Prison Nurse Allegedly Poisoned Husband to Marry Inmate Serving Time for Murder. Now She's a Convicted Murderer, Too

A Missouri prison nurse who poisoned her husband and then set their house on fire to try and conceal evidence was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Amy Murray, 46, entered an Alford plea to charges of second-degree murder, second-degree arson and tampering with evidence on June 25 in a deal with prosecutors, who agreed to drop the charge of armed criminal action against her. (An Alford plea lets a defendant maintain innocence while accepting a conviction.)

The judge then sentenced Murray to 12 years in prison on the murder charge, seven years for the arson charge and four years for the tampering with evidence charge. As part of her deal, Murray will serve the arson and tampering sentences consecutively, and both will run concurrently with her murder sentence.

Joshua Murray was just 37 when he died in what police initially believed to be a house fire at the home he shared with his wife and son in Iberia, a city with a population of 700 people located approximately 150 miles west of St. Louis.

His death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, however, after elevated amounts of antifreeze were found in his system during his autopsy. He also had injuries suggesting he had been dead before the fire, according to a copy of the probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Miller County Sheriff’s Department also found evidence that an accelerant was used to start the fire, according to the affidavit,

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Murray had been at the home just 30 minutes before the blaze, and then left to get food with the couple’s 11-year-old son and their two dogs, according to the affidavit.

Authorities arrested Murray three months after her husband’s death in February 2019.

By that time, investigators had discovered Murray had been in frequent contact with Eugene Claypool, an inmate at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.,

Murray worked as a nurse at the facility while Claypool was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for murder, according to prison records.

The calls between the two were recorded because Claypool was incarcerated, so prosecutors were able to learn that Murray spoke often about “not wanting to be around her husband.” She even told Claypool that the two could get married after her husband passed away because he was “out of the picture,” according to the affidavit.

Murray posted $750,000 bail shortly after her arrest and spent six years trying to fight the charges against her, court documents show.

She and her defense team even tried to argue at one point that Joshua might have taken his own life and ingested the antifreeze, but the judge did not allow that motion to proceed.

In late 2024, a family member of Joshua’s reached out to the court to express their frustration about the proceedings and speak about the victim’s integrity and strength of character.

“Josh was a good faithful husband and father. For years, Josh owned his own construction business and worked hard to provide for his family,” his aunt Sherry Thompson wrote in a letter obtained by PEOPLE. “Josh was a well-respected member of our community and well-liked.”

Murray is currently being held at the Miller County Correctional Facility while she awaits her prison assignment.