A man serving life without parole for murder in Buchanan County has died in prison after more than thirty years behind bars.

The Missouri Department of Corrections announced the deaths of two inmates in state custody.

James Potter was sentenced in Buchanan County in 1982 to life without parole for 50 years. Potter died at a Jefferson City Hospital at age 50.  Foul play is not suspected, but an autopsy will be conducted.

The DOC reports that Potter died on Monday, July 29, 2013, at approximately 3:07 a.m.

The other fatality involved a defendant from eastern Missouri.

Sixty-three year old inmate Donald Kroll had been in prison for burglary, sodomy, and sexual abuse on a 47-year sentence since 1983. He had committed his crimes in Franklin and in St.Louis Counties. The Coirrections Department says he died of natural causes.