Sean Grayson, the former Illinois sheriff’s deputy convicted of killing Sonya Massey inside her own home, died Sunday in prison. He was 32.
His attorney, Daniel Fultz, confirmed the death and said it happened around noon. The Illinois Department of Corrections has not commented on the time or manner, and no cause of death has been officially released. Grayson had cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs, but it has not been confirmed that it is what killed him.
He had served roughly six months of a twenty year sentence.
Sonya Massey was 36 years old. On July 6, 2024, she called 911 to report a prowler outside her home in Springfield. Grayson, a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, responded with another deputy. Body camera footage shows the two entering her home and speaking with her before she went to her kitchen to move a pot of boiling water off the stove. Grayson focused on the pot and threatened to shoot her in the face. She apologized and ducked behind her kitchen counter. He fired three times, striking her in the head. Prosecutors said he then declined to render medical aid and discouraged his partner from doing so. She was pronounced dead that night.
She was unarmed. She had called them for help.
Grayson was fired after the footage was reviewed and indicted on first degree murder. A jury convicted him of second degree murder in October and he was sentenced to twenty years. The case drew national protests over policing and systemic racism and prompted a Department of Justice review.
In May, with stage four cancer, Grayson applied to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board for early medical release. His handwritten application, obtained by Capitol News Illinois through a public records request, expressed no remorse. In it, he maintained that Massey had attacked him with the pot of boiling water. He also did not check the box on the form indicating that his condition was likely to cause his death within eighteen months.
Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser opposed the release, writing that granting it would be a miscarriage of justice and an insult to Massey’s memory and her family. Massey’s relatives opposed it too. Her cousin Sontae Massey told Capitol News Illinois in June that Grayson was a killer, that he apologized that the man had to suffer, but that he had to pay for what he did.
The three member board denied the request unanimously. Weeks later Grayson was dead.
