Six months after her son died while locked up in the Cherokee County Detention Center, Margaret Riddle said she has a reason to live.

“I’ve got to see this through for him,” Riddle said Thursday of the wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit pending in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Oklahoma. “It was six months ago today that God took him from this world.”

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed on behalf of Aaron Colby Riddle on Feb. 1 in Cherokee County District Court. Riddle, 22, was found dead Sept. 6 hanging from a bunk with a bed sheet tied around his neck.

The civil action names Cherokee County Detention Center as the sole defendant. Loyd Bickel, Cherokee County Detention Center administrator, has denied any liability for Riddle’s death.

Bickel did not return a telephone call Thursday.

The action was removed to federal court last month by a petition filed by Chris Collins of Oklahoma City, who represents the defendants. In his petition, Collins stated that Riddles’ cause of action arises from protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

In the Riddles’ petition, Tahlequah lawyer James Cosby alleges facts included in a state jail inspector’s report that found fault with the way on-duty jail employees were conducting business. The most troubling aspect, according to the report, was the absence of documented sight checks, which are required by law to be done hourly.

Oklahoma State Department of Health’s Jail Inspection Division Investigator Cal Kester also noted in his report that jail workers provided false information during his investigation of the circumstances of Riddle’s death.

During past interviews, Bickel said jail employees followed established protocol in response to the apparent suicide. Bickel also has said those who failed to conduct and document mandatory sight checks were disciplined.

Cosby’s petition also alleges jailers had knowledge of Riddle’s suicidal tendencies and were negligent by placing him in a cell with such items as a bed sheet.

Negligence also was alleged as a result of the administration’s failure to train and supervise jail employees.

Oklahoma City lawyer Timothy Melton, in an answer filed Feb. 26 in federal court, denied all of the substantive allegations. Melton also stated the plaintiffs, Eugene and Margaret Riddle, have failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted and claims Cherokee County Detention Facility is exempt from liability.

Margaret Riddle, however, says she is “going to get justice one way or another.”

“I’m just taking care of myself and putting my faith in God and taking it one day at a time,” Riddle said Thursday while reminiscing about her son and the life she said was cut short. “I’ve got to see this through for him — he cannot have died in vain.”