A 90-year-old man charged with murder after authorities said he shot and killed his stepdaughter has died while in custody, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
James Lee Byrd died May 8, the newspaper reported. Byrd’s charges stemmed from a 2018 incident that resulted in the death of his stepdaughter and primary caretaker Nancy Long Green, 67, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
On Jan. 8, Columbus police said they were called to a shooting in the 5100 block of Trussell Avenue about 4:30 p.m. They found Green lying on the kitchen floor with a gunshot wound. She was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later, the newspaper reported.
Investigators said Green had missed a phone call from Byrd before she went to his home to check on him. When she got there, Byrd shot and killed her, officials said. Then, authorities said Byrd called a family member and said what he had done and told the family member: “Come get you some.”
Officials said Byrd claimed to have almost $200,000 and believed that Green and the relative were trying to steal his money, the Ledger-Enquirer reported.
Byrd was booked into the Muscogee County Jail, but he was in such poor health that he was transferred to Bostick Nursing Center in Milledgeville, where he died, according to the newspaper.
In jail, his health rapidly declined to the point that he was in diapers, unable to feed himself and unable to get out of bed on his own, Tompkins said.
"I didn't want him to die in the county jail like that," Muscogee County Sheriff Donna Tompkins told the newspaper.
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