TURTLECREEK TWP. - A 32-year-old convicted rapist from Columbus was found dead in his cell at Lebanon Correctional Institution on Monday.

State troopers said Ronald J. Rogers' death is being investigated as a homicide, but a cellmate has not been charged.

A corrections officer at the prison on Ohio 63 discovered Mr. Rogers in his cell about 5:30 a.m., highway patrol officials said. He was pronounced dead an hour later at Middletown Regional Hospital. His cellmate, who was not named, was placed in isolation during the investigation. Authorities said a possible weapon was recovered from the cell, but they would not describe it.

The Butler County Coroner's Office is expected to perform an autopsy today to determine the cause of Mr. Rogers' death.

Serving a sentence of seven to 25 years for a 1989 rape in Franklin County, he was to be eligible for parole in June.