Jerry T. Bunyard, a California inmate who had spent more than 45 years on death row, died on July 10 at the state prison in Sacramento. He was 76 years old at the time of his death.
Medical staff pronounced Bunyard deceased at an outside medical facility at 4:44 p.m., and the Sacramento County Coroner will determine the official cause of death.
Bunyard had been convicted of first-degree murder for the 1979 killing of his pregnant wife, Elaine Bunyard, and the loss of her unborn child. The murders occurred on November 1, 1979, in the garage of the family home in San Joaquin County.
Elaine Bunyard suffered a massive shotgun blast to the head, and the fetus died from lack of oxygen moments later, as documented in court records.
Investigators uncovered that Bunyard hired a childhood acquaintance, Erwin Popham, to carry out the killings. Popham, a transient with a criminal history, had intermittently lived with the Bunyard family.
The motive stemmed from Bunyard’s belief that his wife had become pregnant by another man. He had offered her a $50,000 settlement to obtain a divorce, which she refused, and he sought to pursue a new relationship.
Initially reluctant, Popham eventually agreed to the murder for a $1,000 fee payable within a week, followed by additional compensation once Bunyard collected his wife’s life‑insurance proceeds.
During the attack, Popham struck Elaine repeatedly with frying pans while she washed dishes, then dragged her unconscious body to the garage, seated her in a chair, and placed a pump shotgun under her chin before firing.
The shotgun blast destroyed half of her face, and the volume of blood at the scene forced Popham to abandon the planned suicide staging. He instead attempted to disguise the crime as a robbery.
After the murder, Popham traveled to Bunyard’s construction job in Patterson and informed him that the deed was completed, according to court review.
California currently houses 567 inmates on death row. In 2019, the governor instituted a moratorium on the death penalty, granting a temporary reprieve to all individuals sentenced to death.
