A 39-year-old man convicted of killing Lino Lakes police officer Shawn Silvera in 2005 died in prison earlier this month, according to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sarah Fitzgerald.
The department has opened an investigation into the death of Steven Stanke — protocol for all deaths in prison — and the Ramsey County medical examiner is conducting an autopsy, Fitzgerald said.
Stanke was pronounced dead Nov. 1 at Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater, that wasn't publicly known until City Pages reported it Wednesday.
Fitzgerald said she could not provide details about the death because of the ongoing investigation.
In September 2005, Stanke was wanted by police for a string of burglaries and threatening someone with a knife — crimes he feared might add up to 80 years in prison if they caught him.
He led police on a high-speed chase down Interstate 35W in a stolen car.
About nine minutes into the chase, Silvera, 32, threw down spikes in the vehicle's path designed to deflate tires. Stanke swerved into the median, hitting Silvera and throwing him 280 feet, and then crashed into a van. Silvera died at the scene, leaving behind a wife and two children. In 2006, the Legislature designated a portion of the highway near where Silvera died as "Officer Shawn Silvera Memorial Highway."
Stanke told investigators he was high on meth during the chase. An Anoka County judge sentenced him to 42 years in prison, the maximum allowed by law.
