Rhode Island inmate accused of double murder used face mask to choke self to death, reports say

Victim Mark Dupre had received liver from man stabbed to death in 2016

LINCOLN, R.I. — A Rhode Island man who received the liver of a homicide victim in 2016 was himself slain with his wife in their home earlier this month, and the man accused of killing the couple later took his own life by shoving his face mask down his throat.

WPRI in East Providence reported that Timothy McQuesten, 49, of Lincoln, was found dead Tuesday in his cell, where he was being monitored as a suicide risk. Sources told the news station and the Providence Journal that surveillance footage from the Providence County Jail showed how McQuesten apparently died.

A corrections officer has been placed on leave as jail authorities and the Rhode Island State Police investigate McQuesten’s death, though foul play is not suspected.

McQuesten was being held without bond in the Jan. 14 bludgeoning deaths of Mark Dupre and his wife, Kimberly Dupre, in their first-floor Lincoln apartment. According to the Journal, McQuesten was an acquaintance of the couple.

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Lincoln police officers went to the couple’s home the morning of the killings after the couple’s upstairs neighbor, who had heard suspicious loud noises coming from their home, tried to call Kimberly Dupre to check on them.

When she didn’t answer the phone, the neighbor went downstairs and found Kimberly Dupre dead and Mark Dupre dying, the Journal reported. Mark Dupre was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

NBC 10 in Cranston reported that McQuesten knew Kimberly Dupre, who authorities said had cared for McQuesten and his brother after their mother died.

“However, a couple years ago, they had a falling out and had not spoken since the night before this incident,” prosecutor Jon Burke said in court, according to the station.

McQuesten asked Kim Dupre to meet up, the couple’s upstairs neighbor told police.

Kim Dupre declined, citing COVID-19 concerns, prosecutors said. McQuesten was accused of going to the couple’s home the following morning and attacking them.

He was already a person of interest in the case when he called 911 later that morning and said he was “depressed about what happened to the Dupres,” WPRI reported. During his conversation with the dispatcher, McQuesten mentioned they were slain — a detail that had not been made public at that point.

Investigators searched his home a quarter-mile from the Dupres’ apartment. They found bloodstained clothes and shoes there.

A crowbar and a hammer that appeared to have blood on them were found in his car, NBC 10 reported.

McQuesten’s brother also told detectives McQuesten had confessed to him about the double homicide, WPRI reported.

The COVID-19 pandemic would have been of great concern to Kim Dupre because her husband, who suffered from health issues, had been the recipient of a donor liver in 2016.

His organ donor, Jasper Tyrone Williams, was also the victim of a homicide. Williams, 24, of Providence was stabbed 18 times the evening of Dec. 10, 2016, according to the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office.

His killer, James Stevens, committed the crime after getting into a violent argument with his ex-girlfriend and Williams outside the girlfriend’s East Providence home. Williams died Dec. 15 after being removed from life support.

Stevens, 31, was found guilty of manslaughter in April 2019, according to the AG’s office. He was later sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Williams’ mother, Alecia Williams, told CBS 21 in Harrisburg that news of the Dupres’ deaths broke her heart. She had become friends with Mark Dupre and his wife following his liver transplant.

Williams, who said she had no idea her son wished to donate his organs, said the young father was able to give four of his organs — his heart, liver and kidneys — to others after his death.

Following his surgery, Dupre tracked her down.

“He sent me a Christmas card and he said to me, ‘Thank you for giving me a second chance at life,’” Williams told the station.

Williams spoke monthly with Dupre from her home in Raleigh, North Carolina. She said having a relationship with her son’s organ recipient eased the pain of his death.

Now, she’s mourning both her son and Dupre.

“It’s like reliving the story all over again, because the way that they died reminds me of the way that my son died,” Williams said. “What hurts is that, for me, I won’t be able to talk to him, because he had part of my son living inside of him.”

McQuesten’s motive for killing Mark and Kim Dupre remains unclear. When he was arraigned the day after the homicides, he indicated that he was on antipsychotic medication, according to the Journal.

Watch footage of McQuesten’s court hearing below, courtesy of WPRI.

At his court hearing, which he attended wearing a mask, he expressed concern that one of his medications, the sedative medication Klonopin, had not been given to him in jail. He described the drug as an antipsychotic, but it is a benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety, panic attacks and seizures.

“I don’t know where it went or how it got lost,” McQuesten told the judge. “All of my other meds were transported.”

It was not clear what other medications he was on.

The Journal reported that the judge at that hearing ordered a psychiatric evaluation and a Jan. 28 competency hearing for McQuesten, who was placed on crisis status at the jail. He was isolated from other inmates and his socks and shoes were confiscated.

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He was also issued a smock used in jails and prisons across the U.S. to prevent inmates from hurting themselves. The garments, made of thick quilted materials, cannot be torn, rolled or folded to form a noose.

Inmates who are placed on crisis status are under increased supervision, with checks by guards as often as every 10 minutes, according to the newspaper.

Authorities investigating McQuesten’s death are trying to determine the frequency with which the inmate was monitored before his death.

Little was known about McQuesten, but a Facebook page he appears to have abandoned in 2013 indicates he worked at one time as a behavior specialist at the New England Center for Children. He studied special education in college, the page shows.

Two of his few Facebook friends were Mark and Kim Dupre.

The couple’s friends described them as giving individuals. Kim Dupre had been her husband’s caregiver as he battled a bad case of shingles over the past several months.

“I’m just devastated, to be honest with you,” Paul Mainville told NBC 10.

Rod Alfatlawi, who placed flowers for the couple outside their home following their deaths, described Mark Dupre as his fishing buddy. Kim Dupre used to cut his wife’s hair.

“They’re very good people,” Alfatlawi said. “They used to help people a lot.”

Williams said she had a message she wished she could give Mark Dupre.

“If I had a chance to talk to Mr. Mark, I would say, ‘Just give my son Jasper a hug in heaven,’” Williams told CBS 21.

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