0:00

Music

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Playing]

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. Hey everybody , I'm Alexa and I'm Charish

0:28

, and welcome back to Murder in the

0:30

Mountains . So we took a

0:32

week off because the stomach

0:34

bug hit our house . It was Beckett's

0:36

first stomach bug and it was

0:38

terrible , so Harris

0:41

didn't want to come over and get the cuties

0:43

and keep spreading them back and forth , understandably

0:45

, so we took the week off instead of compromising

0:48

the audio integrity of

0:50

the show and doing it via Zoom

0:52

. So that's

0:55

that . Charish , would you also like

0:57

to share what today is

0:59

not ?

1:00

So I woke up this morning Actually

1:04

, let me just back up a little bit . Last night

1:06

I texted Ryan and I was like , hey

1:08

, do you have anything planned for Alexa's birthday

1:10

? If you do , I'll

1:12

be happy to keep the kids , I can pick Peyton up from

1:15

school , I'll come watch Beckett , like

1:17

whatever . Just let me know . And Ryan

1:19

, very nonchalantly , was like

1:21

, eh , not yet , but I'll keep

1:23

it in mind . So this morning I woke

1:26

up . We were texting about

1:28

recording today and

1:30

I was like , oh , by the way , happy freaking birthday

1:33

. And guess what , today is

1:35

not , it's not Alexa's birthday

1:37

. Facebook .

1:39

I think it's somehow linked to another

1:42

Facebook page or something . So

1:44

I said today was my birthday , also , like

1:46

six years ahead

1:49

or five years . And

1:52

she was not the only one who wished

1:55

me happy birthday . I told her to mark

1:57

her calendar for in about six weeks

1:59

, when my actual birthday is . But that explains

2:01

why Ryan was like . I

2:03

mean . So I asked

2:05

him . I said so , charish asked you about my birthday . He

2:08

said yeah , just thought that

2:10

she was planning way too .

2:13

He said even think about it . Also told

2:15

Peyton on the way to school this morning

2:17

that today was Alexa's birthday , to make sure

2:19

to tell her happy birthday . So Peyton

2:21

got in the car and was like what are we doing

2:23

for your birthday today ?

2:25

He said it's not my birthday

2:27

, so

2:30

it's very funny , but

2:32

it's not my birthday , so

2:35

we will just jump in on that

2:37

note . Sounds good to me . It's for today's

2:40

case . This week's case takes place in Richmond

2:43

, virginia . It was New

2:45

Year's Day , 2006 and

2:47

the Harvey family was preparing

2:49

to have a chili dinner with some

2:51

friends , which sounds delicious

2:53

, because it left me a good chili

2:55

.

2:56

But no black beans and greens

2:58

on New Year's .

2:59

Day no . Collard greens , yeah , and

3:01

black eyed peas , yeah , that's what I

3:03

meant .

3:04

Yeah , black beans and greens

3:06

, there we go . No chili instead

3:08

which .

3:09

I would prefer . The Harvey

3:11

family consisted of 49 year old

3:13

Brian , who was the husband and father , 39

3:16

year old Catherine , who was the wife and mother

3:18

, and two girls , 9 year old Stella

3:20

and 3 year old Ruby . Brian

3:22

was somewhat of a local celebrity

3:25

as a singer-songwriter for an indie band

3:27

called House of Freaks . He

3:29

even played a show on New Year's Eve night because

3:31

he just loved music . It wasn't his

3:34

full-time job , it was just a hobby , but one

3:36

that he was very passionate about . Catherine

3:39

owned a local toy store called

3:41

World of Murth and she

3:43

was a loved and respected member

3:46

of the community . So

3:48

New Year's Day morning started off as usual . The

3:51

Harveys woke up early to prepare

3:53

for their lunchtime get together and

3:55

Brian went out to grab the newspaper . He

3:58

walked back into the house and he did not lock

4:00

the door behind him . A lot of people

4:02

don't keep their door locked in

4:04

that area because it was a safe part of town

4:07

, so it didn't really faze him to do

4:09

so . As Catherine

4:11

was in the kitchen baking cookies for her guests

4:13

, she heard people talking in the living room

4:15

. I personally hate

4:18

it when guests show up early because I'm

4:20

hardly ever ready like on time

4:22

. But so don't show

4:24

up early . I'm not ready for

4:26

you Come a

4:29

little late .

4:30

Or , if you're going to show up early , be prepared to help

4:32

One of the two .

