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Woman fed husband's ex to alligators, tried to dissolve body in acid, prosecutors say

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — A North Carolina woman convicted in 2014 of killing her husband’s ex-girlfriend was sentenced last week to an additional 20 years behind bars after a jury determined she tried to cover up the killing by feeding the woman to alligators.

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Amanda Hayes and her husband, Grant Ruffin Hayes III, were convicted of killing and dismembering Laura Ackerson, 27, more than three years ago in Raleigh. The incident followed a long custody dispute over Grant Hayes’s two oldest children.

A jury in North Carolina found Amanda Hayes guilty in 2014 of second-degree murder in Ackerson's death. She was sentenced to 13 to 16 years in prison. Grant Hayes was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Prosecutors said Ackerson’s body was cut with a power saw and driven to Amanda Hayes’s sister’s home in Texas.

New details reveal Amanda Hayes tried to dissolve Ackerson’s remains with acid before dumping them into an alligator-infested creek in Texas, prosecutors said.

"The couple first attempted to use muriatic acid to destroy Ackerson's body," authorities said in a press release obtained by KTRK. "When that didn't work, they took a boat onto Oyster Creek and dumped Laura's body parts into the water with hopes that alligators would eat her remains."

A Texas jury last week convicted Amanda Hayes of tampering with evidence. Her additional 20-year sentence will be served consecutively with her North Carolina sentence, KTRK reported.

The Cox Media Group National Content Desk contributed to this report.