David Parker Ray

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This article is about the kidnapper and suspected killer known as "Toy-Box Killer". For the Tool-Box Killers, see Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris.

David Parker Ray
File:David Parker Ray.jpg
Ray in custody
Born(1939-11-06)November 6, 1939
Belen, New Mexico, U.S.
DiedMay 28, 2002(2002-05-28) (aged 62)
Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, New Mexico, U.S.
Other namesThe Toy-Box Killer
Children2
Criminal penalty224 years' imprisonment
Details
Victims0 murder convictions, more than 60 murders suspected, 3 tortured and survived
Span of crimes
1957–March 22, 1999
CountryUnited States
State(s)New Mexico
Arizona
Date apprehended
March 22, 1999

David Parker Ray (November 6, 1939 – May 28, 2002), also known as the Toy-Box Killer,[1] was an American kidnapper, torturer, rapist and suspected serial killer. Though no bodies were found, Ray was accused by his accomplices of killing several women, and was suspected by the police to have murdered as many as sixty women from Arizona and New Mexico while living in Elephant Butte, approximately seven miles north of Truth or Consequences.[2]

Ray soundproofed a semi-trailer, which he called his "toy box", and equipped it with items used for sexual torture. He would kidnap between five and six women a year, holding each of them captive for around three to four months. During this period he would sexually abuse his victims, sometimes involving his dog or his wife (who participated willingly in her husband's crimes), and often torture them with surgical instruments. Then Ray would drug them with barbiturates in an attempt to erase their memories of what had happened before abandoning them by the side of the road.[3][4][5]

Ray was convicted of kidnapping and torture in 2001, for which he received a lengthy sentence, but he was never convicted of murder. He died of a heart attack about one year after his convictions in two cases (the second of which resulted in a plea deal).

Biography

During his childhood, David Parker Ray and his younger sister, Peggy, lived with their disciplinarian grandfather.[6] He was sporadically visited by his violent, alcoholic father, who would supply him with magazines depicting sadomasochistic pornography.[7][8] At Mountainair High School, in Mountainair, New Mexico, he was bullied by his peers for his shyness around girls.[2]

Ray's sexual fantasies of raping, torturing, and even murdering women developed during his teenage years.[9] Around this time, his sister discovered his sadomasochistic drawings, as well as pornographic photographs of bondage acts. After completing high school, Ray received an honorable discharge from the United States Army, where his service included work as a general mechanic.[2]

Ray was divorced four times and had two children, including his accomplice, daughter Jesse Ray (born Glenda Jean Ray).[10][11]

Crimes

Ray sexually tortured and presumably killed his victims using whips, chains, pulleys, straps, clamps, leg spreader bars, surgical blades, electric shock machines, and saws.[12] It is thought that he terrorized many women with these tools for many years with the help of accomplices, some of whom are alleged to have been several of the women he was dating. Inside the torture room, along with numerous sex toys, torture implements, syringes, and detailed diagrams showing ways of inflicting pain, there was a homemade electrical generator which was used for torture.[1]: 3 

A mirror was mounted in the ceiling, above the obstetric table to which he strapped his victims. Ray also put his victims in wooden contraptions that bent them over and immobilized them while he had his dogs and sometimes other friends rape them. He has been said to have wanted his victims to see everything he was doing to them.[1]: 3  Ray often had an audio tape recording of his voice played for his victims whenever they regained consciousness.[1]: 2 

Arrest and investigation

Cynthia Vigil was abducted from an Albuquerque parking lot by Ray and his girlfriend, Cynthia Hendy.[13] She was taken to Elephant Butte, confined to the trailer and tortured. After three days of captivity, Vigil escaped from the trailer on March 22, 1999.[14][15]

To escape, she waited until Ray had gone to work, and then unlocked her chains with keys that Hendy had left on a nearby table. Hendy noticed Vigil's attempt to escape and a fight ensued. During the struggle, Hendy broke a lamp on the survivor's head, but Vigil unlocked her chains and stabbed Hendy in the neck with an icepick.[16]

Vigil fled while wearing only an iron slave collar and padlocked chains. She ran down the road seeking help, which she got from a nearby homeowner who took her in, comforted her, and called the police. Her escape led officials to the trailer and instigated the capture of Ray and his accomplices.[15] Police detained Ray and Hendy.

