Stephanie Ward, Mississippi woman gets life for the 2017 murder of Roger Lee Scruggs, Jr. for veteran benefits after staging his death with accomplice, John Henry May.
A Mississippi woman with a history of habitual fraud was over the weekend sentenced to life behind bars for her part in the 2017 beating a veteran to death, possibly for his benefits.
Stephanie Denise Ward, 47, who prosecutors called a ‘femme fatale’ was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Roger Lee Scruggs, Jr. and hindering prosecution, by a Yazoo County Circuit Court jury on Saturday.
On the night of Nov. 22, 2017, Ward and John Henry May took Scruggs to a rural area on Wildwood Road, according to authorities.
May provided testimony that he and Ward murdered Scruggs by beating him to death, then loading his body into May’s truck.
Motivated by money
Scruggs’ body was stored in the truck for more than a week, prosecutors said, before the duo transported him back to Wildwood Road on Dec. 1, 2017, to make it look like Scruggs died from an ATV accident.
The next day, Ward reportedly called the Yazoo County Coroner to say her ‘brother,’ Scruggs, had been found by an unknown passerby.
An investigation led by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) found Scruggs’ murder was likely motivated by money.
Just two days after reporting the discovery of Scruggs’ body, Ward reportedly reached out to Veterans Affairs, claiming to be his wife, not sister, and asking for spousal benefits.
After receiving the initial benefits check, she put a down payment on a new Ford SUV in May’s name, who pleaded guilty to the murder of Scruggs, WLBT reported.
Habitual fraudster
Realizing that the circumstances behind the victim’s death were suspicious, officials from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation began to probe the case. Upon assessing the scene of what was initially believed to be the ATV crash, they determined that the victim had been killed elsewhere, and then moved later on.
Officials discovered that Ward was allegedly a seasoned fraudster who frequently used several fake names. She had also filed approximately 20 insurance claims in the past. Investigators ultimately determined that Ward’s motive for the killing was financial.
Scruggs appeared to have been killed in an ATV crash at first, but authorities later said that it looked like he had been killed somewhere else.
Ward was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, as well as five years for hindering prosecution.
Both sentences will run consecutively.
