A Texas man who brutally murdered his wife just months after their wedding was discovered dead in his prison cell last Friday, bringing an abrupt end to a case that shocked the Houston community.
Jared James Dicus, 24, was found hanging in his single-person cell at the Wainwright Unit in Houston County.
Prison staff discovered his body and attempted to save his life, but emergency medical services pronounced him dead just before 11 p.m., according to a state death report obtained by local media.
Dicus had pleaded guilty to the murder of his 21-year-old wife, Anggy Diaz, during a trial in 2024.
ABC 13 previously reported that the court sentenced him to 40 years behind bars, with his earliest parole eligibility set for 2043.
The couple married in October 2022, a union that troubled their friends who witnessed ongoing problems in their relationship.
Less than four months later, tragedy struck at their Houston-area home.
On January 11, 2023, Dicus’ father made a horrifying discovery.
Living in a larger residence on the same property as the couple’s cottage, he found Diaz’s body and immediately contacted authorities.
The crime scene revealed the extent of the violence.
Diaz’s severed head was found in the shower alongside a knife.
The barbaric nature of the killing sent shockwaves through the community, Fox 26 Houston reported.
In the hours between the murder and his arrest, Dicus made a disturbing stop at the Chepes meat market where his wife had worked.
Surveillance footage captured him stealing a can of beer and drinking it in the parking lot.
Friends of the victim later revealed troubling signs about the relationship.
One close friend recalled to the New York Post back in 2023 that Dicus had posted a video on social media declaring “She is mine,” which struck people as unusual since no one had questioned their marriage.
The same friend described a Christmas party less than a month before the murder where warning signs appeared.
While others enjoyed themselves, Dicus suddenly left “looking really upset.”
The friend suspected Diaz suffered from domestic violence, though the victim “never said there were any problems.”
She believed Diaz “was just embarrassed to admit her relationship wasn’t perfect.”
Local law enforcement confirmed those suspicions.
Waller County Sheriff Troy Guidry disclosed that authorities knew about the couple before the murder occurred.
The department had responded to prior “disturbance” calls involving the pair.
However, Sheriff Guidry emphasized that nothing in those previous incidents matched the “level of violence” displayed in Diaz’s murder.
Before her death, Diaz had started working as a fitness coach.
She harbored dreams of building a family and having children with her husband, per media reports.
The Post highlighted that a friend had cautioned Diaz to “avoid getting pregnant so quickly” after the wedding, expressing concerns about rushing into parenthood given the circumstances of their relationship.
The case proceeded swiftly through the justice system after Dicus entered his guilty plea.
His four-decade sentence represented one of the consequences for the heinous crime that ended his wife’s young life and devastated her loved ones.
Now, less than two years after Diaz’s murder and only months after his sentencing, Dicus’ own life has ended in a prison cell.
The investigation into his death continues as authorities work to determine the full circumstances surrounding the incident at the Wainwright Unit facility.