Another victim, Angelica Montano, came forward with a similar story to Vigil. She said she had been held captive by Ray after Hendy invited her to the house to pick up a cake mix. After being raped and tortured, Montano convinced the pair to release her along the highway. She was picked up by an off-duty law enforcement officer and told him what happened, but he did not believe her and left her at a bus stop. She also later called police about the incident, but there had been no follow-up.[1]

Police identified another victim, Kelli Garrett (also called Kelli Van Cleave), from a videotape which dated from 1996.[17]

Garrett was found alive in Colorado after police identified her from a tattoo on her ankle.[1] She testified that she had gotten in a fight with her husband and decided to spend the night playing pool with friends. Ray's daughter, Jesse, who knew Garrett, took her to the Blu-Water Saloon in Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico, and may have drugged the beer she was drinking. She offered Garrett a ride home but instead took Garrett to her father’s house.[18]

Garrett said that she endured two days of torture before Ray drove her back to her home. Ray told her husband that he had found the woman incoherent on a beach. Her husband did not believe that she could not remember where she had been and Garrett said she did not know what to tell police, so did not contact them. Her husband sued for divorce and Garrett moved to Colorado. She was later interviewed on Cold Case Files about her ordeal.[19]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation sent 100 agents to examine Ray's property and surroundings, but no identifiable human remains were found.[1]

To prevent women from reporting the assaults, Ray drugged them in an attempt to induce amnesia. He made a tape recording of himself telling one woman that the drugs were "sodium pentothal and phenobarbital [sic]".[20]

While awaiting trial, Ray spoke to FBI profilers and said that he was fascinated by the kidnapping of Colleen Stan and other sexually motivated kidnappings. The FBI had spoken to Ray as early as 1989 in connection with his business manufacturing and selling bondage-related sexual devices.[21]

Other possible victims include Jesse Ray’s former girlfriend Jill Troia, who disappeared in 1995; and Billy Ray Bowers, who was found shot to death and floating in Elephant Butte Lake in 1989.[citation needed]

Trials and aftermath

A judge ruled that the cases for crimes against Cynthia Vigil, Angelica Montano, and Kelli Garrett would be severed, meaning that Ray would be tried for each separately. Prosecutors said that this damaged their case as each woman’s story would otherwise have corroborated the others. The judge also ruled much of the evidence found in the trailer during the 1999 raid could not be admitted in the Garrett or Montano cases. The first trial, for crimes against Kelli Garrett, resulted in a mistrial after two jurors said they found her story unbelievable. Ray’s defense was that the sex trailer was part of Ray’s fantasy life and any sex was consensual.[22] After a retrial, Ray was convicted on all 12 counts.[1]: 12 

A week into his trial for crimes against Vigil, Ray agreed to a plea bargain and was sentenced in 2001 to 224 years in prison for numerous offenses in the abduction and sexual torture of three young women at his Elephant Butte Lake home.[1]: 13  The plea deal was in exchange of leniency for his daughter. Prosecutors said that the surviving victims had approved of the deal.[23]

Ray's daughter, Glenda Jean "Jesse" Ray, pled guilty to kidnapping; she was sentenced to time served with an additional five years to be served on probation. She had served two and a half years.[24]

In 1999, Dennis Roy Yancy (27) pled guilty to the 1997 murder of 22-year-old Marie Parker in Elephant Butte. Yancy confessed to helping Jesse Ray lure Parker into captivity in her father’s trailer. Yancy said that Parker was tortured and that Ray forced him to strangle the woman to death. Parker’s body was never found and prosecutors said that no forensic evidence was found to tie Parker to the Rays.[25] The murder was recorded by Ray on video.[citation needed] Yancy was also charged with kidnapping, two counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, and tampering with evidence. He was sentenced to 30 years. The Rays were not charged in Parker’s murder.[16][20][26][27] In 2010, Yancy was paroled after serving 11 years in prison, but the release was delayed by difficulties in negotiating a plan for residence. Three months after his release in 2011, Yancy was charged with violating his parole. He was remanded to custody, where he remained until 2021, serving the rest of his original sentence.[16][20][26][27]

In 2000, Cindy Hendy, an accomplice who testified against Ray, received a sentence of 36 years for her role in the crimes. She was scheduled to receive parole in 2017.[28] She was released on July 15, 2019, after serving the two years of her parole in prison.[29]

