Cindy Hendy & David Parker Ray

Cindy Hendy was a beautiful but wayward young woman. Cindy was looking for a father figure, which she'd never had. She finally found the attention and passion she craved in the arms of an older man named David Parker Ray. He was attracted to her. She was somebody he trusted. Their connection ignited a fiery romance that would awaken a mutual taste for perverse passions. A lot of activities involving S & M and, uh, B & D. Ultimately their sadistic fantasies would send them careening down a dark and sinister path. He put a handcuff on my wrist and, uh, I knew something was wrong. When the tangled web of secrets and lies was finally unraveled, it would it would reveal a barrage of shocking allegations and expose one of the most horrifying and baffling series of crimes the country has ever seen. The boogey man that your mom told you about? He really exists. Elephant Butte, New Mexico. March 22nd 1999. It was just after 4:00pm when 911 dispatchers received a series of reports about a shocking scene unfolding in a neighborhood west of town. I heard the call come over the police radio about a naked woman running down the streets. This woman was naked except for a dog collar around her neck. She's running around naked trying to stop these cars, they weren't stopping, cause she was so desperate. Finally, the naked young woman found a front door to a house that was unlocked - and barged inside. She ended up going into a middle-aged housewives home. The lady dialed 911 and the police were called. But who was this woman? And what horrible events transpired that led her to running naked through the streets? The answers to those questions would lay bare a terrifying tale and expose a hidden evil no one in the small town of Elephant Butte even knew existed. Seattle, Washington. Home to the largest seaport on the Pacific Northwest coast. Seattle was also home to Cindy Lea Hendy. Born in 1960, Cindy's home life was chaotic to say the least. Her father was in the Navy - and away on deployment for most of her youth. Cindy's mother, on the other hand, was an aspiring model who spent more time competeting in beauty contests than she did raising Cindy. Her mother was a beauty contestant who would go and enter beauty competitions, you know, all over the Seattle, Washington area. Eventually Cindy's parents divorced and Cindy saw her father even less. When she was eight, her mother remarried. But Cindy's new stepfather would turn out to be a far more destructive influence. Cindy claimed he sexually molested her as a young child on more than one occasion. If someone is sexually abused as a child, and emotionally abused, psychologically abused, that's certainly going to have an impact on them. When she was 11, Cindy finally worked up the courage to tell her mother and other family members about the abuse, but no one believed her. With her family ignoring her cries for help, Cindy grew emotionally withdrawn. She dropped out of school, and while she was only 15, it didn't take long for her to fall in with the Seattle nightlife. You know, drinks, and drugs, and whatever she could get. I mean she always had boyfriends. Cindy's string of hook ups eventually resulted in a son who Cindy gave birth to at age 16. By her late twenties, Cindy had two more children from two different men. But with her life spiraling out of control and without a steady job, Cindy knew she couldn't adequately care for any of her children. So in 1997 - when her youngest child was 10 - Cindy made the difficult decision to send all three to live with relatives. Cindy felt she couldn't bring up the children and shipped them off to the grandparents. But no sooner had Cindy given up her kids than she finally hit rock bottom. Over the next few years her life was a haze of partying, and arrests mostly for drug possession. By 1997, 37-year old Cindy was facing hard time in prison. But rather than face the consequences for her actions, Cindy fled Seattle. Heading south, Cindy ultimately landed in New Mexico in the small desert town of Truth or Consequences, known by locals simply as T or C. It's a rural township whose remote isolation, in Cindy's mind, made it the perfect spot to start over. It was a good place to lose yourself, you know, and not get found. Upon hitting town, Cindy tried her best to adapt to quiet, small town life. But Cindy's old habits were hard to break. She soon began looking for new friends in T or C the best way she knew how: at the local bars. And it was while she was living it up in T or C? s local party scene that Cindy laid eyes on a charismatic older man who would not only ignite a *** and passion for a new addiction, But change her life in ways Cindy could have never imagined: 57 year-old David Parker Ray. A New Mexico native, David Parker Ray was a park ranger and mechanic for nearby Elephant