SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas - Billy Ray Wallace, 85, who was serving a life sentence for the 1979 capital murder of his wife, Janyth Wallace, has died of cardiac arrest at an off-site hospital. Wallace had served more than 40 years in prison.
The case originally began when authorities believed Janyth Wallace had been kidnapped. Three weeks after her disappearance, the couple’s home was set on fire. Investigation revealed that Jesse Shaw, an employee at the Wallace dairy, had committed arson and later confessed that Wallace had paid him to burn down the home to cover up the murder.
