Originally posted 5:35 p.m. Aug. 18, 2022

Updated 10:00 a.m. Aug. 19, 2022

MOULTRIE, Ga. — A woman who pleaded no contest in connection with the death of a child in 2018 has died following an incident at Pulaski State Prison.

Monica Mae Cutts, 29, was pronounced dead at 4:39 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15, at Navicent Health Center in Macon, Pulaski County Deputy Coroner Chris Clark said on Thursday. 

Clark said an autopsy was being performed Thursday at the GBI Crime Lab in Atlanta. He was unable to provide the cause or manner of death until he receives the autopsy’s results.

Cutts, of Tallahassee, Fla., was the driver of a Kia automobile that struck two brothers on Thigpen Trail about 6:50 a.m. Oct. 25, 2018. Ten-year-old Noah John Palmer and his 7-year-old brother, Dylan Wolfe, were crossing the road to a school bus that was stopped with its flashing lights and stop sign activated. Palmer died that evening. Wolfe was injured but survived.

Cutts pleaded no contest to homicide by vehicle in the first degree and serious injury by vehicle. Other charges were dismissed. She was sentenced to five years in prison and 10 years on probation. According to the Georgia Department of Corrections’ website, she was scheduled for release no later than Oct. 25, 2023.

Friday morning the Georgia Department of Corrections issued a two-sentence statement in response to The Observer’s request for information about the incident that led to Cutts’ death.

“The GDC can confirm the death of inmate Cutts as a suspected suicide,” the emailed statement said. “We are conducting an investigation into the death, as standard procedure, therefore no additional details are available for release.”   

Whiddon Shiver Funeral Home in Thomasville is in charge of Cutts’ funeral arrangements.