A teacher who repeatedly raped a schoolgirl has been killed in prison by a convicted murderer.
Ernest Nichols was convicted in 2011 for the statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The 60-year-old described himself as a "pig" and was originally arrested for 27 charges, including a long list of sex offences, according to American outlet WRAL.
On Sunday the rapist was found dead in his cell at the Greene Correctional Institution in Maury, North Carolina at around 6.50am.
The prison was originally sent into lockdown, but by Tuesday a murder warrant had been served by the Greene County Sheriff's Office to inmate Wilbert Baldwin.
Baldwin is currently serving a sentence for second-degree murder of which he was convicted in 2010.
The State Bureau of Investigation said Baldwin was given no bond and was returned to the Department of Adult Correction.
Nichols was employed as a PE teacher at Ranson Middle School in Charlotte for 14 years before his crimes were discovered.
Ernest Nichols impersonated his son online and repeatedly raped a 15-year-old girl
|NCDAC
He was suspended without pay and barred from school grounds as soon as his crimes came to light.
Nichols impersonated his own son on social media before he raped his victim, who was not a student at his school, multiple times over a six-month period in 2008.
The 15-year-old said she was sent sexually explicit messages by Nichols who also made requests such as creating sexual stories or telling him "whenever she entered the shower", according to the arrest warrant.
After raping her on multiple occasions at his family home, the teacher told his victim to tell people "she wanted" to have sex with him if she was asked about the incidents.
Wilbert Baldwin was already serving a sentence for second-degree murder
|NCDAC
The warrant also said Nichols would sometimes watch the teenager have sex with another man.
Nichols was confronted by the girl's mother before his arrest, and during their conversation he called himself a "pig".
He was arrested at his home in October 2009.
Authorities at the time seized videotapes, a video camera, photographs and sex toys found in the property.
The incident took place on Sunday at the Greene Correctional Institution
|The teacher refused to cooperate with authorities throughout his hearing, and repeatedly insisted he was not a "straw man" when the judge told him to enter a plea.
He also maintained that he did not understand the charges he was faced with and at one point a bailiff was forced to physically restrain him.
Nichols was due to finish his sentence in September 2027.