Who is Stephanie Ward? Mississippi woman sentenced to life for beating man to death and staging scene to look like accident
YAZOO, MISSISSIPPI: A Mississippi woman named Stephanie Ward has been sentenced to life imprisonment for her involvement in the fatal beating of Roger Lee Scruggs, Jr in 2017.
The Yazoo County Circuit Court jury found Ward, 47, guilty of first-degree murder and hindering prosecution.
Victim's body staged to look like ATV accident
Ward and John Henry May took Scruggs to a rural area on Wildwood Road on November 22, 2017, reported New York Post.
May testified that he and Ward killed Scruggs through physical assault, and then loaded his body into May's truck. The body was kept in the truck for over a week.
On December 1, 2017, Stephanie Ward and John Henry May moved the body to a bridge near Wildwood Road. Allegedly, they positioned the body close to the bridge in an effort to present the death as an accident involving an ATV.
Ward posed as Scruggs' wife
Subsequently, Ward and May revisited the location the following day, and Ward contacted the Yazoo County coroner to report Scruggs' demise, identifying him as her brother, according to information provided by prosecutors.
Shortly after reporting Scruggs' body, Ward posed as his wife and requested spousal benefits from the Veterans Affairs, despite claiming she was his sister earlier. She received initial benefits and used them to make a down payment on a new Ford SUV in May's name. Meanwhile, May had already pleaded guilty to the murder.
Ward was described as 5 feet 3 inches in height, weighing 130 pounds, and with brown hair and eyes. She also goes by the aliases Diana S Carrington, Stephanie Jackson Ward, Stephanie Jackson, Stephanie Claxton, Victoria Carrington, Diana Chaney, and Stephanie Burton.
Additionally, she has been given a 5-year term for obstructing the legal process. The sentences will be served one after the other.
WANTED: Stephanie Ward is wanted by agents of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation in connection with a Yazoo County murder. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts should contact MBI at 601-987-1530. pic.twitter.com/jd9Ehk9peP
— Ryan Moore (@RyanMooreMS) December 29, 2017