Dateline: The House in the Woods – Who was Kelley Stage Clayton and what happened to her? Details of the 2015 murder, explored

NBC’s Dateline episode titled "The House in the Woods" tells the story of Kelley Clayton's gruesome 2015 murder. While her husband, Thomas Clayton, called the police, he was later found guilty of hiring a man named Michael Beard to kill his wife.

The synopsis of the Dateline episode reads:

"A former hockey player discovers his wife murdered in their home. His young daughter says she saw a robber, but the killer's true identity turns out to be far more complicated."

More on this in our story.

Dateline: The House in the Woods – Who was Kelley Stage Clayton and what happened to her? Details explored

The Dateline episode explores the case of Kelley Stage Clayton, a resident of Twin Tiers, New York, where she lived with her husband and two children, Charlotte and Cullen.

While growing up, Kelly was an active participant in sports-related activities such as softball and cheerleading when she was in Elmira Free Academy. She met Thomas, a hockey player who was part of the Elmira Jackals team. As per Dateline, after quitting Hockey, Thomas began his own business and opened his firm, which worked in the field of renovation and restoration of houses after floods and fires, and later became a project manager at ServPro.

They seemed to be living a good life in upstate New York until the night of September 29, 2015. Late at night, when Thomas came home, he called the police after encountering his wife's body. But her 7-year-old daughter stated that a masked man who looked like her dad killed her mother, sent the investigators in Thomas’s direction, and he was arrested for the murder.

As per Dateline, Charlie was able to recognize the killer as her father due to his clothes and mask, and since he had an alibi, another person came into suspicion, Michael Beard. Dateline reported that Thomas called Beard late at night before his wife was murdered, resulting in him being brought in for questioning.

Dateline: The House in the Woods – Thomas and Michael were both found guilty of murdering Kelly

Initially, Dateline reported that Michael had confessed to his crime, that he was hired by Thomas to kill his wife for $10000. Investigators also found evidence containing his DNA on the murder weapon, with which he beat Kelley to death, and charged him with murder.

Both Thomas Clayton and Michael Beard were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, although neither of them has admitted to the crime. Beard later changed his story and said he was only hired to burn the house down and was not expecting to find Kelley's body in the house, which was a shock to him as well. Furthermore, Thomas has also maintained that he was never involved in his wife’s murder.

The Dateline episode is reported by Andrea Canning and also includes interviews with Kelley’s family, such as her sister, Kim Bourgeois.

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