A murder charge has been filed in connection to a house fire that happened in Iberia in December. When authorities responded to the scene on Janice Drive December 11th, they found one body inside the home. The body was later identified as Joshua Murray. Miller County Sheriff Louie Gregoire says it seemed suspicious right away.
Upon investigating it was determined that an accelerant was used to start the fire. Autopsy results showed that Murray had been poisoned and was dead before the fire began. His wife, Amy Murray, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. She’s been taken to the Miller County Adult Detention Center on a $750,000 bond.
According to the probable cause statement, Mrs. Murray worked as a nurse at the Jefferson City correctional facility, where she began having conversations with an inmate identified at Eugene Claypool. Investigators say that in recorded phone calls with him, they discussed getting a lawyer to get him out early so that they could be together. The coroner lists the likely cause of death as poisoning from ethylene glycol, a highly-toxic, odorless, colorless liquid used often as an antifreeze agent. It’s also found in hydraulic brake fluid, stamp pad inks, ballpoint pens, paints, and cosmetics.
