UPDATED 8:02 a.m. 8/24/26
Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy imprisoned for killing Sonya Massey in 2024, has died at 32.
Grayson was white. Massey was Black.
Massey family spokeswoman Teresa Haley confirmed the news, saying Massey’s family is pleased. “We’re happy,” Haley said via telephone while traveling. “It’s a sense of relief. We believe that God will prevail, and He did. Justice has been delivered.”
Dan Fultz, one of Grayson’s attorneys, also confirmed the death, saying it happened earlier Sunday.
Haley, a religious woman, would not speculate as to what awaits Grayson now but did say, “in the Bible, it says, ‘thou shalt not kill,’ and he murdered. He took a young woman’s life, took her away from her two children and her parents and her community. So, justice needed to be paid, and it has been served.”
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board on July 31 denied Grayson, an advanced-stage cancer patient, early release.
“We were told (Grayson had) another three to six months, maybe,” adds Haley. “We were just hoping and praying it would be over with before the year was over with, so the family wouldn’t have to go into another year with this hanging over our shoulders, and I’m really happy for the children. Sonya’s daughter is starting school (Monday). What a treat. What better way to go to school on your first day, knowing that the guy that murdered your mom is no longer here.”
Where do we go from here?
“I just believe that we need to keep pressure,” Haley said, “and keep changing our criminal justice system, especially with how the law hands down sentences in the state of Illinois, but especially in Sangamon County. It has not been fair. It has not been in our favor.”
What hope is there that it will improve?
“The only thing we can do is keep the faith in God, just like we kept the faith in God throughout this whole process. Again, things didn’t go as smoothly or as quickly as we wanted them to in terms of Sean Grayson, but God will prevail, and in this case He has. Justice has been served.”
“Sonya Massey’s death was unjustifiable, and she should be alive today,” said Ben Crump, civil rights attorney who represented the Massey family, in a statement. “Sean Grayson’s death in custody from cancer does not bring Sonya back. We wish his family prayers of peace, as we do for all who grieve a loved one. Sonya’s family knows the pain all too well and will grieve her loss the rest of their days.”
“Today doesn’t bring me joy, and it doesn’t bring me the peace of having my daughter back. Sean Grayson’s death closes one chapter, but it doesn’t erase the pain our family has carried since Sonya was taken from us,” said James Wilburn, Somya Massey’s father, in a statement. “My prayers have always been for accountability, truth, and justice, not revenge. I hope the world continues to remember Sonya for who she was, and I hope her name continues to inspire meaningful change so that no other family has to endure this kind of loss. My focus has never been on the man who took her life; it has always been on honoring the life that was taken far too soon.”
