Clay County jury recommends life sentence for man convicted in girlfriend’s death
A Clay County jury Tuesday recommended that a 46-year-old man convicted of using a pillow to asphyxiate his former girlfriend be sentenced to life in prison.
Jurors earlier had found William M. Shivers guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 40-year-old Julie Johnson. Police found her body early on April 26, 2011, in a home in the 10300 block of North Tracy Avenue.
Prosecutors said Shivers called his estranged wife after the slaying and told her what happened. The wife’s boyfriend called police. Officers found Shivers as he was leaving the neighborhood and arrested him.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 26.
Johnson was the mother of three sons. She graduated from Archbishop O’Hara High School in 1989. She worked for Ivize Services Inc. at the time of her death, said Clay County Prosecutor Daniel White.
| Glenn E. Rice, grice@kcstar.com
This story was originally published August 5, 2014 at 5:30 PM.