NASHVILLE — A prison inmate serving a life term for his role in the deaths of a girl in Berrien County and two others in 2019 has himself been killed in prison.

Jonathan “Sparky” Vann, 25, was killed Wednesday in Macon State Prison in an altercation with another inmate, a Georgia Department of Corrections statement said.

He was serving a sentence of life in prison without parole following a plea deal for the death of 17-year-old Mercedes Hackle.

Hackle was one of three people found dead along the Berrien-Atkinson county line in March 2019. Vann and another suspect, Keyante Greene, were indicted by a Berrien County grand jury; both men entered guilty pleas on multiple murder counts, sentencing forms show. Greene continues to serve his sentence at Telfair State Prison.

On March 12, 2019, the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to assist with a missing persons investigation following the discovery of a vehicle on fire off Ga. 135 at the Alapaha River near the Atkinson County line. An investigation determined the car was used by Bobby Lynn Moore, according to a GBI statement.

Moore, Ronnie Wayne Hackle Jr. and Mercedes Hackle did not respond to attempts to contact them and were reported missing, according to the statement.

Before an indictment, Vann was charged with three counts of malice murder in connection to the deaths and one count of arson in connection with a burned vehicle, the GBI reports. Greene was charged with two counts of malice murder in connection with the deaths of Wayne Hackle Jr. and Moore in Atkinson County and one count of malice murder for the death of Mercedes Hackle in Berrien County, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The GBI, Berrien County Sheriff’s Office, Atkinson County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources have worked the case.