Prisoner who hanged himself had set fire that killed man

The body of Jontue Lefrancois, 19, was found hanging in his cell at the state prison in Indian Springs early Wednesday morning, said Nevada Department of Prisons spokesman Howard Skolnik. The discovery was made by a prison guard.

Lefrancois pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and arson in November in connection with a July 11 fire at his wife's home. Authorities said Lefrancois poured an accelerant in a hallway of the home and ignited it with the intention of killing his spouse, Tami Lefrancois.

"It was jealously," Clark County Deputy District Attorney Dan Bowman said shortly after Jontue Lefrancois was charged. "She said she had wanted a divorce."

A roommate of Tami Lefrancois', Nick Boonkum, 28, opened his bedroom door when he heard a smoke alarm and was badly burned by the flash fire. Boonkum leaped through a window of the residence but soon realized Tami Lefrancois was still inside.

Boonkum then went back inside the home and rescued the woman, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and used a wheelchair. Boonkum died days later from the burns he suffered.

Fire investigators described him as a hero for rescuing his roommate.

Jontue Lefrancois pleaded guilty in November to second-degree murder and arson. He was sentenced to the Southern Desert Correctional Center where he was to serve a 10- to 25-year sentence for the murder consecutive with a 5- to 15-year sentence for the arson conviction.

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