WELCH, W.V. (LOOTPRESS) – A horrific murder that was committed on Valentine’s Day in 2019 has resulted in Anna Marie Choudhary, 33, one of two daughters who helped their father torture and kill a man, being sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Choudhary, of Boone, N.C., met virtually in front of McDowell County Circuit Judge Ed Kornish for her sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 31. According to McDowell County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Dennie Morgan, Choudhary’s adoptive parents joined the hearing virtually from Minnesota. The victim’s mother also joined the hearing virtually from Alabama.
On Wednesday, Choudhary received the maximum sentence for second-degree murder with the chance of parole in 10 years. In January, she pleaded guilty to killing her sister’s boyfriend, Thomas McGuire, 38, in McDowell County on Feb. 14, 2019.
Choudhary’s guilty plea followed those of her father, Larry Paul McClure, 55, of Pendleton, K.Y., and sister, Amanda Michelle Naylor McClure, 31, of Chisago City, M.N.
Larry McClure, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, was sentenced to life without mercy in August of 2020. Amanda McClure, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in October of 2020.
Morgan, who said this “horror movie-like” case is one of the worst, he thinks, McDowell County has ever seen, hopes Judge Kornish’s decision will give the victim’s family some closure as they grieve.
“I’ve always found Judge Kornish to be a very fair judge, and my hope was that he would review the case and see it as I saw it, which was that this particular defendant deserved the most severe sentence that he could hand her under the law. I was confident that he would do that and that’s exactly what he did.”
Choudhary was transferred to the custody of the Department of Corrections following the sentencing. She is currently being held at Southwestern Regional Jail where she will remain until she is moved to prison. Choudhary will receive credit for the time she served prior to the hearing.
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MCDOWELL COUNTY, W.V. (LOOTPRESS) – In a remote plea hearing on Wednesday, January 27, Anna Marie Choudhary, 33, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in front of Judge Edward J. Kornish, thereby waiving her right to a trial by jury.
Choudhary, who is being held at South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, was charged with three felony counts-including first-degree murder, concealment of a body, and conspiracy- after she, her biological sister, Amanda McClure, and her biological father, Larry McClure, murdered John Thomas McGuire in February of 2019. His remains were found in the Skygusty area of McDowell County in September of 2019.
By pleading guilty to second-degree murder, the state dropped Choudhary’s second and third felony counts; however, she could still face up to 40 years in prison.
In October of 2020, Amanda McClure was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the second-degree murder of McGuire, her boyfriend from Minnesota who had no connections to McDowell County.
Larry McClure pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of McGuire in a letter he wrote in November of 2019. He was sentenced to life in prison with no mercy in August of 2020.
Following a Valentine’s Day meal in 2019, McGuire was hit in the head, injected with two syringes of methamphetamine and strangled before being buried in McClure’s yard. Following the murder, Amanda McClure and Larry McClure, her biological father, had sex. They married each other four weeks later in Tazewell, Virginia, which is illegal.
During the hearing, Choudhary recounted the events of the murder, stating that Larry McClure threatened the wellbeing of her two sons if she did not do as she was instructed, which included injecting McGuire with the methamphetamine, strangling him, burying him, and digging up his body on several separate occasions.
Both of Choudhary’s sons are not in her custody. They were adopted by separate families and live out of state.
After hearing Choudhary’s synopsis of the murder and the events that followed, Judge Kornish accepted her plea deal, saying that there were “more than enough sufficient facts” to do so and that the plea reduced her risk of exposure had she gone to trial.
Kornish set Choudhary’s remote sentencing hearing for March 31, 2021, at 10 a.m.
Representing Choudhary is attorney Thomas H. Evans III. Joshua J. Miller is acting as assistant prosecuting attorney on the case.
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