Clay Waller transferred to Fulton prison

Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman David Owen said Tuesday convicted murderer Clay Waller now is at the state prison in Fulton.

The Southeast Missourian reported Monday he had been transferred from a federal prison in Florida, but local officials did not disclose the Missouri location.

He pleaded guilty in 2013 to second-degree murder in the death of Jacque Waller and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Concurrent to the murder sentence, Waller had been serving a five-year federal sentence for online threats against Jacque Waller's sister, Cheryl Brenneke. That sentence was about to expire, prompting the move.

Authorities say Clay Waller choked and beat his 39-year-old wife to death June 1, 2011, in a rage over the threat of bankruptcy, divorce and losing his children. The intensive search for her body drew international attention. Despite the lack of a body, Clay Waller was charged with first-degree murder. Cape Girardeau County prosecutors eventually agreed to the lesser second-degree murder charge if he led them to his wife's remains. Missouri law requires Waller to serve at least 85 percent of the state sentence.