Landlord charged in body dumping case dies
A longtime landlord charged in an unusual body dumping case has died.
Walter Ray Pelfrey, 78, of Choctaw, died July 15, his attorney, Lou Keel, said. Pelfrey was diagnosed last year with colon cancer, court records show.
Pelfrey was accused in a felony case of unlawfully disposing of a dead body in February 2016. Pelfrey had the remains of a tenant’s teenage daughter taken from his storage business to a Spencer landfill, prosecutors alleged.
Pelfrey was charged in Oklahoma County District Court with accessory after the fact and unlawful removal of a dead body or, in the alternative, desecration of a human corpse. He denied any wrongdoing and said he was unaware the tenant, Reshawnda Laney Durham, stored a body at his business.
Free from custody, Pelfrey’s next court appearance had been set for September.
Pelfrey had more than 100 properties in the Oklahoma City area. Last year, he agreed to pay $800,000 to settle federal lawsuits accusing him of sexually harassing black female tenants. He is white.
Durham, now 31, found her daughter dead inside her home sometime in mid2014, according to prosecutors. She then reportedly hid her daughter’s body in a trunk at her house for almost a year before moving it to a storage unit.
Last year, Durham pleaded guilty to multiple offenses, including failure to report discovered remains. She is serving a 25-year prison sentence.
Durham’s daughter, Geanna Durham, was last seen in May 2014, authorities said. The girl was 13 at the time of her disappearance.