Guy Wayne Lynch

A 52-year-old convicted Texas killer was sentenced to three quarters of a century’s worth of prison time for the 2017 murder of his live-in girlfriend, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Guy Wayne Lynch, a U.S. Army veteran and so-called former president of a “criminal motorcycle gang,” claimed to believe he was “seeing demons” at the time of he shot 21-year-old Tia Spearman in the head twice. Prosecutors said that he dumped the victim’s body in a rural area and left the remains for hog trappers to find a month after the Oklahoma woman’s family last heard from her.

Now, almost five years later, an Ellis County jury has found Lynch guilty of murder. Judge Cindy Ermatinger handed down a 75-year sentence which ensures Lynch will not be eligible for parole until he serves 30 years—that is, Lynch will not be eligible to get out of prison until he is in his early eighties.

Prosecutors said in a press release summarizing the case that Spearman’s skeletal remains were found on July 15, 2017. That fact was not confirmed until Aug. 15, 2017. Spearman’s family last heard from her on June 11, 2017.

Sharon Murray, an aunt who raised Tia Spearman from the age of 5, told KSWO in 2017 that Spearman was a “very sweet person” who “wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Murray described Spearman as having been “secretive” about “this boyfriend nobody knew nothing about.”

“And next thing I knew she was gone,” the victim’s aunt said.

According to prosecutors, Lynch had adult and minor sons living with him and Spearman at the time of the killing; the older child said he asked his father where Spearman was, and his father admitted shooting the woman in the head following an argument.

Remarkably, Lynch went on to take the stand at trial and said that he had been living a “life of sin” in the lead-up to the killing. He said he thought he had been “seeing demons,” and believed both he and Spearman were possessed.

According to Ellis County prosecutors’ press release, Lynch said he underwent a spiritual conversion days after killing Spearman:

[Lynch] explained that he was driving on Interstate 45 with Spearman when the demons appeared. He was frightened, pulled out gun from his waistband, and fired one shot into Spearman’s head. He continued to be scared, exited the highway and drove a distance to get Spearman’s body and any demons out of the truck, the release stated. While Spearman lay on the ground, he fired the gun again into her head, got back in the truck and drove away. Lynch explained that he kept seeing demons during the next few days and had made a decision to kill himself. However, he had an awakening, accepted Christ into his heart, and was now on the right path, the release stated.

Prosecutors cast doubt on the sincerity of the defendant’s conversion by noting that: 1) Lynch continued to deny he was responsible for the murder; 2) he didn’t contact the victim’s family or the police after the killing; 3) he destroyed evidence; 4) he attempted to clean up blood in his truck; and 5) he “coached his son regarding what to say to the police if officers ever questioned the son about Lynch’s involvement in Spearman’s death,” as the press release put it.

[Image via Ellis County District Attorney’s Office]

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