Butte State Park. At his job, David had a reputation for being straight-laced and strictly professional. But at night, behind closed doors, David became a different person. And was known for throwing some of the wildest house parties in T or C, his biggest being an annual Halloween Party. A lot of prominent people in T or C would attend David Parker Ray's parties. But that year, the one partygoer that caught David's eye at his Halloween Bash wasn't a prominent citizen or member of local town government. Instead, it was newly arrived resident: Cindy Hendy. Cindy had come to party with a friend. And no sooner had David locked eyes with Cindy, than he was drawn to the attractive younger woman. Cindy is a very pretty woman, and I think David would have been attracted to that. It turned out Cindy and David had a lot in common. Like Cindy, David had a difficult childhood. Abandoned by his mother and father at the age of 10, David was raised by his overbearing grandparents. As a result, he became withdrawn and socially awkward around other children. He was quiet. He was shy. He just wanted to blend in to the crowd. Despite his introverted personality as a child, David eventually learned to socialize with others as he got older. He even went on to get married and divorced 4 times. From his third marriage, he had a 31- year-old daughter named Jesse Ray, who he had raised and grown very close to. To Cindy, it was clear that David was unlike any man she had ever known. David would present as a stable, pretty well grounded man. Cindy could have seen a father figure with David. A father figure that Cindy was deeply attracted to. So despite their 20-year age difference, when David asked Cindy out, she said, yes without hesitation. Fueled by mutual passion the couple's romance got hot and heavy right from the start. It wasn't long before Cindy moved in with David. But a few months into their relationship, David revealed a startling confession. He decided she was somebody he trusted and he let her in to one of his deepest, darkest, most guarded secrets. Apparently David had a hobby for collecting sadomasochistic *** and a fetish for practicing S&M sex. While she'd never tried anything like that before, Cindy was eager to please David, and helped him act out his fantasies using whips, handcuffs, gags - and more elaborate things of his own design. He lived on the edge with this secret life, and I think that was exciting for her. Although it was an unconventional relationship, for Cindy she actually felt like David made her feel special. But the couple's penchant for pain and domination was about to take a turn beyond fantasy. Police respond to a 9-1-1 call from a young woman with a harrowing tale to tell. He put a handcuff on my wrist, and I knew something was wrong. And a gruesome lair of two monsters is discovered. They were shocked at what they saw going on. After an abusive childhood and giving up her own children, 37-year-old Cindy Hendy had decided to start over in the tiny town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. It was a move that seemingly paid off. No sooner had Cindy hit town than she met the man of her dreams - kind, caring, and mature park ranger, David Parker Ray. Cindy saw him as a father figure. She was in love with David Parker Ray. The feeling was mutual for David. Both came from abusive childhoods, and both had weathered the heartbreak of failed relationships. But just a few months after they started dating, David introduced Cindy to one of his deepest and darkest secrets: a lifelong fascination with sadomasochism. Scared at first, Cindy soon learned to enjoy her new boyfriend's *** hobby. And together, David and Cindy began exploring their wildest *** fantasies. They seemed to feed off of each other, and Cindy got an opportunity to let go of all of her inhibitions. David and Cindy's romance was brimming with unhinged passion and desire. But a series of strange and horrifying events was about to transpire that would put their love and loyalty to the test. It began on March 22nd 1999, when a woman wearing nothing more than a dog collar burst in through the front door of startled housewife, Darlene Breech. Seeing the bruises covering the woman's body, Darlene immediately called 9-1-1. Her husband came and put a robe on me, and he waited there with us until cops got there. Police officers arrived within minutes. The young woman told them her name was Cynthia Vigil. She was a *** from Albuquerque. And she'd just escaped from her captors after being kidnapped two days earlier. Cynthia told police that it all began on the morning of Saturday, March 20th. She had been soliciting near I-25, when a friend told her about a couple looking for her type. He told me somebody wanted to do a date, and we went to the RV, and I got in. Cynthia said she was met inside the RV by an