Serial killer dana sue gray

After Beverly's death in the 's, Dana had no choice but to move out of the house when her stepmother found stolen prescription drugs. The alcoholism and drugs were used to cope with the depression during 2 miscarriages and the loss of her job. She didn't want to abort her 2 children because to her, being a mother is an important responsibility. Forensic psychiatrists also say she killed elderly women as surrogates to take out her hatred for her mother on them.

Deadly Women Wiki Explore. In , Gray married her husband at a winery in Temecula, Calif. By the time her killing spree began, the two were divorced, citing irreconcilable differences. Shortly after her divorce, Gray moved in with her boyfriend and his 5-year-old son in their trailer in Wildomar, California. Some say that it is a chain of events that sent Gray off on a killing binge, while others believe that Gray was simply materialistic and vain, killing only to support her opulent tastes.

Sunday, January 9, Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Password recovery. At her hearing, the District Attorney requested the death penalty for Gray. She pleaded insanity on all counts. As part of her plea bargain, Gray asked that she not be prosecuted for the murder of Norma Davis, her first victim, because she was a distant relative. The only reason she escaped execution was because she pleaded guilty. In the long list of purchases were swimsuits, cowboy boots, a ski mask, vodka, and a massage at an upscale spa.

Search Search for: Search. She then stole two credit cards and went on a huge shopping spree at an upscale shopping center Murder scene photo from the residence of Dora Beebe, She was killed in her Sun City condo.

What Dana Bought In the long list of purchases were swimsuits, cowboy boots, a ski mask, vodka, and a massage at an upscale spa. Remember to change this. The print was small, like one from a shoe for a woman, so it seemed less certain that this was the killer's shoe. Nevertheless, they carefully preserved it.

Beneath Norma's body was a bloody phone. To those who processed the crime scene, it seemed likely that Norma Davis's killer had known how to get into the secure community, as well as into the house. There was no evidence of a break-in, leading detectives to suspect a family member someone she felt comfortable allowing inside.

According to the Press Enterprise, the autopsy indicated that the killer had stabbed Norma eleven times before leaving the knives sunk deeply into her. She had also been manually strangled with great force, and it was likely she had been killed two days earlier.

No items of value had been taken from the home, or any money from Norma's purse. A valuable ring had been left on her finger.

People in the area, especially the elderly, worried about a savage killer wandering around, looking for a way to break into their houses. No one knew if Norma's death had been a random attack or something personal. She did not appear to have enemies, but the idea of a burglar who relied on knives to kill strangers upon whom he preyed was too frightening to consider.

The police asked for the public's help to provide information about someone seen in the area, or someone known to have threatened the victim. They questioned Norma's relatives at length, but they soon had reason to worry when another victim was killed. As police checked out gardeners, house-keepers, and service personnel for the unit condominium project in Canyon Lake, they took note of recent reports about prowlers.

They also learned that Norma Davis, who'd lived there for the past five years, generally kept to herself. On that day, according to records kept at the gate, she had not authorized any strangers to come to her home. Residents who spoke with reporters said the crime reminded them of the Manson murders from just a seemingly random, though bloody, attack.

Norma had last been seen when she shopped at a hardware store across from the gated community, having keys made. It seemed possible that someone unknown to her had seen her and followed her.

But soon, detectives on the case would have reason to believe that she had been the victim of a serial killer. A second murder occurred in the same general area only two weeks later. A psychic had predicted the murder and had told the detectives they would close the case, but had been unable to offer any concrete leads. She did not answer her phone and it was her 66th birthday. They found the house keys on her golf cart, entered her home, and found her inside, lying on her back on the floor in the den beneath a large, overturned chair.

She was dead. They called the police, who initially thought, from terrible bruises on the body, that the victim had been killed by a blow to the head. She was transported for an autopsy as police checked the area. A large diamond ring remained on her finger, and in her home, two telephone cords had been removed. A heavy glass wine decanter had been used to batter her.

Again, with no evidence of a break-in, detectives were convinced that June had known her attacker, but they were at a loss as to what the motive had been. The Canyon Lake City Council held an emergency meeting to urge police to provide residents with necessary information. According to the Press Enterprise, with two murders in as many weeks, many of the elderly residents were moving in with relatives or acquiring guns and better locks for self-protection.

In addition, an extra police patrol was added to the area. It was the subject of nearly everyone's conversations. What the police realized was that both women had lived alone, neither had shown signs of a struggle, and it appeared that neither had been significantly robbed. Nor were they raped. However, Davis had been repeatedly stabbed, as if the attack was motivated by anger, and no knife was used on Roberts.

