A Utah man who was spared execution this fall after developing dementia during his 37 years on death row died Wednesday of apparent natural causes, according to the state's Department of Corrections.

Ralph Leroy Menzies died at 1:45 p.m. local time at a hospital, the department said . His next of kin and the family of Maurine Hunsaker — the woman he was convicted of abducting and killing in 1986 — have been notified.

Menzies, 67, was set to die by firing squad in September, but the Utah Supreme Court blocked the impending execution in August after his attorneys argued his dementia had become too severe . A judge had scheduled a new competency hearing for mid-December to reevaluate his mental state.

The Utah Department of Corrections said Wednesday it would not

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