4:33

Yeah , one of the two Doctor said there are

4:35

walks , but Catherine

4:38

walked into the living room to greet her early

4:40

guests . Horror

4:43

must have absolutely flooded Catherine

4:45

when she realized it wasn't guests in her living

4:47

room . It was two men that

4:49

she had never seen before , men

4:52

that literally just walked into her home

4:54

without worst injury because

4:57

the door was unlocked . That's right . The

5:00

men immediately moved Brian

5:02

, catherine and Ruby into the basement

5:04

playroom . Stella was out of sleep

5:06

over but was expected to be dropped off

5:08

any minute .

5:10

So the men obviously didn't see

5:12

her . Then she moved

5:14

her kids .

5:15

No , the men moved the kids and

5:17

her and the husband into the basement .

5:19

Oh , I missed that part . Yes , sorry .

5:20

Yep . They

5:22

tied the family up with electrical tape

5:25

and began tearing the house apart , looking

5:27

for anything they could steal . In

5:29

the middle of their ransacking there was a knock on

5:31

the door . Catherine and Brian knew

5:33

it was probably Stella being dropped

5:35

off . One of the men

5:37

untied Catherine and told her that if she said

5:39

anything about what was going on , that

5:42

they would kill Brian and Ruby . So

5:44

she's left with the toughest choice , like

5:47

she could refuse to answer the door and

5:49

risk Brian and Ruby getting killed

5:51

. Or maybe , if she does what they say , there's

5:53

a chance that they'll get let go . So

5:56

, making what was probably the worst decision

5:59

of her life and the hardest

6:01

decision of her life , Catherine decided

6:03

to obey her captors and answered the door

6:05

. It was in fact nine-year-old

6:07

Stella , and before Catherine could even

6:09

say anything , Stella pushed passed

6:11

her and made her way straight to the

6:14

playroom , which is where her and her sister

6:16

spent the majority of their time . Stella's

6:19

friend tried to follow her in , but Catherine

6:21

blocked her from getting into the house . Her

6:23

mom , the little girl's mom , thought that was definitely

6:26

strange , because Catherine wasn't normally like

6:28

that . When she asked her she was

6:30

okay . Catherine told her that she wasn't feeling

6:32

well and immediately closed the door to end the conversation

6:34

. So where she normally

6:37

would be like , yeah , come on , we're having friends over

6:39

, come hang out , she was like er , oh

6:41

wait , you're not coming in . By

6:44

the time Catherine got back to the basement

6:46

, Stella had already been tied up . Imagine

6:49

this little girl's terror like

6:51

or all of theirs , but especially Stella

6:54

, because she literally just got back from a

6:56

sleepover , made her way to her favorite

6:58

room in the house , which just happened to be

7:00

where the captors were holding her family .

7:02

And got smashed .

7:04

Yes , but what came next

7:06

was unthinkable . Once

7:09

Catherine was restrained again , the men

7:11

, without any warning at all , began

7:13

murdering the Harvey family one by one

7:15

. Using a knife he

7:17

had taken from the Harvey's kitchen , the

7:19

man who seemed to be in charge began

7:21

splitting the victim's throats . I

7:24

wasn't able to find exactly

7:26

who went first . I saw that the parents

7:28

saw the kids , the kids saw the parents , who don't

7:30

know . But either way is equally terrifying

7:33

. The man then told

7:35

his partner that they weren't dying fast

7:37

enough for his liking , so he grabbed

7:39

a hammer and beat them to death . The

7:42

pair then took Catherine's wedding ring

7:44

off her finger , grabbed a DVD

7:46

player , Catherine's fresh baked

7:49

cookies and set the home on

7:51

fire to cover up the evidence and

7:53

flood the scene .

7:55

Why those three things ?

7:58

I don't know , maybe that's just all they could grab

8:00

and Hungry and wanted a momento . I

8:02

guess so .

8:03

That's weird to me .

