Sheriff Investigating Death Of Mass. Man Held In Rockingham Jail

BRENTWOOD, NH — The Rockingham County Sheriff's Office announced on Friday that it was investigating the death of a Massachusetts man in custody at the county jail on April 30.

Mark Frederick Zraket, 54, of East Boston, Massachusetts, was arrested around 11 p.m. on April 29 on a fugitive from just warrant out of Massachusetts as well as felony car theft and possession of a controlled drug charges.

Around 11 a.m., police were notified of a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu sedan from the LaQuinta Inn on Keewaydin Drive in Salem. Police put out an alert on the stolen vehicle, according to Capt. Jason Smith of the Salem Police Department, with Zraket as a suspect. Later in the day, a bank in Medford, MA, was robbed and police in that city chased the suspect's car, a Malibu. Smith said police in Massachusetts "gave up the pursuit when it got too dangerous" but issued alerts about the vehicle and later, an arrest warrant for Zraket when the cases were connected by law enforcement agencies in two states.

Around 11 p.m., Zraket returned to the LaQuinta Inn to rent a room, and a staffer called police — alerting them that the suspect from the previous car theft incident 12 hours before had returned to the motel. Smith said he was arrested, without incident, on theft by unauthorized taking-$1,501+, possession of crack cocaine, and fugitive from justice on the bank robbery warrant, all felonies. He was held without bail at the jail.

Mark Frederick Zraket, 54, of East Boston, Massachusetts, was arrested in Salem, New Hampshire, on April 29. Credit: Salem Police Department

Zraket was scheduled to be arraigned at 1 p.m. on April 30, but around 7:30 a.m., he "was found unconscious and not breathing by a corrections officer during a routine cell check," according to Major Christopher Bashaw of the Rockingham County Sheriff's Department.

"Zraket was the sole occupant of the cell," Bashaw said. "Correctional officers and medical staff attempted to revive Zraket without success."

The department's preliminary investigation into Zraket's death indicates "the possibility of an overdose of drugs" being the cause. A state medical examiner's report is pending, Bashaw said.

According to his obituary, Zraket was born in Miami, Florida, but grew up in Methuen, MA, and worked for a number of trucking companies.

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