2006 Richmond spree murders
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The 2006 Richmond spree murders took place during a 7-day period in January 2006 in Richmond, Virginia, and claimed the lives of 7 people. After the arrest of the perpetrators, Ricky Javon Gray and Ray Joseph Dandridge, two more murders as well as an assault were linked to one or both of the men. The case received intense media attention due to the brutal and random nature of the crimes, as well as the relative fame of Bryan Harvey, one of the victims.
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[edit] Prelude
On November 5, 2005, the badly-beaten body of 35-year-old Treva Terrell Gray was found in a shallow grave by Brookside Avenue in Washington, Pennsylvania by passersby. She had married a 28-year-old former convict named Ricky Javon Gray approximately 6 months before, and lived in a house owned by her family with her husband and his nephew Ray Joseph Dandridge, who had moved in with the couple following his release from prison on October 26, 2005 after serving over 10 years for armed robbery. According to John and Marna Squires, Treva's stepfather and mother, the Grays fought bitterly, and they saw claw marks on Ricky Gray's forearm the day Treva's body was found. [1] While both Gray and Dandridge were interviewed by the Washington police, they were not considered suspects. Approximately a week after the discovery of their daughter's body, the Squires evicted Dandridge from their property; Dandridge then moved in with his father in west Philadelphia. On December 23, Gray moved out as well to stay with his maternal grandmother in Arlington, Virginia. Dandridge left Philadelphia on Christmas day to join Gray in Virginia.[2] Marla Squires alleges that the police were lax in investigating Treva's death, going so far as to suggest to her that she had died of a drug overdose.[3] While the police ruled her death suspicious at the time, no homicide investigation was launched until after Gray's confession.
On December 18, 2005, Sheryl Warner, 37-year-old legal secretary and mother of three, was found shot and hanged by an electrical cord in the basement of her burning house in the town of Reva in Culpeper County, Virginia. She had been on the phone with her father when she stated that a motorist with car trouble was asking to use her phone. Her father contacted the police when she failed to call him back, leading to the discovery of her body.[4]
On December 31, 2005, 26-year-old Ryan Carey was attacked by two men he later identified as Gray and Dandridge in front of his parent's home in the 5100 block of North 25th Street in Arlington. Carey sustained extensive beating and stab wounds to the chest, neck and arms in a near-fatal assault, and spent the next two weeks in a coma. He also permanently lost the use of his right arm. [5]
[edit] The Harvey Family
In the early afternoon of January 1, 2006, Kathryn, Bryan, Stella, and Ruby Harvey, a family of four, were found beaten, slashed and bound with electrical cord and tape in the basement of their burning house in the Woodland Heights district of Richmond, Virginia.
Kathryn Harvey, 39, was the co-owner of a popular local toy shop called "World of Mirth" in the Carytown district of Richmond, and the half-sister of actor Steven Culp. Bryan Harvey, 49, was an indie musician of note, a former member of House of Freaks, a two-man college-rock band in Richmond. Their daughters Stella and Ruby were 9 and 4, respectively. Bryan and Kathryn died of blunt-force trauma to the head, Stella of smoke inhalation and blunt-force trauma to the head, and Ruby of stab wounds to her back, one of which punctured her lung. [6]
[edit] Chesterfield Home Invasion
On January 3, 2006, a couple living on Hollywood Drive in Chesterfield was robbed by two men and a woman who had gained entry to their house by pretending to ask for directions. The robbers stole several items including a computer and a television as well as $800 in cash. The husband was able to dissuade the gang from tying them up by drawing attention to the wife's disability and his need to assist her.
