 at the time. Police, the FBI, community volunteers and her family were searching for her since then.
Wiley, who originally reported her missing, was in jail on a second-degree murder charge. Investigators pursued hundreds of leads across multiple states in what was called an “exhaustive” investigation that included what’s known as a “grid search” at San Luis Mission Park — the last place the girl was seen.
Generally, a grid search is a systematic method used by police where searchers move in parallel lines across a defined area to thoroughly locate evidence or a body.
Detectives had said Lori’s case was much more complicated than other missing children cases because she lacked a digital footprint without a social phone or social media. Moreover, her family dynamic complicated the case: Family members are spread out across three different states — Florida, Tennessee and Georgia.
And Lori had been in the custody of the state’s Department of Children and Families when she was very young. About a month before she disappeared, she ran away from home. She apparently stayed by a pool at an apartment complex, where friends brought her food.
Jim Rosica can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X: @JimRosicaFL.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Father accused in Lori Paige murder case dies in Leon County jail
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