CAMERON, Mo. (AP) - A southwest Missouri man convicted of killing his grandmother has died in prison.
The state Corrections Department says 31-year-old Troy Ford, of Springfield, was pronounced dead just before noon Friday at a northwest Missouri hospital. The agency says an autopsy will be performed.
Ford was serving a life sentence at Crossroads Correctional Center for second-degree murder and armed criminal action for the strangulation of 63-year-old Sharon Rheam in May 2006. Prosecutors alleged that Ford was stealing from Rheam, who was found dead in her Springfield mobile home.
Ford was initially charged with first-degree murder. His trial was already underway in late 2007 when he entered an Alford plea to the reduced charges. An Alford plea does not admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors have sufficient evidence for a conviction.