8:05

So , just to recap , they murdered

8:07

four people , including two little

8:09

girls , for a wedding ring , dvd

8:12

player and cookies . That's

8:15

it . Not long

8:17

after Johnny Hot , brian's good

8:19

friend and former bandmate , arrived for the

8:21

party , when he opened

8:23

the front door , smoke came pouring out

8:25

and he could smell something burning . He

8:28

immediately called 911 , and that was

8:30

when paramedics arrived and found the bodies

8:32

of Brian , catherine

8:34

, stella and Ruby Harvey still bound

8:37

. She's revealed

8:39

that both Brian and Catherine died from blunt

8:41

force trauma to the head . Stella

8:43

died from a combination of blunt force trauma

8:46

and smoke inhalation , which means she was

8:48

alive to the very end and

8:50

potentially saw everything that happened

8:52

. Three year old Ruby died

8:54

from stab wounds to her neck

8:56

and back . Police

8:59

were absolutely shook . This wasn't

9:01

just a robbery gone wrong . It

9:04

was a full blown family massacre

9:06

. They were watching the

9:08

home . They saw Brian grab the newspaper

9:11

and walk back inside . They knew

9:13

that people were home , so it wasn't

9:15

like a maybe nobody's home . We can get in

9:17

and steal some things . They knew

9:20

. Yeah , he had just walked out . Despite

9:22

the horrific nature of the crime , there was little

9:25

evidence , so police reached out

9:27

to the public for help . Five

9:30

days later , on January 6

9:32

, 2006 , a woman named LaToya

9:35

Pauley called the police asking for

9:37

them to check on her friend , ashley Baskerville

9:39

. She hadn't heard from her in a few days

9:42

and she thought that Ashley's boyfriend

9:44

and his uncle were responsible for

9:46

the murder of the Harvey family . She

9:49

went further and said that there was proof of this

9:51

at her home , because the men left

9:53

evidence of the crime there . The

9:56

men's names were Ray Dandridge

9:59

and Ricky Gray .

10:01

Did she say what they had left ?

10:03

She did not , frustrating . So

10:06

who exactly are these men ? Ricky

10:09

Javon Gray was born on March

10:11

9 , 1977 and

10:13

Ray Joseph Dandridge was born

10:16

on January 24 , 1977

10:18

. Despite the fact

10:20

that they were the same age , ricky is

10:22

actually Ray's uncle .

10:24

I mean I was somebody's aunt

10:27

that was older than me by marriage , so

10:29

my my cleared .

10:31

But yeah , my

10:33

nephew's uncle is the same age as him . Awesome

10:35

, so it happens

10:37

. The pair

10:40

grew up together as more like

10:42

brothers than Uncle and Nephew . According

10:44

to Ronald Wilson , ray's father , the boys

10:47

quote Ray's held together . Anytime

10:50

the two got together they got in trouble , he

10:52

said . One didn't influence the other , they

10:54

just both fed off each other as

10:58

teens . Neither boy completed high school but

11:00

instead started life as career criminals

11:02

. In October 1995

11:05

, both Ricky and Ray were caught robbing

11:07

two Georgetown University students with

11:09

a gun . They took a pager

11:11

, sunglasses and one

11:13

dollar from the boys .

11:15

Why .

11:17

I mean , I guess you never know what somebody has on

11:19

them when you rob them .

11:20

So you , just take what you're gonna get . Makes sense

11:23

, I guess .

11:23

but Unless you see like a Rolex

11:26

on them . You know like , unless you see like

11:28

what you're going after .

11:29

I feel like the risk to reward there is

11:31

not a very great .

11:33

They haven't gotten high return , it appears

11:35

, yeah . As a result , ray

11:37

Dandridge was sentenced to 10

11:39

years in prison , but for some reason Ricky

11:41

Gray was only sentenced to four

11:43

and was released after three

11:45

. That's because Ricky told the

11:48

first to talk . It's a better

11:50

deal , I'm sure . Honestly .

11:51

Snitches , get stitches .

11:54

However , soon after his release , he

11:56

was arrested again , this time on

11:58

drug charges . In 2000

12:00

, he went to trial for abduction charges

12:02

, but was acquitted . Never

12:05

do .

12:05

Did they say ? Did you figure out who

12:08

, or or no , okay

12:10

.

