FORT MADISON — A former St. Anthony man who was serving a life sentence for murdering his estranged wife and two of her friends in Tama in 1980 died in prison on May 16, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Charles Cullor, 81, had been incarcerated since October of 1980 for the killings of Linda Cullor, Mark Curtis and Roseann Curtis in an apartment the three shared on April 6, 1980. He appealed his conviction on the grounds that his vehicle was illegally searched and seized without a warrant, but the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the judge’s ruling in 1982.