Jail nurse wanted to marry a murderer, so she poisoned her husband, Missouri cops say
A jail nurse in Missouri “developed a romantic relationship” with a convicted murderer before she was charged with killing her husband, sheriff reports said, according to the Jefferson City News Tribune.
Amy Murray is accused of “poisoning her husband and setting his bed on fire,” KRCG reported. She did so, police say, so that she could marry the Jefferson City Correctional Center inmate, KRCG reported.
Murray, 40, of Iberia, planned to marry Eugene Claypool, the News Tribune reported. Claypool, also 40, was given a life sentence in the “deadly stabbing of a 72-year-old Missouri man who won $1.7 million in a lottery game,” FOX News reported.
The life sentence is in connection to a second-degree murder charge, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections Offender Search.
Murray had told Claypool in recorded phone conversations that she could marry him because her husband was dead and “out of the picture,” court documents said, according to KMIZ. She and Claypool also talked in a recorded phone call about getting an attorney so they could shorten his life sentence, the News Tribune reported.
Authorities said her husband, Joshua Murray, was found dead after a Dec. 11, 2018 house fire in Miller County, Missouri, OzarksFirst reported. Investigators found evidence of arson, and an autopsy showed that Joshua Murray died of poisoning before the fire.
The Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office said he “likely died” from ethylene glycol, which is used in antifreeze, KRCG reported.
The Miller County Sheriff’s Office say his wife started the fire before leaving for a McDonald’s in Osage Beach, KMIZ reported. She took her 11-year-old boy and dogs with her, the station reported. The McDonald’s is about 20 miles from their home in Iberia.
“When she returned to the home, she said the house was on fire, and the smoke was too heavy for her to go inside, according to a probable cause statement,” KMIZ reported.
Amy Murray has since been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action, KSIS reported on Feb. 8. She was booked into jail on a $750,000.00 bond.
This story was originally published February 11, 2019 at 9:44 AM with the headline "Jail nurse wanted to marry a murderer, so she poisoned her husband, Missouri cops say."