Meadows convicted of Donna Lay murder

Jan. 31—WILLIAMSBURG — The man accused of killing his girlfriend and storing her body in a trash can was convicted of murder by a Whitley County jury last week after a four-day trial.

John Phillip Meadows, 60, was convicted of murder and tampering with physical evidence last Thursday in the 2021 fatal shooting of Donna G. Lay.

Lay was last seen alive on January 7, 2021. Meadows was arrested after a February 1 search of the apartment the couple had shared revealed human remains in an outdoor trash can behind a closet door.

An autopsy on those remains determined they belonged to Lay and that the cause of death was single gunshot wound to the head.

Meadows' trial got underway in Whitley Circuit Court last Monday, with Commonwealth's Attorney Ronnie Bowling prosecuting and public defender Clifford Wilson representing Meadows.

The jury heard closing arguments on Thursday morning, and were able to consider the lesser included charges of second-degree manslaughter or reckless homicide as an alternative to murder.

Wilson painted his client as a man who had been abused by a domineering Lay and killed her in self defense. Meadows had testified earlier that Lay had accused him of cheating and pulled a gun on him Jan. 8, 2021, and had been shot during the course of an ensuing struggle.

"Had John not acted when Donna pulled that gun, she would be the one sitting at that [defense] table," Wilson told jurors.

When Bowling had his turn, the prosecutor poked holes in the likelihood that Meadows — who had suffered two strokes and claimed to be unable to use his left arm — would have been able to overpower Lay in a struggle.

Though he could only theorize as to motive, Bowling went over the forensic evidence presented at trial to convince jurors that Meadows had shot the victim from a higher angle more than six inches away.

"Donna's body tells what happened," Bowling said, adding that Meadows' subsequent efforts to conceal her death were the acts "of a desperate man trying to hide his crimes.

"It's up to you to find justice for a woman who didn't deserve to die," the prosecutor concluded.

After the jury came back with a guilty verdict on both counts, the trial went into a sentencing phase after which jurors recommended that Meadows serve a life sentence plus five years — to be served consecutively, according to Bowling.

At press time, Meadows remains lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center. His sentencing hearing before Circuit Judge Paul Winchester has been scheduled for March 20.