CNN Headline News docuseries to examine Thomas Clayton and Kelley Clayton murder case
The brutal murder of Steuben County resident Kelley Stage Clayton and its aftermath — a case that still resonates with Southern Tier residents six years later — will be the subject of another national news program this week.
The fourth season premiere of the CNN Headline News (HLN) docuseries "Lies, Crimes & Video" will air Sunday and will examine the bludgeoning death of Kelley Clayton in her home, and the subsequent trial and conviction of both her husband Thomas Clayton and co-conspirator Michael Beard.
From shocking revelations in the early days of the investigation to the conclusions of two emotionally-charged murder trials, the show examines the twists and turns of a complex and disturbing case.
Who was Kelley Clayton?
The victim grew up as Kelley Stage, the youngest of three children of Elizabeth Stage and the late Howard E. Stage, longtime chief of the West Elmira Volunteer Fire Department.
Kelley Stage Clayton, 35, was a 1998 graduate of Elmira Free Academy, where she was an honor roll student and participated on the cheerleading squad and softball team.
She met Thomas Clayton while he was a professional hockey player in the early 2000s. They later married and had two children, daughter Charlie and son Cullen.
Who is Thomas Clayton?
Clayton is a Binghamton native who spent four seasons with the Elmira Jackals hockey team. He joined the Jackals as a forward late in their second season right out of Niagara University, where he played hockey for four seasons, from 1998 to 2002.
After retiring from hockey, Clayton owned a business franchise, Paul Davis Emergency Services of the Southern Tier, a fire and water damage restoration firm.
Clayton later became project manager at ServPro, a similar franchise, owned locally by his longtime friend and fellow Binghamton native Brian Laing.
Who is Michael Beard?
Michael Beard was a laborer who lived in Elmira Heights. He worked for Clayton at Paul Davis and also worked for a time at ServPro.
Beard also rented an apartment in the Village of Elmira Heights that was owned by Clayton.
Beard was familiar with the layout of Clayton's home in rural southeastern Steuben County, as Clayton often had him over to do odd jobs around his property.
A crime that rocked the Southern Tier
Kelley Clayton was killed sometime before midnight Sept. 28, 2015 in her home at 2181 Ginnan Road in the Town of Caton.
Thomas Clayton, who had been at a weekly poker game with friends in Corning during the evening, called 911 to report the murder shortly after returning home around 12:30 a.m. Sept. 29.
Suspicion quickly fell on Thomas Clayton and by the end of the day, the Steuben County Sheriff's Office charged him with second-degree murder.
Within days, investigators had reason to believe a more complex plot was involved — that Clayton had hatched a murder-for-hire scheme involving Beard, and that Beard carried out the actual crime.
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Beard initially told investigators Clayton offered to pay him $10,000 to kill Kelley and to burn down his house for insurance money. He repeated the same story to a grand jury.
As a result, both men were charged with first-degree murder.
However, Beard later recanted his confession and said Clayton only wanted him to burn down the house, and that nobody would be home.
He claimed Kelley was already dead when he got there and that he panicked and ran.
Challenge for prosecutors — tie Thomas Clayton to the murder
Beard went to trial in November 2016 and was found guilty of first- and second-degree murder. Then-Steuben County Judge Peter Bradstreet sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
The case against Thomas Clayton was more complicated.
Related: Lookout Mark Blandford gets 3-6 years for role in Clayton murder
Related: 10 things to know about the Thomas Clayton murder-for-hire case
All of the physical evidence pointed to Beard, and since Beard recanted his confession and changed his story at his own trial, prosecutors couldn't call him to testify against Clayton.
Instead, special prosecutor Weeden Wetmore relied on a mountain of circumstantial evidence to tie Clayton to Beard and to Kelley's murder.
After a trial that lasted nearly seven weeks, the jury in late February 2017 convicted Clayton on first- and second-degree murder charges.
Bradstreet also sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
Both men appealed their convictions and both were denied. Clayton is serving his sentence at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York. Beard is incarcerated at Auburn Correctional Facility.
'My wife, she's dead'
The season premiere of "Lies, Crimes & Video," entitled "Poker Night Murder," opens with an audio recording of Thomas Clayton telling a 911 operator he just returned home from a poker game in Corning to find Kelley dead.
"Help me, help me, my wife — she's dead," Clayton can be heard telling the operator. "I just got home. The kids were up and they said there was a robber in the house."
The audio plays over a clip of a video shot by a bodycam worn by Steuben County sheriff's deputy Dean Swan, the first officer to respond to the call, as he explored the murder scene.
The program goes on to mix footage from the crime scene and other locations with interview clips from some of the key players in the drama — including Wetmore, Wetmore's chief assistant Susan Rider-Ulacco, and Kelley's sister, Kim Bourgeois.
One of the most chilling scenes is a video clip of an interview of Kelley's daughter Charlie telling then-Steuben County Undersheriff Jim Allard she witnessed the murder.
"A guy came and hit my mommy with a pipe thing. I thought she was dead when she was lying on the ground," she said in the interview. "(The suspect) looked like my dad."
Other aspects of the case revisited by the program include Thomas Clayton's love of money and gambling and his extramarital affairs with several women.
The program also reveals how Beard, in his original statement to police, said Clayton told him his children would be with relatives the night he planned to show up to kill Kelley and set the house and garage on fire for insurance money.
"Lies, Crimes & Video" will air at 10 p.m. eastern time Sunday on Headline News Network.
For more information about the program, go to cnncreativemarketing.com/project/lies-crimes-video.
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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Thomas, Kelley Clayton murder topic in HLN's of Lies, Crimes & Video
