Ray Dandridge and Ricky Gray have admitted to stabbing and robbing a 25-year-old man in Arlington County, Virginia on New Year's Eve. The city of Arlington, VA (officially a county), lies just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Both Dandridge and Gray grew up and went to school in Arlington. After this attack the duo drove to Richmond, VA, where on New Year's Day they invaded the home of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey where they bound and slashed the throats of the Harveys and their two young daughters. Police are investigating the possibility that the duo also committed other crimes during November, December and early January, until they were captured on January 7, 2006, at the home of Ricky Gray's father in Philadelphia.

Dandridge and Gray likely strangled Gray's wife, Treva Terrell Gray, on November 5, 2005, in Washington, PA, 25 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. The police got their first break in this case after the two killed Mary and Percyell Tucker and Mary Tucker's daughter, Ashley Baskerville, on January 6, 2006. Ashley had dated one of the men, and she was living with them  in Chesterfield County, a suburb of Richmond. When a friend of Ashley's noticed that she was no longer at the Chesterfield address, the friend contacted Richmond police and they went to the Tucker home where they discovered the bodies of the Tuckers and Ashley Baskerville.

The duo is also being investigated for the home invasion and robbery of a man in Washington, PA on November 3, 2005. The man remains comatose in the hospital. It is quite clear that these two would have continued to invade homes, and to rob and kill, until they were apprehended.

The following quote comes from an editorial by Jac Wilder VerSteeg, who writes for the Palm Beach Post in Florida:

"Just as support for the death penalty erodes, however, along comes an atrocity like a more recent crime also out of Virginia. Ricky Javon Gray and Ray Joseph Dandridge, both 28, last week were arrested on suspicion of killing seven people in two Richmond families. Victims, including little girls aged 9 and 4, were tied up with tape and then had their throats cut. Robbery was the motive. If the evidence, perhaps including DNA evidence, proves Gray and Dandridge guilty, why don't they deserve to die?"

I don't think that you would get an argument from very many people that Ray Dandridge and Ricky Gray deserve to live. I think that it is up to the clear-thinking people of America to make sure that capital punishment remains as an option for killers such as these two.

Some witnesses in the neighborhood of the Harveys said that they saw a Black woman sitting in a van near the Harvey home on the morning the Harvey family was killed. This woman fit the description of Ashley Baskerville. Additionally, the family in Chesterfield Country, just outside of Richmond, that suffered a home invasion and robbery on January 3rd, has stated that the duo that robbed them had a woman with them, and they identified a photo of Ashley Baskerville as that woman. This family said that two men came to their door and asked for directions, when the door was opened, they forced their way in.

Additionally, Dandridge and Gray are being investigated for a home invasion and murder on December 18, 2005, in Culpeper, VA, which is about 50 miles southwest of Arlington, in which a White woman, Sherri Warner was shot in the head and hanged with an electrical cord. Her house was also set on fire (like the Harveys) and she was also found in the basement. She was on the phone with her father at 7:00 p.m. when she told her father that a man was at the door saying that he had car trouble and that he wanted to use the phone.

The two suspects were formally charged in Richmond, VA, on Tuesday, January 10, 2006. Dandridge was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Gray was charged with one count of first-degree murder and four counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Both men also are charged with larceny in the theft of a vehicle from one of the victims. General District Court Judge Gregory Rupe ordered the defendants held without bond until a February 15th preliminary hearing.
 

What are the lessons to be learned from this crime spree? In the case of the Arlington man: he should not have let the two Black men get close to him. As soon as he saw them he should have run in the opposite direction. In the case of the Culpeper woman, and the Chesterfield County family, they should not have opened their door to strangers who wanted to use the phone because of car trouble and to get directions. Both of these victims should have had guns available, or they should have had a well-rehearsed escape plan out a back door, if the assailants had tried to break in - had they refused to open the door for them. In the case of the Harvey family, they should have had their doors locked.

Unfortunately, everyone in our society has to start taking more precautions when it comes to strangers, and especially when it comes to Black males. I think that we have enough evidence now to clearly demonstrate that Black males have a high tendency to commit violent crime. So again: arm yourselves, be very wary of strangers, and have escape plans worked out well in advance. You never know when criminals will try to invade your home, rob, or kill you. Please heed this advice and the chances of your falling victim to such crimes will be minimized.

Yours Faithfully, Liberty