Convicted LeFlore County Killer Dies Of Lung Cancer

State prison officials say a LeFlore County man sentenced to life in prison without parole last year in the 2009 murder of his former brother-in-law has died.

Monday, March 30th 2015, 3:10 pm

By: News On 6

Convicted LeFlore County Killer Dies Of Lung Cancer

State prison officials say a LeFlore County man sentenced to life in prison without parole last year in the 2009 murder of his former brother-in-law has died.

KFSM, the CBS affiliate in Fort Smith reports state Department of Corrections spokesperson Terri Watkins says Raymond Nichols, 62, died Saturday at a Lindsay hospital in Garvin County. She says the probable cause of death was lung cancer.

Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without parole on July 10, 2014, for the murder of Donald Neff of Poteau.

7/11/2014 Related Story: LeFlore County Man Gets Life Without Parole For Fatal 2009 Shooting

Neff was found shot to death with his hands and legs bound with wire and chained to a cement block in a nearby strip pit in 2009. LeFlore County authorities said in 2013, divers found the gun used to kill Neff in the same pit and connected the murder to Nichols.