12:11

She gave shifty eyes like hmm

12:14

. During his life

12:16

of crime , ricky Gray managed

12:18

to find love . You know

12:20

, you gotta make time for things that matter . Treva

12:24

Turell and Ricky met during

12:26

one of those times where he actually wasn't

12:28

in jail . Treva had a criminal

12:30

record as well . While she was an inmate

12:32

. In 2002 , Treva was victim of

12:34

sexual assault by one of the police officers

12:37

that ran the work release program she was in

12:39

. She testified that she complied

12:41

with his sexual demands in order to stay in the

12:43

work release program . Once she

12:45

was out , she moved with her family to a safer

12:47

part of town . When Ricky and

12:49

Treva got married , he moved in

12:52

with her and she helped him get back on his feet

12:54

. He enrolled in school to be an electrician

12:56

and then began working at the same telemarketing

12:59

company as Treva . On October

13:01

26 , 2005 , 28-year-old

13:03

Ray was released from prison after serving his

13:06

10 years from armed robbery . So

13:09

he's been in prison since he was 18 and

13:11

just got released . Once

13:14

he was released , he moved in with his uncle , ricky

13:16

, and his wife of six months , 35-year-old

13:18

Treva . By all accounts , their

13:21

relationship was not a

13:23

good one . Trava's

13:25

parents said that they fought bitterly , and

13:27

just a week after , ray moved into the home

13:29

owned by Trava's parents . Her

13:31

badly beaten body was found in a shallow

13:34

grave in Washington , pennsylvania

13:36

, which is a suburb of Pittsburgh . So

13:39

, literally , uncle and nephew

13:42

have just been reunited after

13:44

a prison stint , and

13:47

a week later the

13:49

body of Trava

13:51

was found . Mmm

13:54

don't like it , Despite

13:57

the fact that she had clearly been beaten

13:59

and that Ricky had claw marks

14:01

on his arm when police interrogated

14:04

him . Police didn't launch

14:06

a formal homicide investigation and just

14:09

kind of let it go , Just like , oh , I think

14:11

she overdosed in a shallow

14:13

grave . She buried herself

14:15

and beat herself up .

14:17

Okay well .

14:19

A week after Trava's murder , her parents evicted

14:21

Ricky and Ray because the home

14:23

belonged to them . Ray

14:25

went to live with his father in West Philadelphia

14:28

and Ricky went to live with his grandmother

14:30

in Arlington , virginia . But you

14:32

can't keep these two apart for long

14:34

. By Christmas Day 2005

14:37

, the pair was back together . Ray

14:39

went to Virginia to be with Ricky . Just

14:41

a week later , ricky and Ray attacked 26-year-old

14:45

Ryan Carey in front of his parents'

14:47

house . They proceeded to

14:49

beat him and stab him in the chest

14:51

, neck and arms . Luckily

14:54

he escaped and

14:57

he was able to make it to his

14:59

parents' home like crawl to the front door

15:01

, completely covered in blood . His

15:04

father called 911 and Ryan was taken

15:06

to the hospital where he was stabilized . He

15:09

spent two months in a coma and lost

15:11

use of his right arm . That he

15:13

survived . These

15:16

men are bold .

15:17

Yeah , a lot like broad daylight

15:19

right in front of somebody else's home .

15:21

Broad daylight , no people are home . A

15:24

week after you get out of prison , the

15:27

wife winds up murdered . Just

15:29

all very you

15:32

know , and they're getting away with it .

15:33

So you have to confess

15:36

something . When you said West Philadelphia

15:38

, I definitely

15:41

sang the Fresh Prince song in my head . Sorry

15:43

, as did I .

15:46

So , if you remember , we got to these men because

15:48

a woman named Latoya Pauley called

15:50

police because she hadn't heard from her friend

15:52

, ashley Baskerville . When

15:54

police arrived to do their welfare check

15:57

, they found the bodies of 21-year-old

15:59

Ashley , her mother , 47-year-old

16:02

Mary Tucker , and Ashley's stepdad

16:04

, 55-year-old Perseal . I'm

16:06

not sure if I'm saying that right , p-e-r-c-y-e-l-l

16:12

. Perseal is how I'm going to say it . I'm

16:14

sorry . Perseal Tucker . Perseal's

16:17

head had been wrapped in saran wrap , with

16:19

a sock stuffed in his mouth and then duct

16:21

taped . Mary's

16:24

mouth had also been gagged and duct taped

16:26

. She also had four cuts to

16:28

her neck and chest , but ultimately

16:31

died from suffocation . Similar

16:33

to her stepdads , ashley had a sock

16:35

stuffed in her mouth and a shopping bag

16:37

was placed over her head and

16:39

duct taped to her neck . Mary

16:42

and Perseal Tucker were known as nice

16:44

church-going people . Mary worked

16:47

at the church and Perseal was a

16:49

forklift operator . Ashley

16:51

was in and out of trouble , which is how she met

16:54

Latoya , according to

16:56

Latoya . This is why she called police

16:58

to check on Ashley . On

17:00

January 6th , latoya , ashley

17:03

, ricky and Ray were all hanging out

17:05

and they needed some money . So

17:08

what do you do when you need money ? You don't

17:10

get a job . No , I'm going to tell you that right

17:12

now Step number one don't

17:14

get a job . So Ashley

17:17

, who did not like her stepdad , said

17:20

he had some money . They

17:22

decided that they were going to fake a kidnapping

17:25

plot . They were going to tie

17:27

up Ashley , send some pictures to her

17:29

parents for a ransom , and

17:32

that was that Easy peasy

17:34

, you know . I mean easiest

17:37

get rich quick scheme

17:39

. Latoya

17:41

was like yeah , that's a no for me . But

17:44

the other three went to Ashley's home and

17:47

I'm not entirely sure how they're going

17:49

to fake her kidnapping when she went with

17:51

them to the house . But

17:54

that's not the point . A

17:56

few hours later , ray and Ricky returned

17:58

to Latoya's house , but Ashley wasn't

18:00

with them . When

18:02

asked where she was , they told her Ashley

18:05

went bye-bye because she

18:07

asked for too much of the money .

