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Utah death row inmate Ron Lafferty dies of natural causes

Ron Lafferty, who spent 34 years on Utah’s death row for the grisly murders of his sister-in-law and her baby daughter in 1984, died Monday at the Utah State Prison.

Lafferty, 78, whose full name was Ronald Watson Lafferty, died of natural causes, prison officials said Monday. Though he had been on death row for decades, an execution date had not been set — but it was on the horizon after he lost his latest federal appeal in August.

His brother, Daniel Charles Lafferty, 71, who helped carry out the slayings, is serving a life sentence in a Utah state prison.