Prison Inmate Serving Murder Sentence Dies

A Montana State Prison inmate serving a life sentence for killing a transient near Missoula has died.

Prison spokeswoman Linda Moodry says 55-year-old William Larry Weaver died Wednesday. An autopsy was planned. No foul play was suspected.

Weaver had been serving a life sentence in Georgia for rape and child molestation when he escaped in 1990 and traveled to western Montana. His roommate, Jim Fremou, was shot and killed in the fall of 1993. A hunter found his body in the woods near Missoula.

Weaver was arrested by Montana authorities and returned to prison in Georgia. A cellmate there reported that Weaver bragged about killing Fremou to prevent him from disclosing that Weaver was an escapee.

Weaver was charged in Fremou's death in December 1996 and convicted in February 1998.