VALDOSTA — A Lowndes County Jail inmate died during the weekend of what appear to be natural causes, according to county officials.

Nathaniel Sloan, 42, was pronounced dead early Saturday morning at the Lowndes County Jail medical facility.

Sloan had been arrested on July 13 on charges of burglary by the Valdosta Police Department.

Sheriff Chris Prine said he was notified by the jail superintendent that Sloan died.

Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson was called in to make the official pronouncement.

“He had presented himself to the medical facility with a fever and had been isolated since the previous day. He was on medication and the nurse had checked on him at 1:48 a.m. and he appeared to be doing fine. When she came back to check on him 30 minutes later, he was not breathing properly, so they called the EMTs,” Prine said.

According to Watson, the death is believed to be due to natural causes, but it’s standard procedure to send the body to Atlanta for an autopsy.

The results should be back in a day or two.

“I examined him, and there was no trauma to the body. According to the medical records, he had been through the dispensary several times, on the 13th and again on the 17th, with cold symptoms and a fever. He came back on the 25th, and he was being treated in the facility at the time of his death,” Watson said.

Prine said Sloan lived with his grandmother, Bertha Phillips, in Valdosta and she was notified in person early Saturday morning. He also spoke with Sloan’s mother, Dorothy Sloan Hoffman, in Savannah, and his father, Jimmy Sloan, in Ocala, Fla.

“My sympathy goes out to this family. I did all I could to make sure that I tracked his family down to speak with them personally, and I’m sorry for their loss,” Prine said.

The sheriff said there is no reason at this time to believe that Sloan had any sort of contagious flu or disease that could be spread to other inmates at the jail.

In accordance with state procedure when an inmate dies, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations is also investigating.