How Did Convicted Killer Nathan Boyd Die?

Nathan Lee Boyd was a lifer in the Alabama Prison System. He was only 40 when he died earlier this year. The short announcement of his death simply said there was no foul play involved or any evidence of suicide. There was no mention of drug overdose, and we may never know the truth.

Boyd had almost no hope of leaving prison in any manner but a body bag. We may assume that the Florence native was at least tempted to lesson his problems with mind-altering drugs whether he actually did or not.

When Boyd's death was announced, we originally considered this a blessing for Nathan. We're sure there are some who felt he should have suffered 30 or 40 more years, but we find it difficult to contemplate what his life must have been like. Neither did we suspect his death was anything but natural causes until now.

Since the beginning of this year and the first week in April, there have been approximately nine deaths in the system in which violence and suicide have been ruled out. These nine deaths are reportedly being investigated, but we have no idea in how much depth.

Now an investigative reporter has latched onto the story. We reached out for her comment on Boyd's death specifically and received no reply. Drugs could obviously be a culprit in the death of a 40 year-old with no underlying health conditions.

As of now, there's only Nathan's mother and brother to mourn him. We're not sure how distressing anyone should find his death, but we do know that drugs should not be so easily available in the state system...or the county. 

So many failed Boyd in life. Will anyone persevere to find out the truth of his death?

*****

We have never published our complete account of the murder of Danny Sledge in our blog. It is available here: Murder in Muscle Shoals - Volume II.