Man Convicted in 1976 Columbia Murder Dies in Prison

A man who avoided arrest for nearly 35 years before being convicted in a 1976 murder in Columbia has died in prison.

The Missouri Department of Corrections says 70-year-old Johnny Wright died Jan. 15 of natural causes at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.

He was serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted in January 2011 of killing 23-year-old Becky Doisy in Columbia. Her body has never been found.

The Columbia Daily Tribunereports Wright escaped capture for decades, living under the name Errol Edwards in Seattle, Georgia, and Beaumont, Texas. He was arrested in 2010 after he went to a Georgia police station to get a background check and used an identification card with his real name.