older man and his younger girlfriend. But once the door to the RV shut, the man took out a badge, and said he was an undercover police officer. He told me I was under arrest and put a handcuff on my wrist and, uh, I knew something was wrong. Realizing she was in danger, Cynthia tried to pull away from the man. But in the midst of the struggle, she was tazered. They put some chloroform or some drug over her, and they chained her up and duct taped her mouth. Cynthia claimed that's when she passed out. She had no idea how long she was under. But when she finally came to, she was no longer in the RV but in a strange new room, blindfolded, stripped of her clothes, and chained to a chair. Then, in total darkness, she heard the click of a tape recorder followed by a man's voice: For the next five minutes, the voice went on to describe in horrifying detail what was going to happen to her. She was going to be, you know, assaulted and *** and tortured and unspeakable things. But as terrifying as that message had been, nothing could have prepared Cynthia for what she was about to endure. She was sexually traumatized and tortured in unthinkable ways. She was electric shocked, and she was whipped. She was tortured. Unmentionable things were done to her. Cynthia eventually passed out from the pain. When she woke up, she found herself in a new room, chained to a bed. I was too scared to go to sleep. It was hard. The next day, Cynthia endured another round of excruciating torture. On the morning of her third day of captivity, her male captor entered the room, and unlocked some of Cynthia's bonds. He took the handcuffs and shackles off my legs, and he left. Cynthia was still padlocked to the bed by a chain around her neck. And the man had left the woman to stand guard until he returned. That's when Cynthia noticed the man had left something behind on the nightstand a few feet from her bed: A key ring. A really big set, it had tons of keys on there. I didn't know which one opened the lock. But just then, Cynthia got a break when the woman unexpectedly left the room. She got a phone call and she took the phone to another room, and I seen an opportunity to get the keys. Racing against the clock, Cynthia scrambled back to the bed, and began frantically trying different keys. But before she could find the right one to unlock her chains, the woman came back from her phone call. She came running into the room I was at, and she hit me with a glass lamp. I curled up in a ball against the wall, and I just tried the keys. Finally, the lock opened. With a surge of adrenaline, Cynthia pulled the chain free and struggled to her feet. We fought and an ice pick was on the bed, and I stabbed her. That got the woman off of her long enough to grab the phone and dial 9-1-1. But before Cynthia could talk to an operator, the woman recovered -- and disconnected the call. So Cynthia dropped the phone and ran. I ran out the door, out their yard, and down a dirt road? She's running around naked trying to stop these cars, they weren't stopping, cause she was so desperate. It was a terrifying experience that finally ended 10 minutes later, when Cynthia found Darleen Breech's unlocked door and collapsed. Following Cynthia's story, first responders took her to the emergency room for treatment while police followed up on the 9-1-1 call she made from her captors home. Even though she had been disconnected, officers were able to trace the call back to a local address: 513 Bass Road. The home of David Parker Ray and Cindy Hendy. But when officers arrived, they found the couple wasn't home. Which lead officers to wonder if David and Cindy had gone on the run. As police desperately try to track down David and Cindy, more horrifying tales of abduction emerge. Another girl came forward, and they kept finding people that were involved in it. And detectives learn of a shocking third accomplice to David and Cindy's crimes. David and Cindy were definitely not working alone. On the afternoon of March 22nd 1999, a 22- year-old *** from Albuquerque, New Mexico named Cynthia Vigil told police she had been abducted, *** and tortured at the hands of a local man and woman. After tracing a 9-1-1 call Cynthia had made prior to her escape, police had just arrived at the home of her suspected tormenters: David Parker Ray and Cindy Hendy. There was no sign of the couple at all on the property. But before investigators could issue an APB for David and Cindy, a state police officer spotted and stopped a suspicious RV circling the neighborhood. Officers ordered the RV to pull over. And immediately identified its two occupants: David Parker Ray and Cindy Hendy. Officers slapped both in cuffs, and hauled them back to the station. At that exact same time, a task force of State and local investigators armed with search warrants entered David and Cindy's darkened