Mustafa Spain found dead in jail cell after Applebee's robbery arrest

Mustafa Spain was scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday morning for a detention hearing on charges that he robbed an Applebee’s at gunpoint. Instead, at 12:18 a.m. on Nov. 4, a correction officer found the 38-year-old unresponsive in his cell at the Albany County Correctional Facility, CBS 6 Albany reported. Despite CPR from officers and Colonie EMS personnel, Spain was pronounced dead, and an autopsy determined he died by suicide by hanging.

The death closes a case that moved quickly from a local restaurant robbery to a federal prosecution, and it leaves open questions about how a federal detainee in county custody was able to take his own life hours before he was due in court.

From Greenbush Road to a Federal Cell

The sequence began on or around Oct. 18, when Spain allegedly entered the Applebee’s on North Greenbush Road in Rensselaer, went into the office of an employee who was closing for the night, pointed a gun at the victim, struck him with the gun, tied him up, and fled with $1,276, according to the criminal complaint detailed by WNYT. East Greenbush Police and New York State Police assisted in the investigation, which the FBI took charge of on the night of Nov. 3. The bureau announced Spain’s arrest earlier that week on federal Hobbs Act charges, and he was being held at the Albany County Correctional Facility as a federal detainee, CBS 6 Albany reported.

Man arrested in connection to Rensselaer Applebee’s armed robbery

WNYT reported that a correction officer observed Spain slumped over in his cell with a bedsheet around his neck. Officers cut the bedsheet away and began lifesaving measures, but Spain could not be revived. The Albany County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Craig Apple, confirmed the death and said the New York State Attorney General’s Office responded alongside sheriff’s investigators, as is standard procedure following any in-custody death.

Prosecutors and Sheriff’s Office Remain Silent

The detention hearing Spain was set to attend on the morning of Nov. 4 will not happen. Federal prosecutors have not publicly stated whether the Hobbs Act case will be dismissed following his death, and the sheriff’s office has not released details about the circumstances that allowed the hanging to occur in his cell. Those questions remain unanswered as of Wednesday evening.