FORT DODGE – A Fort Dodge Correctional Facility inmate has been charged with first-degree murder in the homicide of an inmate found dead on June 14.

Eric Hall, 44, was charged Tuesday after the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation determined that he had been inside victim Thomas Andrew Daleske’s cell shortly before Daleske’s unresponsive body was discovered at about 5:15 p.m. on June 14. Daleske was 59.

In an interview, Hall admitted to killing Daleske, according to Cord Overton, public information officer for the Iowa Department of Corrections. The State Medical Examiner’s office determined the cause of death as strangulation with blunt force injuries to the head, ruling the death a homicide.

Hall remains in the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility as the charges are processed. The inmate has been serving a sentence for third-degree burglary since April 2019. His tentative release date was scheduled for November 2023.

Daleske was serving a 45-year sentence for multiple convictions out of Warren County, including sexual abuse and lascivious acts with a child, that started in October 2000.