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| Inmate charged in murder of prison nurse |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/02/2004 |
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An inmate who has served nine years of a 10-to-30-year sentence for rape and had been eligible for parole was arrested July 23 in the murder of a nurse at the Wyoming Honor Farm. Floyd DeWayne Grady, 28, of Cheyenne, was charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, attempted sexual assault and kidnapping in the death of Tammy Sue Watts, who worked at the minimum-security Riverton prison. Watts, 39, of Hudson, died April 15 of strangulation and blunt force trauma to the face and head, according to an autopsy report. Grady allegedly killed Watts "purposely, and with premeditated malice ... while attempting to perpetrate the crime of first-degree sexual assault," Fremont County Attorney Mike Barton stated in an affidavit filed in Ninth Circuit Court. Grady faces the death penalty if convicted on all charges. The man was suspected early in the investigation and was moved April 21 to the more secure Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins. "We just wanted to make sure we did everything carefully," Barton said of the three-month span before filing of charges. "We still do not have all the forensic evidence. Approximately 100 items were sent to the crime lab for exam." Grady had been an inmate at the Honor Farm since November 2002 and was eligible for parole, Warden Gary Starbuck said. He was originally sent to the state penitentiary in May 1995 after being sentenced to 10 to 30 years for first-degree sexual assault, Corrections spokeswoman Melinda Brazzale said. Watts' body was found in a dental examination room within a nurse's office at the Honor Farm, where she had worked for more than a year. The nurse's office is in the basement of the administration building. The murder sparked a review of both the prison and the state's inmate classification system. |
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