[edit] The Tucker-Baskerville Family
On January 6, 2006, the police received a call from a Chesterfield resident who was concerned about her daughter's friend, a 21-year-old named Ashley Baskerville. The caller suspected that her former houseguests Ricky Gray and Ray Dandridge, respectively former and current boyfriends of Ashley, were involved in the Harvey murders. The police found items at the Chesterfield home linked to the Harvey case, and stormed the house on East Broad Rock Road where Ashley lived with her stepfather, 55-year-old Percyell Tucker, and her mother, 46-year-old Mary Baskerville-Tucker. Percyell worked as a forklift driver and Mary was employed at a dry cleaning establishment. All three members of the family were found gagged and bound with tape in their ransacked house. Percyell and Mary had also been slashed across the throat. The three had suffocated due to the layers of duct tape wrapped around their heads. Ashley had a plastic bag wrapped around her head as well, secured with duct tape.[7]
[edit] Arrest and Confessions
On the morning of January 7, 2006, Ricky Gray and Ray Dandridge were arrested in Philadelphia, where Dandridge's father Ronald Wilson lived. Approximately one hour after the arrest, Dandridge confessed to killing the Tuckers and Ashley Baskerville.[8] Twelve hours after the arrest, Gray asked to speak with a detective, then proceeded to provide a detailed, 3-page confession in which he described using a kitchen knife and claw hammer to kill the Harveys, stating "I don't believe sorry is strong enough. None of this was necessary."[9] In subsequent confessions, he admitted to beating his wife Treva to death while Dandridge held her down, to being an accomplice in the Tucker-Baskerville murders, and to the attack on Ryan Carey.[10][11]
On January 8, 2006, the police formally identified Ashley Baskerville as a participant in the Harvey murders, the Chesterfield robbery and the robbery at her own home as a result of the above confessions as well as eyewitness testimony and other evidence.[12] Baskerville had acted as the lookout in the parked car while Gray and Dandridge entered the Harvey home, and was found wearing Bryan Harvey's wedding band.[13] Gray and Dandridge testified that she had posed as a victim and allowed herself to be bound as a part of the plan to rob her mother and stepfather, "but "things just went wrong"[14] and "(Gray) got tired of the girl, so he decided to kill her and take her parents' car."[8]
[edit] The Trials
On February 9, 2006, Ricky Javon Gray was charged with five counts of capital murder in the Harvey killings: one charge for killing more than once in a three-year period, one charge for committing more than one killing in a single act, one charge for killing in commission of a robbery, and two charges for killing a child under 14 years of age. On the same day, Ray Joseph Dandridge was charged with three counts of capital murder in the Tucker-Baskerville killings. Gray pleaded not guilty, and his defense team sought leniency by presenting evidence of physical and sexual abuse during childhood as well as PCP use during the commission of the crimes.[5]
- August 17, 2006: A jury finds Gray guilty on five capital murder charges after four days of trial and 30 minutes of deliberation.[14]
- August 22, 2006: The jury recommends the death penalty for the murders of Stella and Ruby Harvey and life in prison for the three remaining charges after 12 1/2 hours of deliberation.[15]
- September 19, 2006: Dandridge pleads guilty to three counts of capital murder as a part of an agreement to serve life in prison without parole for the deaths of the Tucker-Baskerville family.[16]
- October 23, 2006: The judge sentences Gray to death. [17]
- December 19, 2006: Culpeper County indicts Gray for the murder of Sheryl Warner. [18]
- January 9, 2007: Gray pleads not guilty to the murder of Sheryl Warner. A trial is scheduled for July 30. [19]
[edit] Memorials
[edit] Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment
The Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment has been created "to provide music, visual art and performing arts enrichment in the Richmond area, which may include but is not limited to educational scholarships."
[edit] Ruby Harvey Memorial Scholarship Fund
An annual event, Ruby's Run, has been organized to raise money in Ruby Harvey's name for a scholarship fund at Ruby's preschool, the Second Presbyterian Child Care Center in downtown Richmond. The first took place on Saturday, November 4, 2006; the second was on Saturday, November 17, 2007.
[edit] Children's Garden in Richmond
In June 2006, the William Fox Elementary School in Richmond, where Stella Harvey attended school, dedicated its new Children's Garden to the memory of Stella Harvey.
[edit] 2006 Richmonders of the Year
In January 2007, a Richmond newspaper named the Harvey Family the 2006 Richmonders of the Year.
[edit] Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife, by the Drive-by Truckers
On their 2008 album Brighter than Creation's Dark, Athens, GA rock band Drive-by Truckers perform a song in tribute to the Harvey family titled "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife." [1]
[edit] References
- ^ Pittsburgh Tribune-Review "Stepfather didn't trust Gray", January 10, 2006
- ^ Washington Post, "Pair Admit N.Va. Stabbing", January 12, 2006
- ^ Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Gray jury dismissed until Tuesday", August 22, 2006
- ^ Washington Post, "Death Row Convict Faces 2nd Trial in Killing Spree", March 25, 2007
- ^ a b FOXnews.com, "Jury Weighing Execution for Killer of Richmond Family Hears Testimony of Violence",August 18, 2006
- ^ USA Today, "Man convicted of grisly murders of Virginia couple, daughters", August 17,2006
- ^ Richmond.com, "Prosecution: Victims Suffocated", September, 19, 2006
- ^ a b Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Dandridge: 'I bound the family'", September 19, 2006
- ^ Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Gray: 'None of this was necessary'", August 17,2006
- ^ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Why is one killing worth less?", October 22, 2006
- ^ CBS6 WTVR, "Friday Morning Blog - Arlington Attack Testimony", October 31, 2006
- ^ CBS8.com, "Trial to Begin in Gruesome Va. Killings", August 8, 2006
- ^ CrimeLibrary.com, "Tucker/Baskerville Family Murders"
- ^ a b Richmond.com, "Live or Let Die?", August 18,2006
- ^ Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Gray gets death penalty", August 23, 2006
- ^ inRich.com "Dandridge pleads guilty; sentenced to life without parole", September 19, 2006
- ^ Comcast News, "Killer of Virginia Family Gets Death", October 23, 2006
- ^ The Free Lance-Star, "Culpeper indicts Gray", December 19, 2006
- ^ The Star Exponent, "Not guilty plea from convicted killer Gray", January 9, 2007
- ^ The Star Exponent, "Ricky Jovan Gray pleads not guilty to Warner murder", July 18, 2007
