Eric Boyd Dead: Was It a Suicide?

 

Eric Wayne Boyd died five months ago on February 23rd. If you're wondering how you missed it in the TimesDaily, it wasn't there...or in any other news source with the exception of Blunt Force Media, a small independent news organization dedicated to prison reform.

When Eric's younger brother Nathan passed away in December 2021, the Alabama Department of Corrections simply announced that his death wasn't suspicious or a suicide. Many's first thoughts were a natural death brought about from less than ideal health care, but an autopsy by the ADOC suddenly reversed course and pronounced it a suicide.

Nathan was the admitted murderer of Florence restaurateur Danny Sledge who had also accused his older brother Eric. The then 19 year-old Eric had always denied his guilt and was sentenced to Life with Possibility of Parole since no physical evidence tied him to the scene.

Eric was last up for parole in August 2024, but had been put off until 2029. The ADOC stated at the time of his death, Eric was in protective custody in St. Clair Correctional Facility in a private cell and was regularly checked on. Was Eric despondent over his parole denial or hopeful that an attorney from an innocence project was looking at his case, becoming the object of hate by an inmate not as lucky?

Unfortunately, the ADOC ruled Eric's death a suicide as they had his brother's. It was an expedient ruling for a system where more than one inmate a month dies at the hand of a fellow inmate or person unknown.