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SALT LAKE CITY – Ralph Leroy Menzies, a Utah man whose execution by firing squad was halted due to his declining mental state, has died of apparent natural causes at the age of 67. The Utah Department of Corrections confirmed his death on Wednesday, closing a chapter on a decades-long legal saga.
Menzies had spent 37 years on death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker. His execution, scheduled for September, was blocked by the Utah Supreme Court in August after his attorneys argued that his dementia had become too severe to proceed. A new competency hearing was set for mid-December to re-evaluate his mental fitness.
In 1986, Menzies was convicted of abducting Maurine Hunsaker, a 26-year-old mother of three, from a convenience store where she worked near Salt Lake City. Her body was discovered two days later.
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown issued a statement Wednesday, saying, “Maurine Hunsaker was a cherished wife and mother whose life was stolen in an act of horrific violence by Ralph Menzies. 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 to endure.”
Menzies had chosen the firing squad as his method of execution decades ago, a choice that would have made him the seventh U.S. prisoner executed by firing squad since 1977. The Utah Supreme Court had previously stated that the progression of his disease raised significant questions about his fitness for execution.
Hunsaker was abducted on February 23, 1986, while Menzies was on parole. She made a call to her husband, informing him of the robbery and kidnapping and that her abductor intended to release her.
Two days later, her body was found by a hiker at a picnic area in Big Cottonwood Canyon, approximately 16 miles away. She had been strangled and her throat was slashed.
Evidence presented in the case included Hunsaker’s thumbprint found in a car Menzies was driving, and her purse recovered from his apartment. Menzies was also found with her wallet and other belongings when he was jailed on unrelated matters.
In a statement, Menzies’ legal team expressed gratitude, saying, “We’re grateful that Ralph passed naturally and maintained his spiritedness and dignity until the end.”
Utah’s most recent execution by lethal injection occurred just over a year ago. The state has not used a firing squad since the 2010 execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner.