A Missouri man waiting for the Arizona Supreme Court to rule on his appeal of two death penalty sentences for the 2012 murders of a Prescott Valley couple was himself murdered Wednesday, the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) has announced.
Kenneth Wayne Thompson was sentenced to death in 2019 by a Yavapai County jury for the March 16, 2012 deaths of his wife’s sister and the sister’s boyfriend. He died shortly after 1 p.m. in his assigned 86 square-foot, single man cell housing unit at the Arizona State Prison Complex – Eyman in Florence.
The death of Thompson, 38, is being investigated by ADC’s Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU) as an apparent homicide. Two inmates have been identified as being responsible for the fatal attack, an ADC spokesperson said Thursday.
All death penalty sentences are reviewed by the Arizona Supreme Court, which held oral arguments on Thompson’s appeal on Dec. 14. A ruling has not yet been issued; a court spokesman did not reply before press time about whether a ruling will be made in Thompson’s case or not.
Thompson’s trial received national attention due to a defense arguments that his time spent as a Scientologist contributed to his decision to travel from Missouri to Prescott Valley where he ended up killing his sister-in-law and her boyfriend with a hatchet and knife.
His motive, according to testimony presented at trial, was to protect the sister-in-law’s two children, whom Thompson and his wife had previously cared for while the mother was in prison.
Both children were away from the home from the time of the murders, including one who was at a Phoenix hospital for mental health treatment. The trial included testimony about the negative attitude Scientologists has toward psychiatric treatment; Thompson was raised a Scientologist but was not an adherent at the time of the murders.
The Yavapai County Attorney’s Office pursued the death penalty in part based on Thompson’s actions prior to his arrival in Arizona on March 15, 2012. Those actions included purchasing a new cell phone and telling his wife he was going to Tennessee, when he instead drove more than 1,400 miles to Prescott Valley.
The planning continued, the prosecutor argued, the next day when Thompson bought a hatchet and then left his vehicle at a hotel while he took a taxi to the sister-in-law’s house. Court records show Thompson also tried to cover up the murders by dousing the bodies with acid and then setting the house of fire.
Thompson’s odd behavior later that day while driving eastbound out of Arizona led an Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper to execute a traffic stop. A bloody hatchet was among the evidence found inside the vehicle.
It would take nearly seven years for Thompson’s case to go to trial. The jury found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder as well as arson and several other felonies. The same jury was called upon to decide whether to impose a term of life imprisonment without release or death.
After the jury’s decision, Thompson joined more than 100 other men on Arizona’s death row. The ADC website notes the average length of time from sentencing to execution is more than 17 years.
