Investigation Discovery features Raleigh murder in new episode of ‘Deadly Women’
It’s a murder case Raleigh residents are sure to recall, at least as soon as they see the words “body parts,” “coolers” and “Texas.”
Grant Ruffin Hayes and his wife, Amanda Perry Hayes of Raleigh, were charged with the July 2011 murder of Laura Jean Ackerson of Kinston. Two separate juries found that the married couple killed Ackerson in their Raleigh apartment, dismembered her body, put the body parts into large coolers, put the coolers in a U-Haul, and drove them to Texas to dump into a creek.
The case is now being featured on a true crime TV show.
Thursday’s episode of “Deadly Women” on Investigation Discovery will tell the story, with a focus on the role of Amanda Hayes. (Note: The couple is misidentified, in the trailer at least, as Grant and Amanda Perry.)
The News & Observer reported during the trial in 2014 that Amanda Hayes, a one-time actress, denied killing Ackerson, who had two sons with Grant Hayes, an aspiring musician. Amanda Hayes testified that she only helped dispose of the body because her husband coerced her. Ackerson and Grant Hayes had been in the middle of a custody battle over their sons when Ackerson was killed.
But a jury found Amanda Hayes guilty of second-degree murder. She was sentenced to between 13 and 16 years in prison, with credit for 2 ½ years already served, The News & Observer reported at the time. Grant Hayes was convicted of first-degree murder in a separate trial, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Deadly Women” is in its 13th season on Investigation Discovery. According to the ID website, the show “investigates the motives and M.O. of female murderers,” asserting that “while males are often driven by anger, impulse and destruction, women usually have more complex, long-term reasons to kill.”
The show uses interviews with investigators and experts, along with dramatized reconstructions, to tell the stories.
Watch ‘Deadly Women’
“Deadly Women” airs at 9 p.m. Thursday on Investigation Discovery.
You can find ID locally on channel 76 on Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable); Channel 260 on AT&T U-Verse; Channel 339 on Google Fiber; Channel 192 on Dish; and Channel 285 on DirecTV. If you miss the episode, you can watch on Investigation Discovery’s ID Go app later (you’ll need a cable/satellite account login).
This story was originally published August 27, 2019 at 4:53 PM.
