Bixby, father of death row inmate, dies at 82

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Arthur Bixby, who was involuntarily committed to a mental institution after being found unfit to stand trial for the 2003 deaths of two officers on his property, has died. He was 82.

The director of the Woodsville, N.H. funeral home handling the service confirmed Monday that Bixby died Sept. 5 in Columbia.

A judge ordered Bixby committed in July 2008 after a separate judge ruled that his dementia made him unfit for trial.

Richland County Coroner Gary Watts says his wife, Rita Bixby, died of natural causes about 4 a.m. Monday. She was serving a life sentence for planning the ambush her husband and son carried out.

Their son, Steven, is on death row. He was sentenced for killing Abbeville County Sheriff’s Sgt. Danny Wilson and Constable Donnie Ouzts.