Investigators were unable to determine for sure if someone had broken into the two homes or had been allowed to enter, but it seemed more likely to be the latter. During Roberts's autopsy, her cause of death was found to be strangulation, and it was believed that she had died earlier on the day she was found.

She suffered both head and neck injuries. A telephone cord removed from the wall and found in her home was believed to be the murder weapon. Investigators had no suspects in this or the earlier murder, but by March 10, they were considering the possibility that the murders were linked to the attack on Dorinda Hawkins. The police gave the newspapers the composite drawing of Dorinda's attacker a bleached-blond fortyish Caucasian woman wearing a white blouse with a flower print - but the case finally broke the following week after yet another murder.

This time, the rampaging killer made several key mistakes that allowed the police to track her down. March 16 was the anniversary of the death of Julia Whitcombe's father, Ernest Beebe, from cancer. Her mother, Dora Beebe, was still alive and she suffered each year when this date came around. Julia called her to offer comfort but received no response.

She then went to the condominium into which she had moved her mother the year before, so she'd be safer and have less maintenance to worry about. Dora's fear came true. A male friend with whom she had missed an appointment went to her home to find out if she was all right. He was well aware of the murders in the area of elderly women in their own homes. He had spoken to Dora earlier that day and she had been fine, but it was not like her to say she would be some place and not show up.

He just wanted to be certain. But when he went into her residence late in the afternoon of March 16, he found her door unlocked also unlike her , and her blood-covered, battered body on the bathroom floor. She lay in a fetal position, as if protecting herself, and her blood stained the gold carpet beneath her.

Her scalp had bled freely from a terrible gash, probably made by a dented, blood-stained iron that sat in the sink. Detectives determined from blood patterns on the door and wall that Dora had been hit while in several different positions, including when she was on the floor. She appeared to have been dragged to the bathroom and left where she lay.

But she was also beaten there. She had received five separate blows from the iron. Oddly, beneath her, they found a telephone.

Yet before she'd even been found, the suspect in the two earlier murders was being interrogated. Even as police sat with her, getting her to talk, they had no idea just how depraved she had been over the past month. At five-foot-two, with shoulder-length blond hair, Dana Sue Gray fit the description of the woman who'd attacked Dorinda Hawkins.

She was caught after a bank clerk had notified June Roberts's relatives that her credit cards had been used after her death, and they in turn had told the police. One detective had talked with the woman who had cared for Norma Davis was her former daughter-in-law, in fact and after some thinking, she had told them about Gray, providing an address. Gray certainly fit the physical description, and had known both Norma Davis and June Roberts. She was currently living with a man who had a five-year-old son.

When the police checked at the places where June Roberts's credit cards had been used, they learned about a blond woman who had a five-year-old boy in tow.

Apparently, she'd had him with her when she had killed Roberts. That accounted for why she had been more careful about not spilling any blood. She had also attempted to have her hair dyed red.

On the afternoon of March 16, officers staked out the mobile home on Mission Trail in Wildomar, where Gray resided with her boyfriend not a suspect. Once their warrant was approved, they arrested her and took her in for questioning. They also looked at some of the items in her apartment. At the very least, they had her on forgery and possession of stolen property. In addition, a set of keys found in Gray's home matched those taken from the antiques store where Dorinda Hawkins was attacked.

Just before detectives began to interrogate Gray, they learned about the murder of Dora Beebe. They wondered if it was possible that they'd snagged this killer right after she'd taken down her third victim. Right away, Gray volunteered the information that she was depressed and had suffered many setbacks in life.

She was cautioned about her rights, but she continued without an attorney. To be safe, the detectives videotaped the entire conversation.

Gray cried a lot and admitted that she knew June Roberts well. The questioning was initially awkward, as recorded by Braidhill, but apparently the pressure was sufficient to keep Gray talking. After several hours of interrogation, she implicated herself in the Feb 28 murder of June Roberts, but only vaguely, by admitting to the use of her credit cards.

It turned out that Roberts had often prayed for Gray, feeling sorry for her situation. Then Gray said she'd found a bank book belonging to someone named Dora Beebe giving several different stories for this discovery.

The detectives were aware that Beebe was a third murder victim, killed just hours earlier. While Gray was not admitting to anything, she was raising the subject of Beebe herself. That was significant. It was clearly on her mind. After more questioning, she said, "I got desperate to buy things. Shopping puts me at rest. I'm lost without it. Gray was booked and detained without bail in the Riverside County Jail and the police held a press conference to announce her arrest and her alleged involvement in three of the incidents.

