SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Almost two months after his death, there is news to report about Sean Grayson.

The State Journal-Register reports Grayson’s death from cancer Aug. 23 effectively means his conviction has been scrubbed, seeing as how he died while an appeal was in progress. So, in the eyes of the law – if not of Sonya Massey’s survivors – nobody has been convicted in her death.

Also, local activist Tiara Standage has posted Grayson’s Rhode Island death certificate (pictured) to Facebook. Local media has reported he was being held in a state other than Illinois – but not just where. This is apparently the first reporting of which state was holding him.

Grayson was a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy when he shot and killed Sonya Massey in her Springfield-area home July 6, 2024. He was serving a 20-year prison term, the maximum for the second-degree murder conviction a Peoria County jury rendered in October 2025. Grayson claimed self-defense, saying he believed Massey would throw boiling water at him.