On May 28, 2002, Ray was taken to the Lea County Correctional Facility, in Hobbs, New Mexico, to be questioned by state police. He died of a heart attack before the interrogation took place.[30][31]

Cynthia Vigil later founded Street Safe New Mexico, a volunteer harm reduction nonprofit that works with sex workers and other vulnerable people living on the street, with Christine Barber.[32]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ramsland, Katherine. "David Parker Ray: The Toy Box Killer". TruTV. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c Glatt, John (June 17, 2002). Cries in the Desert. St. Martin's True Crime Library. ISBN 0312977565.
  3. ^ "Case 96: The Toy Box (Part 1) - Casefile: True Crime Podcast". Casefile: True Crime Podcast. September 22, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  4. ^ Geberth, Vernon J. (2010). "Chapter 12". Sex-Related Homicide and Death Investigation: Practical and Clinical Perspectives (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. pp. 557–598.
  5. ^ Michael H. Stone & Gary Brucato. The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2019), pp. 203-11.
  6. ^ Glatt, John (April 2007). Cries in the Desert. ISBN 9781429904711. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  7. ^ Greig, Charlotte (July 11, 2017). Serial Killers. Arcturus Publishing. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-78828-464-6. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  8. ^ "Profile of Serial Rapist David Parker Ray". ThoughtCo. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  9. ^ "David Parker Ray CV" (PDF). Maamodt.asp.radford.edu. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 29, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  10. ^ "David Parker Ray" (PDF). Maamodt.asp.radford.edu. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 31, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  11. ^ "Suspect's Daughter Is Arrested in Sex And Torture Case". The New York Times. April 27, 1999. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  12. ^ Fielder, Jim (2003). Slow Death. New York: Pinnacle Books. pp. 10, 11 and 28. ISBN 0-7860-1199-8.
  13. ^ "Episode 5 - Survivor Story: Cynthia Vigil". True Consequences Podcast. Archived from the original on November 16, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  14. ^ Proctor, Jeff (November 19, 2011). "Updated: Victim Tells of Captivity". www.abqjournal.com. Albuquerque, N.M.: Albuquerque Journal. Journal Staff. Archived from the original on January 9, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  15. ^ a b McMahan, Elysia (May 5, 2015). "The Horrifying True Story of a Woman Who Escaped the 'Toy Box Killer'". firsttoknow.com. Archived from the original on January 9, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  16. ^ a b c I Escaped Death (Season 1, Episode 8). Lair of a Sadist. Discovery Channel.
  17. ^ "Ray Gets 223-Plus Years For Sex Torture". amarillo.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
  18. ^ "Cold Case Files | "Toy-Box Killer" David Parker Ray - Crime Documentaries". youtube.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
  19. ^ "Cold Case Files | "Toy-Box Killer" David Parker Ray - Crime Documentaries". youtube.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
  20. ^ a b c Toy Box: Where The Evil Lurks. MSNBC. May 13, 2012.
  21. ^ "David Parker Ray Part 01 of 01".
  22. ^ "Judge Rules Mistrial in Sex-Torture Case". Las Cruces Sun News. July 14, 2000.
  23. ^ "Ray pleads guilty to kidnap, rape". Las Cruces Sun News. July 3, 2001.
  24. ^ "Missing Albuquerque woman in NM sex torture search - the San Diego Union-Tribune". October 10, 2011. Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  25. ^ "Man tied to sex-torture case implicates father, daughter". Las Cruces Sun-News.
  26. ^ a b Kim Holland. "Murderer paroled in sex torture case". krqe.com. Archived from the original on May 21, 2010.
  27. ^ a b "NM Court Lookup Case # D-721-CR-199900040". Archived from the original on September 15, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  28. ^ Lysee Mitri (September 29, 2017). "Suspected killer David Parker Ray's girlfriend readies for release". krqe.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  29. ^ "Suspected killer David Parker Ray's girlfriend released from prison". krqe.com. July 15, 2019. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  30. ^ Glatt, John (2002). Cries in the Desert. Macmillan. p. 276. ISBN 9780312977566. OCLC 49937160.
  31. ^ Fielder, Jim (2003). Slow Death. Kensington Pub. p. 315. ISBN 9780786011995. OCLC 51455524.
  32. ^ https://www.streetsafenewmexico.org. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

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