home and quickly uncovered a shocking array of evidence. When they cleared the house they came across a lot of *** devices in there, um, boards where somebody could be restrained. But it was a mysterious bunker-like cargo trailer parked behind David and Cindy's house that really got detectives attention. There was a trailer on his property that was locked. We didn't know what was in there. When officers broke the lock and went inside, what they found was something none of them would ever forget. The trailer was filled with homemade torture devices. As well as every kind of sex toy and piece of bondage equipment imaginable. They're finding all sorts of sex toys and torture devices. I was never exposed to the S&M scene, and uh anything like that, so it was kind of hard to believe. But by far, the most disturbing item was a custom-built gynecological chair, with electrodes to administer electric shocks. The homemade torture chamber was so horrific, that one officer described it as a demented Toy Box. It was something that he'd been putting together for many, many years, and it was his kind of a mad scientist dream of, of torture. Overwhelmed by the sheer size and complexity of the crime scene, state investigators quickly called in the FBI. We looked at each individual piece of torture equipment, much of which David Parker Ray designed himself. While federal agents sifted through David? s sex toys and torture devices, detectives back at police headquarters grilled David and Cindy about the purpose of their painstakingly assembled Toy Box. They didn't deny that they built and created this toy box. They did say though that they only used it for their own fetishes. Though they each insisted they'd only used it on each other, and the occasional consenting partner. The defense was that it was consensual sex. But in searching the trailer behind David's house, federal investigators soon uncovered graphic evidence that made it clear that what happened in that room was anything but consensual. There were videotapes that he took of the victims. There were audiotapes that he would play to the victims telling them what he was going to do to them. It was starting to become clear that Cynthia Vigil hadn't been the first woman David Parker Ray and Cindy Hendy had kidnapped and tortured. Which suddenly faced investigators with a terrifying question: How many victims had David and Cindy abducted? Agents soon found a shocking piece of evidence that pointed to the unnerving answer. One key piece of evidence that was found was a journal that David Parker Ray kept. This was a journal of meticulous records detailing the victims that he abducted and what he did to them. The journal contained dozens of entries. There were no names, only dates. And beside each, David had recorded the number of times he tortured the victim. Although Cynthia escaped, this journal raised the question of what happened to this couple's other victims? The first thing that the FBI and the local authorities and the state police wanted to ascertain was, were there deceased victims in the area? The FBI brought in dozens of agents to help search the property for possible bodies or gravesites - but to no avail. After extensive investigation and searching, no bodies were found. Meanwhile, both David Parker Ray and Cindy Hendy refused to divulge anything about the cryptic journal or their potential victims. They refused to admit anything. Even still, prosecutors had enough evidence to charge David and Cindy with the kidnapping and *** of Cynthia Vigil. When the news hit, the small town of Truth or Consequences turned into a media circus almost overnight. The reaction of the whole community when they learned of David's crime was unbelievable. Within three days we had Fox, CNN, NBC, ABC. All the news networks were here. One upside to all the national publicity was that 4 days later - On March 27th - a new lead came in. A second woman contacted federal investigators with a terrifying tale of her own. Angelica Montano was a former resident of Truth or Consequences, and a regular in many of the same bars Cindy Hendy frequented. According to Angelica, she and Cindy had become friends earlier that year. And on Wednesday, February 17th Cindy invited Angelica over to her and David Parker Ray's house. Next thing, she's being overpowered, and she's chained up, and she's tortured for the next couple of days by David Parker Ray as Cindy Hendy looked on and helped him. According to Angelica, the couple held her for four days, and repeatedly *** and tortured her inside David's toy box. She was convinced they were going to kill her until she begged for her life telling them she had a young child at home who depended on her. That, according to Angelica, seemed to touch Cindy - who talked David into letting Angelica go by dropping her off on a nearby