Missing Ky. woman found dead of gunshot wound; boyfriend charged
The body of a Rowan County woman who had been missing since Thanksgiving was found Friday, and her boyfriend has been charged with murder.
A group of friends searching for Jill Clayton, 40, found her body in a remote area at about 3 p.m., Rowan County Coroner John P. Northcutt said.
An autopsy conducted by the state medical examiner’s office Saturday determined that she died of a gunshot wound, he said.
Clayton’s boyfriend, Gary Jefferies, 42, has been charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence, Northcutt said in a Facebook post.
He said Clayton’s body was found “not over two miles from where she lived.”
WKYT reported that Jefferies was arrested in Louisville four days after she disappeared. He was charged with being a felon in possession of a handgun.
Clayton’s sister told the television station that she never showed up for Thanksgiving dinner, and several days later, they found food on the stove and her phone and car at her home when they went to check on her.
The Rowan County sheriff’s office is investigating.
