Poki Roni Ranch owner, convicted murderer found dead in jail cell

Travis Kirchner, the man convicted of murdering his 81-year-old mother in 2011, was found dead early Sunday morning in his jail cell at the Boyd unit near Waco.

Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice say that Kirchner was found hanging from a towel hook in his cell at about 4:30 a.m. May 18. He was alone in his cell before he was found dead.

Kirchner, owner of the Poki Roni Ranch, was sentenced to 29 years in prison in Oct. 2011 after being convicted of murdering his mother Patricia Kirchner.

He began serving his sentence on Dec. 13, 2011. According to jail records, he would have been eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence.

Patricia was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning inside the garage of her home at the Poki Roni Ranch in September of 2008.

The mother and son owned the property together.

During Kirchner’s trial, his defense team always maintained that Patricia Kirchner’s death was part of a mother-son suicide pact that went wrong.