Kelley Clayton Death, Obituary – Kelley Clayton of Steuben County, New York, was cruelly put to death inside her own house in September of 2015. Thomas Clayton, Kelley’s husband and a former semi-professional ice hockey player, made the 911 call that was used as evidence against him during Kelley’s murder trial. The call was made by Kelley’s husband. Kelley’s lifeless body was found on the first floor of the house by the responding officers, who had their body cameras rolling when they entered the residence.
The words “she’s been beat to death” were captured on the body camera of one of the policemen who responded to the call. Deputy Dean Swan. The individual stated, “I put a body cam on to show where we went, and it is fairly gory.” Traces of blood could be found all around the house, including in the kitchen, on the staircase, and even next to where she had been lying. Thomas was able to make a good defense for himself since he got home to find that his wife had passed away while he was out playing poker on the other side of town that evening.
Thomas can be heard crying “Help me, my wife’s dead” on the audio of the 911 call that he placed. As the evening progressed, the officers who were on the scene became increasingly skeptical of Thomas’ account. There was no indication that anything had been broken into or taken, and the fact that Thomas had made additional phone calls that evening prompted questions about whether or not he was being honest. Thomas was later taken into custody by law enforcement when it was determined that his phone contact was likely a fake.
They discovered graphic as well as misleading text messages exchanged with other women. In addition to this, they discovered that Thomas’ close buddy Michael Beard had been communicating with them. The story that investigators were able to piece together suggested that Thomas had hired Beard to kill his wife. In 2017, a jury held both of them responsible for the death of Kelley.
Beard was found guilty of both first- and second-degree murder, and both of those convictions were upheld. Thomas was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murder in the first degree and is currently housed in Sing Sing. Their stories are going to be included in the 20/20 special that ABC is going to air this coming Friday at 9 PM Eastern Time.