18:10

That they got from her stepdad .

18:12

Correct Time is short , stop , thể still I don't know . Okay

18:14

, okay . Police asked Latoya

18:17

to record her call with Ray and asked

18:19

about what happened with Ashley . When

18:22

she did , he replied well , we

18:24

don't have to worry about Ashley anymore . Seeing

18:27

as that was basically a confession , police

18:29

got right to work . They learned that

18:31

Ray and Ricky had stolen Persio's car

18:33

and they found it the next day , January

18:36

7th , at her relatives' home .

18:39

One of their relatives .

18:41

Yes , okay . As SWAT

18:43

entered , ray surrendered and Ricky was

18:45

found hiding behind the water heater . They

18:48

were both arrested and charged with three counts

18:50

of murder . During her autopsy

18:53

, it was discovered that Ashley

18:55

was wearing Catherine Harvey's wedding ring

18:57

, the one that went missing

19:00

.

19:00

Yes .

19:01

A connection between the two family massacres

19:03

had been established when police weren't even looking

19:06

for it . Pretty

19:08

quickly , after being read his rights , Ray

19:10

Dandridge confessed to the murder of Ashley

19:12

and her family For

19:14

a deal for a lesser sentence . He also

19:17

confessed to the Harvey family murders

19:19

. Ricky

19:21

hears that Ray has spilled everything , so

19:23

he too confessed . He

19:26

told his account of the Harvey murders and dropped

19:28

a bombshell that Ashley was

19:30

their getaway driver . Oh

19:33

so she was there . She was there . She

19:35

wasn't in the house , she was outside of the house

19:37

with them staking it out . But

19:39

yeah , she was an accomplice by

19:43

summer 2006, . The

19:46

men went to trial . Ray Dandridge

19:48

pled not guilty , which

19:51

I thought about this , because

19:53

last time you were like why do they do that ? You

19:56

confessed yeah , but

19:59

now you're saying not guilty . I

20:01

guess he's just rolling the dice . Maybe he'll get

20:03

acquitted , maybe he can pin it

20:05

all you know the other guy and Ashley

20:08

, and it wasn't me , I

20:10

don't know but before

20:12

the trial was even over , he changed his plea

20:15

to guilty in exchange

20:17

for life in prison without parole

20:19

. Ricky Gray , however , stuck

20:22

to his not guilty plea . His

20:24

attorney tried to get him leniency by

20:26

bringing up his rough childhood that

20:28

included physical and sexual abuse . However

20:32

, after only 30 minutes of deliberation

20:34

, ricky Gray was

20:37

found guilty of murder and sentenced

20:39

to death . So it

20:41

was a death penalty case , and that's probably

20:43

why Ray was like I'm

20:47

a plea guilty if

20:49

you just give me life in prison .

20:51

Yeah .

20:53

That makes sense to me . On January

20:55

18 , 2017

20:57

, ricky Gray was asked if he had

20:59

any last words . He

21:01

said , and I quote nope

21:03

, perfect , and

21:06

he was put to death by a lethal

21:08

injection . Ray

21:11

Dandridge remains in prison

21:13

serving out his sentence

21:15

for the murder of Ashley and her family and

21:18

the Harvey family , and

21:21

she's been with the death and dice the case and

21:24

she is hard blinking .

21:27

That one's pretty crazy .

21:28

Wild .

21:29

The full circle by wedding ring

21:31

of all things yeah .

21:33

I saw that she was maybe

21:36

the girlfriend of one of the guys , but

21:38

I didn't see it in a lot of sources . But

21:41

that would maybe explain why she had a wedding

21:43

ring . But also , apparently

21:45

he didn't love her very much if

21:47

he killed her as

21:50

well , however , money that they

21:52

stole from her dad . Correct

21:55

, and I don't know how much , but

21:58

enough , I guess .

22:00

I mean , they seem pretty content with bare

22:03

minimum , yeah , so for

22:05

my being , I don't know . That's crazy to me , though .

22:08

Yeah , if anything else , add any other comments .

22:10

Nope , I'm good

22:12

on this one .

22:13

All right , so everybody

22:16

could leave a five

22:18

star review on Apple Podcasts

22:20

and or Spotify , and

22:23

I will post pictures of everything on our Instagram

22:25

at Murder in the Mountains and

22:27

come back next week for another episode

22:29

. See ya , see

22:52

ya .