Perry discusses McDowell County homicide with Fox Nation's Nancy Grace

Feb. 28—WELCH — Bluefield Daily Telegraph Editor Samantha Perry recently participated in a panel discussion with Fox Nation's Nancy Grace about the grisly murder of a Minnesota man whose body was found buried in a shallow grave in McDowell County on Sept. 24, 2019.

Grace, a part of Fox Nation on the Fox News Network, featured the local case during a podcast presentation of "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace." The episode, entitled "Motive for Murder? Incest" was released online on Feb. 23 and details the grisly murder of John McGuire, who was struck on the head with a wine bottle, tied up, tortured, injected with methamphetamine, strangled, buried, disinterred, dismembered and then buried again in a shallow grave in the Skygusty community.

The podcast is approximately 36 minutes in length and features a panel that includes Perry, who covered the high-profile homicide extensively for the Daily Telegraph; along with Troy Slaten, a criminal defense attorney from Los Angeles, Calif.; Steven Lampley, an author, speaker, retired police officer, and undercover SVU detective; Dr. Michelle Dupre,a forensic pathologist and former medical examiner and author; Dr. Caryn Stark, a New York City psychologist; Angela Erickson, the mother of three of the victim's children; and Justice McGuire, the victim's daughter.

Grace, a nationally recognized American legal commentator and former prosecutor in Atlanta, Ga., sets the stage for the crime story in the podcast by saying John McGuire had to move from Minnesota to his home state of Alabama to help care for his mother. However, Grace says an unplanned detour into West Virginia led to the man being tortured for days and his ultimate death.

During the back and forth panel discussion, Grace had a number of questions for Perry regarding the crime, including how it compared to other stories Perry has covered during her long newspaper career.

"This was absolutely one of the most horrific cases I ever covered," Perry told Grace. "I can't imagine how horrible this was for the family members, and for his children."

Perry was later asked by Grace to describe the location of where McGuire's body was found.

"McDowell County is an extremely rural county here in southern West Virginia," Perry told Grace. "It actually has the nickname of The Free State. Again because it is just so rural. The area where his remains were found in Skygusty is very, very rural. It's not a residence you are just going to come across."

Several individuals have been charged to date in connection with McGuire's death.

Anna Marie Choudhary, 33, of Boone, N.C., pleaded guilty on January 22 to a charge of second-degree murder in connection with McGuire's death. Choudhary was charged along with her father, Larry Paul McClure Sr. of Pendleton, Ky., and her sister, Amanda Michelle Naylor McClure, 31, of Chisago City, Minn., with first-degree murder in the death of John McGuire, 38. Authorities believe McGuire was killed on or about Feb. 14, 2019.

McClure pleaded guilty on July 16, 2020 to first-degree murder and was later sentenced to life imprisonment without mercy, meaning he will never have an opportunity for parole. Amanda McClure pleaded guilty in July 2020 to second-degree murder and was later sentenced to the maximum term of 40 years in prison, according to earlier reports in the Daily Telegraph.

John McGuire had traveled with Amanda McClure from Minnesota. After their vehicle broke down in Indiana, Larry McClure and Choudhary picked them up and brought them to McClure's home in Skygusty, a community in McDowell County.

McGuire's body was discovered Sept. 24, 2019, in a grave at the Skygusty residence after McClure later disclosed its location to officials with the West Virginia State Police, according to the earlier Daily Telegraph reports.

The placement of the word "incest" in the title of the podcast stems from the fact that Larry and Amanda McClure — father and daughter — were also married.

Court documents obtained by the Daily Telegraph in November 2019 revealed an incestuous relationship between Larry McClure and his daughter Amanda. Three and a half weeks after the murder of McGuire, Larry and Amanda McClure traveled across the state line to neighboring Tazewell County, Va., where they married.

Grace repeatedly pressed Perry on the incest question during the panel discussion.

"Let me understand something, Samantha Perry," Grace asked. "Am I hearing this correctly? The father we are talking about is 55-year-old McClure?"

"McDowell County, W.Va., borders Tazewell County, Va., and they did cross the state line and eventually did marry," Perry said of Larry McClure and his daughter Amanda.

"So if Samantha Perry with the Bluefield Daily Telegraph is correct, and I have strong reason to believe she is, the motive for murder is the discovery of incest," Grace said.

Perry was contacted earlier this month by representatives of Fox Nation and Nancy Grace after producers with the show read articles about the Skygusty homicide on the Daily Telegraph's website, https://www.bdtonline.com/

"This was a gruesome, shocking and disturbing crime," Perry said. "One that garnered attention from across the nation."

To listen to the podcast, go to the following link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/motive-for-murder-incest/id1193068130?i= 1000510355019

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com