Around people attended. Detectives showed Gray's photo to Dorinda Hawkins, and she identified Gray as her attacker. I knew it was her. I'm positive that they got her, thank God. It turned out that Norma Davis was related by marriage to Gray's mother, who was Davis' daughter-in-law, but Gray had been born after her mother was widowed and remarried to another man.

Yet Gray was not yet charged in the woman's death, as there was no definitive evidence linking her to it. With all of this information and the special circumstances murder during a robbery and double murder , reporters speculated over whether the DA's office, with the team of Richard Bentley and Michelle Levine assigned, would go for the death penalty.

There was little doubt that Gray had killed with planning and malice. Had she not been caught, it's likely she would have continued to kill and cash in. An arraignment was scheduled for March 21, but was then postponed. At this time, there was still no charge for the murder of Norma Davis, although the investigation continued with the hope of getting a DNA match from the knives.

They did have a match from one of Gray's Nike shoes to the footprint found in Davis's house, and Gray had said she'd not been in the house in two years. This kind of evidence was general at best, since nothing about the shoe or the print was clearly individuated. Gray's public defender, Stuart Sachs, claimed he needed time to prepare the case and his request was granted.

Gray, wearing a sky-blue prison jumpsuit, quietly agreed to the delay, although she later complained about him as an attorney. She seemed intimidated that day by the number of reporters gathered to see her in the courtroom. As local journalists waited for the arraignment, they looked for other stories to pen, and one of these involved the disposition of one victim's cat. Dora Beebe had a seven-year-old gray tiger cat named Weezie, and now Dora's daughter faced the need to place the animal with someone.

She was hoping for a shut-in who needed a companion. There was no follow-up story. An acquaintance of Gray's, Dave Dressecker, spoke with reporters. He had known Gray as an RN, recalling how dedicated she had been, and had done some real estate transactions with her. He could not imagine her as the person who had allegedly assaulted one woman and murdered three. He also offered her letters to reporters, which showed how much she whined about her situation.

She did not like prison at all and seemed to believe that she would soon be free. Apparently she harangued her father to sell Norma's condo and use the funds for a better attorney.

Other acquaintances said Gray had often had a hard look about her, but they had attributed it to the stressful life of a surgical nurse. A few said that she'd been a good neighbor, but when her life had started to erode, she'd become cranky and withdrawn. When asked about the case, Gray's boyfriend, a machinist, said he had no words: "People ask me to explain it and I can't. Still, he declined to visit Gray in jail and had been angry over being pulled into the investigation. He eventually broke up with her.

There was also an estranged half-brother who told reporters his own theory about Gray's motive. His name was Cedric Ward, according to the newspapers, and on March 22, he' held an impromptu press conference outside the courtroom.

It was his belief that Gray suffered from exposure to a dysfunctional wealthy family from Newport Beach. There was a lot of depression in the home, he said, and a lot of fighting. She had a habit of asking others to give her money, as well as of stealing it when it suited her.

Nevertheless, Ward claimed to be stunned over the reports that she had attacked and murdered elderly women. Another story traced the path that Gray had taken once she had June Roberts' credit cards. Those who encountered her or provided a service described her as cheerful and happy.

That behavior supported the idea that she was a cold-hearted killer. She had her boyfriend's son with her and said to several people that she expected to go on a shopping spree that day. She would later admit to the shocking revelation that she had the boy with her, leaving him in the car, when she murdered June Roberts.

On April 8, , Gray pled innocent to the charges. She continued to hold to her story that she had found the credit cards and bank book that she had used to enrich herself.

At her preliminary hearing in June, the judge decided there was sufficient evidence to hold Gray for trial. He wanted Gray, if convicted, to die in the gas chamber. It was the third time in that county where the ultimate penalty had been requested for a female, and only four women altogether had been executed in the state of California, but Gray's callousness, he said, called for it.

Through her attorney at this time, Gray again admitted to fraudulent use of the cards and theft of the money but denied any part in the murders. No one believed her, but she pretended she did not understand why the coincidence of her happening upon the property of two recently murdered women was such a stretch for the imagination. She insisted that her only crime was to exploit her luck rather than turn the cards and bank book in.

From prison, she wrote letters to people she thought might assist her, asking them judge her "with their hearts," and pointed out that it was an election year so the police were manipulating the facts to win the case against her. She insisted they were lying about a number of items. She expected that those who knew her would realize she had not murdered anyone.

She claimed that she had a lot of friends siding with her.