Katie 
Ellis County, Texas: A month after the remains of 21-year-old Tia Marie Spearman were found by hog hunters in a remote area of Ellis County in July 2017, her former boyfriend Guy Wayne Lynch was arrested and charged with her murder.
After nearly five years and further delays caused by Covid restrictions 52-year-old Lynch was sentenced on April 27, 2022 to 75 years in prison.
According to a statement released by the Ellis County District Attorney's office announcing the sentencing, Lynch testified in his own defense at the trial before the jury ultimately ruled that he was guilty of the June 2017 murder.
Lynch told the court that he and Tia had been living together at that at the time of her death, he was living a "life of sin." He elaborated by saying that he was not only being sexually promiscuous, but that he was illegally selling marijuana and was even the president of a criminal motorcycle gang for a time.
According to his own testimony, he stated that he had started seeing demons in June 2017 and believed that he and Tia were both possessed.
While driving along Interstate 45, he claimed that a demon manifested in Tia and out of fear, he shot he in the head. Still frightened, he evidently exited the highway and drove a distance in order to get Tia's body and any remaining demons out of the truck.
After dumping her body out of the vehicle, he fired another shot into the back of Tia's skull and then drove away.
His visions of the demons did not end there however, and he reportedly resolved to kill himself. "However, he had an awakening, accepted Christ into his heart, and was now on the right path."
Lynch denied that he was the one responsible for Tia's death saying that "unknown forces caused him to pull the trigger."
Despite claiming a new life in Christ, the prosecution pointed out that Lynch had never made any attempt to contact Tia's family in the two months after her killing before he was arrested in order to provide information of her whereabouts. Nor had he contacted police but rather, threw out her clothing and cell phone, shredded documents, changed his cell phone number, attempted to clean the blood out of his truck and coached his eldest son on how to respond to any possible questions about Tia's death.
His eldest son's testimony was one of the pieces of the puzzle that helped investigators arrest Lynch in the first place.
Lynch's two sons both agreed to speak with investigators. The eldest son told investigators that he had noticed Tia was missing from the apartment that they all shared and asked his father about where she was. He reported to investigators, and testified in court, that his father told him he had shot her the previous day.
According to the testimony of the son, Lynch informed him that they had been arguing and during that argument "Lynch felt Tia had changed personalities and felt threatened by her."
The day following Lynch's discussion with his son, he drove to a bridge and threw the firearm used into the water below.
As information concerning the manner of Tia's death had not been released to the public, his testimony was found to be credible and provided what investigators needed to obtain a search warrant.
Contributor
