ORLANDO, Fla. -- The death of "The Vampire Rapist" has been ruled an accident rather than a suicide as originally thought, according to officials.

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Police: Man Drank Victim's Blood

John Crutchley, 55, who drained and drank blood from a 19-year-old woman he abducted in 1985, was found at Hardee Correctional Institution with a plastic bag wrapped around his head, the Florida Department of Corrections said.

A report said that Crutchley apparently died an accidental death from autoerotic asphyxiation while masturbating.

Autoerotic asphyxiation is a form of sexaul gratification involving oxygen deprivation.

Crutchley, who got his nickname because he drank the blood of a kidnapped hitchhiker, drained nearly half of his victim's blood with a syringe and drank some before she escaped his home in Malabar, 60 miles southeast of Orlando, according to reports.

Prosecutors believe he was responsible for as many as 20 murders, according to Local 6 News.

Sentenced to 25 years in prison, Crutchley served 10 years before he was released to a halfway house in Orlando in August 1996. He was arrested the next day after state probation officials said he tested positive for marijuana.

He received a life sentence after that violation.