David Parker Ray
| David Parker Ray | |
|---|---|
Ray in custody.
|
|
| Born |
David Parker Ray November 6, 1939 Belen, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Died | May 28, 2002 (aged 62) Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Other names | The Toy-Box Killer |
| Criminal penalty | 224 years' imprisonment |
| Children | 3 |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 0 confirmed; 14–60 suspected |
|
Span of killings
|
1950s–March 22, 1999 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | New Mexico |
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Date apprehended
|
March 22, 1999 |
David Parker Ray (November 6, 1939 – May 28, 2002), also known as the Toy-Box Killer, was a suspected American serial killer, and known torturer of women.
Though no bodies were found, he was accused by his accomplices of killing several people and suspected by police to have murdered as many as 60 people from Arizona and New Mexico, while living in Elephant Butte, New Mexico, approximately 7 miles north of Truth or Consequences. He soundproofed a truck trailer that he called his "toy box", and equipped it with items used for sexual torture.
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).
During his childhood, Ray lived with his grandfather. However, he still saw his father and was physically abused by him. At Mountainair High School, in Mountainair, New Mexico, he was also bullied by his peers for his shyness around girls.
He started abusing alcohol and drugs as a teenagerand his sexual fantasies of raping, torturing, and even murdering women developed. Around this time, his sister discovered Ray's sadomasochistic drawings, as well as erotic photographs of bondage acts. After completing high school, he worked as an auto mechanic. He received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, where his service also included work as a general mechanic.
Ray sexually tortured and presumably killed his victims using whips, chains, pulleys, straps, clamps, leg spreader bars, surgical blades, and saws. It is thought that he terrorized many women with these tools for many years, while living in New Mexico, with the added assistance of multiple accomplices, allegedly including several of the women he was dating. Inside the torture room, along with numerous sex toys, torture implements, syringes, and detailed diagrams showing different methods and techniques for inflicting pain, there was a homemade electrical generator that was used for torture. A mirror was mounted in the ceiling, above the gynecologist-type table he used to strap his victims to. Ray would also put his victims in wooden contraptions that bent them over and immobilized them while he had his dogs rape them and sometimes other friends. He has been said to have wanted his victims to see everything he was doing to them during the torture sessions. Ray would often have a recorded audio tape of himself played for his victims whenever they regained consciousness.
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Wikipedia