An inmate in a California prison, sentenced to death for the 1979 murder of his pregnant wife, has passed away. Jerry T. Bunyard, 76, died on July 10 at the California State Prison in Sacramento, as reported by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
The CDCR stated in a news release that Bunyard was declared dead at 4:44 p.m. by medical staff at an external medical facility. The Sacramento County Coroner will determine the official cause of death.
Bunyard was convicted of first-degree murder for killing his wife, Elaine Bunyard, and her unborn child. Elaine Bunyard was found on November 1, 1979, in the garage of their San Joaquin County home. Court records reveal that she died from a severe shotgun wound to the head, leading to the fetus’s death due to lack of oxygen. Investigators discovered that Bunyard had hired a friend, Erwin Popham, to carry out the murder.
Popham, known for his criminal history and drug use, had lived on and off with the Bunyard family. Bunyard initially offered his wife a $50,000 divorce settlement, which she rejected, reportedly because he wanted to pursue a relationship with another woman.
Initially, Popham refused Bunyard’s request to kill his wife, but they later agreed on a fee of $1,000, with the promise of more money from Elaine Bunyard’s life insurance after her death. Bunyard and Popham planned to make the murder look like a suicide.
According to court records, Popham attacked Elaine Bunyard while she washed dishes in the kitchen, hitting her on the head with frying pans. He then dragged her to the garage, seated her in a chair, placed Bunyard’s shotgun under her chin, and fired.
The scene contained excessive blood, leading Popham to abandon staging it as a suicide and instead make it appear as a robbery. He later informed Bunyard that the crime was completed.
At present, there are 567 inmates on death row in California as recorded by the CDCR. However, since 2019, executions have been halted due to a moratorium on the death penalty announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom.