Man Convicted of Murder in Case Linked to The Vanishing Women String of Ohio Deaths and Disappearances

An Ohio man was found guilty of murder for fatally shooting a woman and dumping her body, one of several deaths or disappearances of women that have troubled a southern Ohio town, PEOPLE confirms.

Jason McCrary, 38, was found guilty in the May 2015 shooting death of Timberly Claytor by a jury after three hours of deliberation on Friday. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

According to the Associated Press, prosecutors alleged McCrary shot Claytor, a 38-year-old mother of five, three times in the head and left her body next to an abandoned building.

A friend of Claytor's, Jessica Lowry, testified that the shooting occurred after a night of partying, reports The Columbus Dispatch.

According to the Chillicothe Gazette, prosecutors said McCrary picked up Claytor at a gas station and asked her if she would be interested in having sex for money. They agreed but later got into an argument when McCrary accused Claytor of smoking the last of their supply of crack cocaine, after which McCrary shot her, Lowry testified.

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The jury rejected McCrary's story that another man, Ernest Moore, fired the shots from the back seat of the car that McCrary was driving when Claytor was killed.

Claytor's death is one of several cases in Chillicothe that have gained national attention. Six women have been killed or reported missing since May of 2014, a disproportionate figure for the town of less than 25,000, which is located about 45 miles outside Columbus. The series of tragedies was the subject of Investigation Discovery's docu-series, The Vanishing Women.

It is believed at least three of the missing or dead women from knew each other "in passing" and ran in the same social circles where drug abuse was prevalent, police previously told PEOPLE.

McCrary was already serving three years in prison for failure to register a new address. He now faces life in prison.

His sentencing is scheduled for August 12.