interstate. She began hitchhiking back up towards Albuquerque where her mother lives, and at that time was picked up by an off-duty deputy. The story was so outlandish that the off-duty officer just didn't believe her and thought she was just making it up, so it never got reported. It was a stunning development. But what had happened to David and Cindy's other victims? Eager to find out, the FBI released some of the images they found in David's photo and video collection. He had filmed his victims, and one of those videotapes had a woman with a distinctive tattoo. Within days, the move paid off. A woman living in Elephant Butte recognized the tattoo, and came forward with not only another shocking story but a new potential suspect connected to David and Cindy's crimes. Kelli Garrett told police that in July of 1996, she was living with her husband at his parent's house in Elephant Butte. After a fight one afternoon, she left to blow off some steam. Kelli went to downtown Elephant Butte and went to a couple of the bars, shot pool with people. One of those individuals was identified as Jesse Ray, David's daughter. At the end of the night, Kelli claimed that 29-year-old Jesse Ray offered to give her a ride home on her motorcycle as long as she didn't mind stopping by Jesse's father's house first. When they got to the house, Kelli waited in the living room while Jesse went to talk to her father. She describes those two individuals as going into the back then coming out with weapons and duct tape, and took her hostage and put her into the toy box. Mercifully, Kelli's memory of what happened after that was hazy. In part because of a strange drug David forced her to take after she was tied up. David Parker Ray, one of his specialties was to give these women drugs that would cause amnesia. Kelli claimed she was unable to recall details of what David Parker Ray did to her which was a big part of the reason she'd never officially reported the kidnapping and assault. But three days later, he took her back home. David then in his Park Ranger uniform, and his official vehicle, takes her back to her in-laws and says that he found her wandering along the beach. Kelli's story, along with the tape of her assault, meant prosecutors could prove that David Parker Ray had been abducting and torturing women for years even before his relationship with Cindy Hendy. It also meant they had a new suspect: David's daughter, Jesse Ray who, as disturbing as it was, seemed to have been helping her father lure victims for his sick torture fetish. When police went looking for Jesse Ray they found her, and they placed her under arrest. With news of David, Cindy and Jesse's crimes still making national news, investigators were hopeful more victims might come forward. But none did. Most investigators believed that was because David and Cindy had killed all their other victims. But with no way to prove it, the best authorities could hope for was to convict the couple for kidnapping and *** based on the testimony of the three surviving victims. That is, until they got some help from an unexpected source. Cindy Hendy, when she realized the magnitude of the situation she was in, she suddenly said Okay, I'll talk. Cindy reluctantly turns on the man she loves. What she told them they couldn't believe. And the FBI learns that their suspicions were correct? They have a serial killer on their hands. When beautiful but lonely Cindy Hendy met David Parker Ray in 1997, she thought she found the love and stability she'd always craved. But 2 years later, in April of 1999, their intense romance had taken a horrific turn. Three different women had come forward with terrifying stories of kidnapping, ***, and *** torture at the hands of both David Parker Ray and Cindy Hendy in their homemade torture chamber known as the Toy Box. Both David and Cindy had been arrested. But the evidence indicated there had been dozens more victims, and the FBI believed the couple had killed them. But so far, investigators had found no evidence that even a single *** had taken place. No matter how many places they checked, they were never able to find any bodies. Still, prosecutors had plenty of evidence to convict the couple on more than 25 counts of kidnapping and ***. But not long after formal charges were announced, authorities received an unexpected phone call. On April 6th, Cindy Hendy's lawyers offered the District Attorney a deal in exchange for reduced charges. She agreed to testify against David Parker Ray, and what she told them they couldn't believe. Cindy told prosecutors that soon after she started participating in David's S&M fantasies, he introduced her to his hobby of kidnapping women and taking them back to his Toy Box. David Parker Ray looked for prostitutes, women who were addicted to drugs and alcohol. Someone off the streets - that if they