Woman convicted in Laura Ackerson murder case released from NC prison, moved to Texas

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Saturday, August 31, 2024
Laura Ackerson murder: 1 suspect released from NC prison
Amanda Smith Hayes, the woman convicted in the Laura Ackerson murder case has been released from a NC prison and taken to one in Texas.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A woman convicted for her role in a notorious Wake County murder case has been released from a North Carolina prison and taken to serve 20 more years in another prison.

Amanda Hayes was convicted on a second-degree murder charge for the death of Laura Ackerson.

Ackerson was Hayes' husband's ex-wife.

Investigators said Hayes and her husband Grant killed Ackerson at their Raleigh apartment during a long-running custody dispute over Grant's two oldest children.

SEE ALSO | Grant Hayes speaks in jailhouse interview

After the murder, the husband and wife reportedly cut up Ackerson's body with a power saw, put it in coolers and drove it in a U-Haul to Richmond, Texas.

Investigators said the couple also tried to dissolve Ackerson's body in acid. When that didn't work they threw her remains in an alligator-infested creek hoping they would never be found.

Hayes was released from her North Carolina prison earlier in August after serving her time for the second-degree murder conviction. She was then taken to Texas where she is now serving a 20-year sentence on a conviction for "tampering with a human corpse."

Grant remains in prison in North Carolina. He was sentenced to life.

LOOK BACK at Laura Ackerson murder case

Laura Ackerson
Laura Ackerson
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