A Northern California man at the center of one of the state’s most notorious murder-for-hire cases has died after spending more than 45 years on California’s death row. He was 76.
Elaine Bunyard, who was nine months pregnant and due to give birth within days, was found dead in the garage of the San Joaquin County home she shared with her husband, Jerry Bunyard, and the couple’s 7-year-old daughter on Nov. 1, 1979.
Investigators said half her face had been blown off by a shotgun blast that was initially meant to look like a suicide. Her unborn daughter died shortly after from a lack of oxygen.
An ensuing investigation led back to her husband.
Prosecutors said Bunyard approached Earlin Popham, a man he had known since grade school who was described as a drifter and small-time criminal, about killing his wife.
Bunyard orchestrated the murder-for-hire plot because he wanted out of his marriage and was involved in an extramarital affair, according to court documents.
Popham initially refused but agreed about a week later after Bunyard offered to pay him $1,000, court records state. The plan was to make the death look like a suicide.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Popham entered the family’s home while Bunyard and their daughter were away. He used a pan to attack Elaine while she was doing dishes, repeatedly hitting her on the back of the head until she was unconscious.
He then dragged her into the garage, where he staged the shooting. Afterward, he realized that a trail of blood from the kitchen to the garage did not support the suicide narrative. Investigators said Popham knocked over furniture and stole $5 from her purse in an attempt to make it look like a robbery.
He then drove to Bunyard’s construction job in Patterson and told him “it was done,” according to the California Supreme Court’s account of the evidence.
Popham eventually confessed and agreed to testify against Bunyard. In exchange for his cooperation, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, avoiding a possible death sentence. His testimony became the cornerstone of the prosecution’s case against Bunyard.
In 1981, a San Joaquin County jury convicted Bunyard of two counts of first-degree murder, one for Elaine Bunyard and one for the couple’s unborn baby. Jurors sentenced him to death.
The California Supreme Court upheld Bunyard’s murder convictions in 1988 but overturned his death sentence because jurors had received an improper instruction during the penalty phase. At a second penalty trial, another jury again sentenced him to death. The court affirmed that sentence in 2009.
Bunyard died July 10 while incarcerated at California State Prison, Sacramento, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
He was pronounced dead at 4:44 p.m. at an outside medical facility. The Sacramento County Coroner will determine the official cause of death. Bunyard had been housed on death row since arriving from San Joaquin County on Feb. 2, 1981.
Although California has not carried out an execution since 2006, Bunyard remained on death row for the rest of his life.
