What did Ricky Gray do?
Ricky Gray was responsible for a spree of killings with his nephew Ray Joseph Dandridge in Richmond, Virginia, in 2006. They killed seven people over a seven-day period, including four members of the Harvey family and three members of the Baskerville family.
On the 1st January, 2006, Kathryn, Bryan, Stella and Ruby Harvey were found dead in the basement of their burning house. The family had been bound with electrical cord and tape and beaten with a claw hammer before their throats were slit.
On January 6, the police were contacted by a concerned parent of her daughter’s friend, Ashley Baskerville, who suspected that her former house guests, Gray and Dandridge, were involved in the Harvey murders.
The police stormed the Baskerville house and found three people dead. Mary and Percyell Baskerville Tucker, along with Ashley Baskerville, were the victims, and they had their throats slashed.
The next day, Gray and Dandridge were arrested in Philadelphia. One hour after the arrest, Dandridge confessed to the murders, and twelve hours after the arrest, Gray also confessed in a three page confession detailing the murders he took part in.
What happened during the trial?
On the 9th February, 2006, Gray and Dandridge were both charged with murder.
Dandridge pleaded not guilty and was put on trial in September 2006. Prior to closing arguments, he changed his plea to guilty, in an agreement to receive a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Gray pleaded not guilty, and his defence team sought a lenient sentence by presenting evidence of physical and sexual abuse during childhood. In August, 2006, a jury found him guilty of murder. They recommended he receive the death penalty for Stella and Ruby Harvey, and life in prison for the rest of the murders. On the 23rd October, Gray was sentenced to death.
In December 2006, Gray was also indicted for the murder of Sheryl Warner, a mother of three who was found shot and hanged by an electrical cord. Gray pleaded not guilty, and in 2008, the charge was suspended due to contradictory evidence.
Where is Ricky Gray now?
Ricky Gray was executed on the 18th January, 2017, by lethal injection. He was the second to last man executed in Virginia before the death penalty was abolished.
Dandridge is currently serving a life sentence in the Sussex II State Prison.
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