came up missing for a week or forever, it was easy to look the other way, and it seemed like no one would really go searching for them. Cindy said she was shocked at first, but her obsession with David allowed him to convince her to do anything. Pretty soon, Cindy was playing the role of his assistant. He found that he could manipulate her really easily, you know, and make her do what he wanted. Cindy said that in the months after she moved in with David, she helped him abduct several women from nearby towns. But what had happened to the couple's victims? According to Cindy, David let some of the women go, like Angelica Montano and Kelli Garrett. As for the rest, Cindy told authorities their suspicions were correct. David had killed them. She knew of at least fourteen girls that he'd murdered. But how could David have killed so many women without a single body turning up? Cindy told them the answer was in Elephant Butte State Park, where David worked as a ranger. David had told her of a body that he had disposed of in the lake and that he had learned from that, that when you put a body into the lake, even if you weight the body down, you have to eviscerate the body cavity so that the air does not bring the body back up to the surface. Divers went into the lake to look for bodies, but were unable to find anything. Though the lake was too massive to search completely. About twenty-three miles long and about three or four miles wide, ninety to a hundred feet deep in parts. But Cindy Hendy soon told investigators of someone who could lead them to the body of one of David's victims. According to Cindy, she and Jesse Ray hadn't been the only ones to help David commit his crimes. In fact Cindy claimed there was a fourth accomplice who'd helped David *** one of his victims in cold blood. David confided in her that he had a friend by the name of Roy Yancy who he forced to kill a woman. He strangled her and then buried her body out in the desert. Following Cindy's statement, officers found Roy Yancy and brought him in for questioning. When they told him Cindy's story, Roy immediately broke down and confessed to the ***. Roy Yancy said that he was ordered by David Parker Ray to kill a woman by the name of Marie Parker and then to dispose of her body. Roy told officers that he and Marie Parker had been lovers, and in 1997 he took her to a 4th of July party at David Ray's house. But after a drunken night of celebration, things took a horrifying turn. David drugged Marie and forced Roy at gunpoint to take her limp body out to the Toy Box. Roy claimed he'd heard vague rumors about David's secret sex dungeon. But was shocked to finally see it in person. Then, Roy claimed, David held the gun to his head and gave him a choice. David Parker Ray handed Roy Yancy a rope and told him, You know what you need to do. Forced to decide between his own death and murdering his girlfriend, Roy said he made a choice that would haunt him forever. He killed her by leaning on her chest and strangling her. As for why David ordered Marie's death, Roy couldn't say for sure. But once the deed was done, Roy said he and David drove out to Monticello Canyon and buried her. Officers asked Roy to show them where they buried Marie Parker's body, and Roy agreed. Roy Yancy took the FBI agents and the state police to numerous sites where he thought they had buried the body that night. But once again investigators came up empty-handed. It was not there, and Roy Yancy believed that David Parker Ray had moved it. For prosecutors, no matter how hard they tried, they could not get enough evidence to pin this *** on David. All they had was second-degree *** for Roy Yancy. But with his testimony, combined with Cindy Hendy, prosecutors were confident they would ensure that David Parker Ray would be locked up forever. There was just one thing they hadn't counted on: David Parker Ray himself. A serial killer manipulates his accomplices from behind bars. The note simply said, "Rats die in jail." But will it prevent prosecutors from bringing him to justice? She changed her tune and tried to recant the confession to the police, and said that she'd made it up. In April of 1999, 39-year-old Cindy Hendy made a deal with prosecutors to testify against her lover and former partner in crime, serial *** and torturer David Parker Ray in the three separate trials of each of his surviving victims. There were going to be three trials: one for Kelli Garrett, one for Cynthia Vigil, and one for Angelica Montano. Cindy's cooperation, along with the testimony of co-conspirator Roy Yancy, also finally gave authorities what they felt was the missing puzzle piece to prosecute David Parker Ray for the *** of more than a dozen victims as well. That's pretty compelling. I mean, it's not just victims. This is also, uh, his accomplices speaking. Even so, without a