A man has died after 18-years behind bars for his part in the murder of a fellow student at a rural boarding school in southeast Missouri.

The Crossroads Correctional Center said Anthony Rutherford was pronounced dead at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron, Mo. at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The department said an autopsy will be conducted but at this time the department does not suspect foul play was involved.

Rutherford was a 37-year-old man serving a life sentence without parole for first-degree murder and armed criminal action from Phelps County.

He was received in the Missouri Department of Corrections on June 23, 1997.

The Cult Education Institute reported in May of 1997 that Rutherford of Siloam Springs, Ark. was found guilty of first-degree murder after a trial that lasted barely 5 1/2 hours. He was charged at the age of 19 along with another teen in connection with the murder of a fellow student, William A. Furtrelle II, 16 of Boca Raton, Fla. at the Mountain Park Baptist Church and Boarding Academy in Wayne County, Mo.