A convicted middle school teacher who was charged with repeatedly raping a teenage girl has been murdered in an Indiana prison, according to officials.

Ernest Nichols, 60, was found unresponsive inside his cell at Greene Correctional Institution in Maury on Sunday morning at around 6.50 a.m., the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections (NCDAC) said. The agency performed emergency life-saving procedures and called EMS, who pronounced the 60-year-old deceased at 7:22 a.m. 

A NCDAC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Nichols was not murdered in his cell, noting the Green Correctional Institution is a minimum-security prison with dormitory-style housing.

Nichols was convicted of statutory rape in 2011 and was sentenced to 15 years behind bars. He was set to be released in September 2027. 

Ernest Nichols, 60, was killed by a fellow inmate while serving time for repeatedly raping a 15-year-old girl. (NCDAC)

Nichols, a former teacher at Ranson Middle School in the Charlotte area, had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping his son’s 15-year-old girlfriend. Nichols, 46 at the time, pleaded guilty to one count of statutory rape. (Mecklenburg District Attorney’s Office)

According to the Mecklenburg District Attorney’s Office, Nichols was arrested in Oct. 2009 at his home. The agency said that the victim’s mother confronted Nichols after her daughter shared the abuse. Authorities said that Nichols drove down Highway 73 and threw the video recordings into the woods, but the evidence was retrieved by police.

On August 5, 2011, Nichols pled guilty to statutory rape. He was sentenced to 216-269 months (18-22 years) in the North Carolina Department of Correction.