A Stockton man, on death row in California for the 1979 murder of his pregnant wife, has died at the age of 76.
Jerry T. Bunyard died on July 10 while incarcerated at California State Prison, Sacramento, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday.
CDCR officials said Bunyard was pronounced dead at 4:44 p.m. at an outside medical facility by medical staff. The Sacramento County Coroner will determine his official cause of death.
Bunyard was convicted 45 years ago of hiring another man to kill his 28-year-old pregnant wife, Elaine, on Nov. 1, 1979, because he was unhappy in his marriage, an appeal ruling from the California Supreme Court stated.
Earlin Popham, Jerry Bunyard’s childhood friend, was the man hired to kill Elaine Bunyard. Popham was offered by Jerry Bunyard $1,000 and part of the proceeds from an insurance policy in exchange for the killing.
A jury convicted Bunyard of the first-degree murders of his wife as well as their full-term “healthy fetus,” court documents stated. Additionally, the jury found true one special-circumstance allegation. The allegation was that Bunyard had committed multiple murders – he was sentenced to death.
Court documents stated that Bunyard’s wife was about to give birth any day, but on the day of her death she was found by her 7-year-old daughter dead in the garage of her home.
Elaine Bunyard had been in the kitchen of her home washing dishes when Popham walked up behind her and struck her multiple times on the head with frying pans to knock her out. Popham then dragged the pregnant woman, while she was unconscious, to the garage. He placed her in a chair, propped a shotgun under her chin and shot her.
The killing was initially intended to appear as a suicide, court documents stated. However, when Popham realized a trial of blood from the kitchen to the garage, he decided to stage the killing as a robbery. He knocked over furniture then took $5 from the victims purse.
Medical testimony from the trial stated that Elaine Bunyard had died from a “massive gunshot wound to the head.” Her unborn child suffocated moments later due to the lack of oxygen, court documents stated.
In 2009, Jerry Bunyard lost his appeal to the California Supreme Court.
CDCR said they received Jerry Bunyard on Feb. 2, 1981.
As of today, there are 567 condemned people in CDCR.
Record reporter Victoria Franco covers public safety in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at vfranco@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton death row inmate Jerry T. Bunyard dies in custody at age 76
Reporting by Victoria Franco, The Stockton Record / The Record
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By Victoria Franco, The Stockton Record | USA TODAY Network
