A Utah inmate who spent 37 years on death row—after his execution was halted this past fall because of severe dementia—died on Wednesday of likely natural causes, the state Department of Corrections announced.
Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, had been scheduled to die by firing squad in September. However, in August the Utah Supreme Court stopped the execution when his lawyers argued that his dementia had progressed to the point where he could no longer be considered competent. A judge had already set a new competency hearing for mid‑December.
Menzies was convicted in 1986 for abducting and killing Maurine Hunsaker, a 26‑year‑old mother of three, in the area around Salt Lake City. The body was found two days later at a picnic spot in Big Cottonwood Canyon, strangled and with a throat slash. Evidence, including her thumbprint on his car and her purse in his apartment, linked him to the crime.
His wife, Jim Hunsaker, told the Associated Press that hearing of Menzies’ death made him feel “a happy feeling,” as if “100 pounds had been lifted off him.” He said, “I think a lot of it is going to be just healing now,” adding that he’s “didn’t think about it on any day.” He also criticized the state’s handling of the case, describing the last few decades as a series of disappointments for his family.
When Menzies was given a choice, he opted for firing squad execution—a method which would have made him the seventh US inmate to die in that way since 1977. The Utah Supreme Court noted this summer that his disease had cast serious doubt on whether he was fit for execution. A state medical professional completed a new mental competency report this month, concluding that Menzies had no rational grasp of why he was facing death.
Attorney General Derek Brown said, “Maurine Hunsaker was a cherished wife and mother whose life was stolen in an act of horrific violence by Ralph Menzies.” He continued, “For decades, the state of Utah has pursued justice on her behalf. The path has been long and filled with pain, far more than any victim’s family should ever have been forced to endure.”
Menzies was abducting Hunsaker from a convenience store on February 23, 1986, while he was on parole. She called her husband to report being robbed and kidnapped, her abductor claiming he would release her. Two days later, a hiker discovered her body in the canyon—strangled and slashed at the throat.
Police said her thumbprint was found in a car Menzies drove, and her purse was recovered in his apartment. Menzies also kept portions of her wallet and other belongings when he was later jailed for unrelated charges.
His legal team expressed gratitude that Menzies “passed naturally and maintained his spiritedness and dignity until the end,” in a statement released after his death.
Utah’s most recent execution, by lethal injection, occurred just over a year ago. The state has not used a firing squad since Ronnie Lee Gardner’s execution in 2010.
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