Killer Couples: Ray & Faye Copeland

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by tpksstories

by tpksstories

Faye Della Copeland (néeWilson; August 4, 1921 – December 23, 2003) and Ray Copeland(December 30, 1914 – October 19, 1993) became, at the ages of 69and 76 respectively, the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in theUnited States. They were convicted of killing five drifters at theirfarm in Mooresville, Missouri. When her sentence was commuted to lifein prison in 1999, Faye Copeland was the oldest woman on death row.

History

Ray Copeland was born in Oklahoma in1914. While he was growing up, his family moved around, struggling tosurvive during the Great Depression. As a young man, he began a lifeof petty crime, stealing livestock and forging checks, until he wascaught and served a year in jail. After his release in 1940, he metFaye Wilson, and they were married soon afterward. They quickly hadseveral children and, thanks to Ray's criminal reputation, had tokeep moving their family around while money was tight. During thistime, Ray served several jail sentences, until he finally came upwith a plan to improve his illegal money-making methods so as to beundetected.

Because Ray was well known as a fraud,he could not buy and sell cattle on his own. To get around thisproblem, he began to pick up drifters and hobos and employed them asfarmhands on his property in Mooresville, Missouri. He would take hisemployees to the market, where they would use his bad checks to buythe cattle for him. After the transactions, Ray would sell the cattlequickly and the farmhands would disappear without a trace. For awhile, the scam worked, but the police caught up and Ray was onceagain sent to jail.

Upon his release, he resumed hiscriminal activities, but this time he made sure his farmhands werenot as connected to him as before. This went on until a previousemployee, Jack McCormick, called the Crime Stoppers hotline in August1989 to tell them about the Copelands. McCormick claimed that he hadseen human bones on their farm while he was employed there and alsoclaimed that Ray had tried to kill him.

Police were initially skeptical of theclaims, but after checking Ray's criminal record, they decided toinvestigate further. In October 1989, they visited the Copeland farmarmed with a search warrant, dozens of officers and a team ofbloodhounds. Initially, they did not find any incriminatingevidence, but after further searching, the bodies of three young menwere discovered in a nearby barn. As the search continued, morebodies were found, all killed with the same weapon: a .22 caliberMarlin rifle that was later found in the Copeland home.

It became clear that Ray killed hisemployees in the pursuit of money, but Faye's actions were initiallyquestioned. When she went to trial in November 1990, her defensemounted a picture of her as a dutiful wife and mother who had enduredbeatings and general ill-treatment from her husband. However, thejury convicted her of four counts of murder and one count ofmanslaughter. She was given four death sentences for the murders andlife without parole for the manslaughter.

In March 1991, Ray went on trial, wasconvicted of five counts of murder and sentenced to death. Uponhearing that Faye had been sentenced to death by lethal injection aswell, Ray showed no emotion and replied "Well, those thingshappen to some, you know."

Ray died of natural causes on October19, 1993. His body was cremated. Faye's attorneys appealed herconviction, contending that the jury had not been allowed to hearevidence that Ray had abused her for years. On August 6, 1999, JudgeOrtrie Smith overturned the death sentence, but let the convictionsstand and commuted her sentence to five consecutive terms of lifewithout parole.

On August 10, 2002, Faye suffered astroke that left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak. Weekslater, in September 2002, Governor Bob Holden authorized a medicalparole for Faye, fulfilling her one wish that she not die in prison.She was paroled to a nursing home in her hometown of Chillicothe,Missouri, where she died of natural causes at the age of 82. She leftbehind five children and 17 grandchildren.

Known victims

Dennis K. Murphy of Normal,Illinois; killed October 17, 1986

Wayne Warner of Bloomington,Illinois;[7] killed Nov 19, 1986

Jimmy Dale Harvey, 27 ofSpringfield, Missouri; killed October 25, 1988

John W. Freeman, 27 of Boonville,Indiana; killed December 8, 1988

Paul J. Cowart, 20 of Dardanelle,Arkansas; killed May 3 or 4, 1989

In other media

The Copelands' story has beenfictionalized in a comic book Family Bones, written by Ray'sgreat-nephew Shawn Granger. The play Temporary Help by David Wiltse,which appeared off-Broadway in 2004, was based on this story.

The case was documented in multipletelevision series, such as Forensic Files, Wicked Attraction, and TheNew Detectives.