Palms Inn fatal stabbing suspect dies alone in Sonoma County jail cell, cause of death unknown

Skyler Rasmussen, who was awaiting trial in the stabbing death of a Palms Inn supportive housing resident, died in his cell Wednesday at the Sonoma County jail in Santa Rosa.

Deputies found Rasmussen unresponsive in his cell, where he was housed alone, a Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said in a news release. They performed CPR, used an automated external defibrillator and provided Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal drug, but emergency medical personnel pronounced Rasmussen dead on their arrival.

The spokesperson, Deputy Robert Dillion, told The Press Democrat the agency was unable to provide any additional details, including whether the Narcan was used because there was evidence of an overdose, because an investigation was ongoing.

The Marin County Coroner’s Office is conducting the death investigation, under a protocol that sends in-custody death cases outside Sonoma County.

This is the fourth in-custody death at the jail since September.

Rasmussen, 28, had been in jail since mid-December 2022, when he was arrested and charged with murder for stabbing Palms Inn resident William Woodard five times. That stabbing came just seven days after he was released from the jail and walked away from a court-ordered rehabilitation program in San Francisco.

Rasmussen made his way to Santa Rosa and was using drugs at The Palms Inn, a permanent supportive housing facility on Santa Rosa Avenue where formerly homeless people are offered a place to live in hotel rooms converted to studio apartments.

Palms Inn residents, including Woodard, raised concerns about security, living conditions and a lack of services at the facility in previous Press Democrat reporting. Rasmussen was not a resident of the Palms but had been at the property acquiring and using drugs, according to witness testimony in a September 2023 preliminary hearing.

During that preliminary hearing, Rasmussen’s previous attorney made the case that the stabbing was in self-defense — in response to a sexual assault by Woodard — and sought to have first-degree murder charges, which require proof of premeditation and intent, thrown out.

Judge Robert La Forge did not accept those arguments at the preliminary hearing but said they should be put to a jury trial.

Prosecutor Thomas Gotshall told the judge it seemed “extremely improbable” that Woodard had made sexual advances toward Rasmussen when the other man let himself into Woodard’s home in the early morning hours, high on meth and acting erratically, and was only inside for five minutes.

Rasmussen’s current attorney, Rachel McAllister, told The Press Democrat on Thursday they intended to continue making the self-defense argument in trial and that Rasmussen had been actively preparing for the case, conducting legal research on a jail-provided tablet.

But her client did not appear in court for a hearing Monday. She made several attempts to visit Rasmussen in the days following but was unable to see him because the jail was on lockdown, she said.

Both inmates and defense attorneys have been raising concerns about frequent lockdowns keeping inmates in their cells for 23 hours a day and stopping visitation, due to staffing issues at the jail.

“Skyler was a troubled person and he desperately wanted to recover from his mental health and addiction issues,” McAllister told The Press Democrat. “He wanted to be a better person and get his life sorted out so he could be a better father.”

Court filings from Rasmussen’s trials over prior crimes tell the story of a man who spent much of his life incarcerated, as both a juvenile and an adult, after becoming a ward of the state at age 8. The court record includes a number of references to Rasmussen’s challenges with substance abuse and mental health.

He witnessed and experienced domestic abuse as a child and later committed his own violent acts, which include at least two other stabbings before Woodard’s killing. In November 2021, he led police on a high-speed, 16-mile vehicle chase down Highway 101 that ended when his car caught fire.

He spent a year in jail following that arrest, before Sonoma County Judge Karlene Navarro ordered him into a rehab program in lieu of prison in December 2022. Rasmussen violated Navarro’s order that he not leave the program before completing it and walked away from his intake interview.

Rasmussen had three children, according to a letter their mother wrote to Navarro at that time, supporting Rasmussen and asking the judge to give him a chance at rehab.

Staff Writer Madison Smalstig contributed to this article.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Graham at 707-526-8667 or andrew.graham@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on X (Twitter) @AndrewGraham88