GREENE COUNTY, N.C. (WITN/Gray News) – A man serving time in prison for repeatedly raping a teenage girl was killed by a fellow inmate last weekend, according to officials.

The death happened at Greene Correctional Institution in North Carolina.

The Department of Adult Correction said Ernest Nichols, 60, was found dead on the floor beside his bunk in a dormitory on Sunday morning.

Nichols, a former middle school teacher, was convicted in 2011 of statutory rape that happened in Mecklenburg County. He was projected to be released from prison in September 2027.

On Tuesday, fellow inmate Wilbert Baldwin, 41, was charged with Nichols’ murder.

He was given no bond and has been moved to Maury Correctional Institution.

Baldwin is already serving a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder that happened in Richmond County back in 2007.

According to a report from WBTV, Nichols raped a teen several times during a six-month period, which started during the fall of 2008.

A warrant said that Nichols told the girl to tell people that “she wanted” to have sex if she were asked about what happened.

Nichols was a physical education teacher at Ransom Middle School in north Charlotte. He worked at the school district for 14 years.

Investigators said the sexual assaults happened at Nichols’ home in Huntersville. Police said the victim was not a student at the school.