single body or more concrete evidence, prosecutors knew that securing a first-degree *** conviction against David Ray would be an uphill battle. They just had no idea, how difficult. Just 5 months before David's trial for the *** and torture of Kelli Garrett was set to begin, prosecutors received word that one of their star witnesses, Roy Yancy, had changed his mind and was now refusing to cooperate. According to prison guards, Roy had received a note a few days before. On it were only four words: The note simply said, "Rats die in jail?" Though they had no proof, prosecutors were certain the note had come from David Ray. And the message had apparently been received loud and clear. After receiving this note Yancy told officers he refused to testify. Roy Yancy pled to second-degree *** and was sentenced to thirty years in prison. Without Roy Yancy's cooperation, the case against David Parker Ray now hinged on one person: Cindy Hendy. But in November of 1999, the District Attorney's office was hit with some more bad news. Cindy changed her tune and tried to recant the confession to the police, and said that she'd made it up. Prosecutors soon discovered that when David had learned of Cindy's plans to testify against him, he began smuggling letters to her in jail. They were pretty much appealing to Cindy saying, "I love you. I want to marry you." He even had a tattoo of Cindy put on his arm. Apparently Cindy still harbored deep feelings for David Parker Ray. Not long after receiving his smuggled love letters, she filed a motion to withdraw her plea agreement. Although the judge ruled against her, the DA knew he'd lost her testimony, and Cindy was sentenced for her roles in the abduction and torture of Cynthia Vigil and Angelica Montano. Judge Mertz gave her a sentence of thirty-six years in prison. Even with both Cindy and Roy's testimony lost, prosecutors could at least rely on the videotaped evidence of Kelli Garrett's torture when David's first trial began in June of 2000. But while the tape of Kelli's torment seemed powerful on the surface, David's lawyers had a simple defense: The defense said it was consensual sex, and she was a willing participant. Every woman that he had in there agreed to it, uh, for payment or for narcotic trade, whatever the case might be, but it was consensual. It was an argument that apparently swayed at least some of the jurors. When the jury returned from its deliberation they announced a verdict no one expected. They were deadlocked. Two jurors that were holdouts were not convinced that it was actual torture that was shown on the videotape. The judge had no choice but to declare a mistrial. Undaunted, prosecutors reorganized, and prepared for David Parker Ray's second trial for the *** and torture of Cynthia Vigil in June of 2001. And this time, Cynthia Vigil made sure the jury wasn't confused about whether David's victims wanted to be tortured. The star witness of course was Cynthia, who testified against David Parker Ray and broke down mid-questioning. I went off, and I uh called him a ***, and how could he do that to me? It was powerful testimony. But before the jury could break for deliberations, David's attorney approached prosecutors with an unexpected offer: David wanted to make a plea deal. With his daughter, 34-year-old Jesse Ray, about to stand trial for helping her father kidnap and torture Kelli Garrett, David Ray offered to plead guilty to all of the remaining charges in exchange for Jesse's release. David made a deal with prosecutors that Jesse would be free with time served, if he admitted the kidnapping and the charges against the other two women. A plea agreement was reached with David Ray and ultimately he was sentenced to 224 years in prison. While David Parker Ray was carted off to spend the rest of his life behind bars, federal and local investigators kept searching for clues for his many presumed missing victims. Despite widespread efforts, however, no new evidence was ever found. But in May of 2002, David Parker Ray contacted authorities and indicated he was finally willing to talk. A meeting was quickly scheduled. But before it could take place, David died of a sudden and massive heart attack. He'd served less than a couple of years of a 200-year sentence, and he actually died of a heart attack in jail. With David Parker Ray dead and Cindy Hendy maintaining her silence behind bars, many wonder if all the questions from the couple's horrific crimes will ever be answered. But for the surviving victims and the residents of T or C, the biggest mystery remaining is what drove this twisted couple to commit one of the most nightmarish series of crimes this country has ever seen. This case has left a permanent mark, a scar on T or C, but the people are breathing better and sleeping better knowing that David Parker Ray can't hurt anybody else.