Murder Monday #4 Faye & Ray Copeland

   Ray Copeland was born on December 30, 1914, in Oklahoma. His family moved around a lot when he was younger during the Great Depression, where he began a life of petty crime, stealing livestock and forging checks. Faye Wilson was born on August 4, 1921, in Arkansas, however, not much can be found about her past. Ray was eventually caught for his false checks and spent a year in jail in 1939. When he was released, he met Faye and they soon got married. They had several children and had to move around often due to Ray's notoriety. He would serve several jail sentences and eventually came up with a plan to improve his illegal money- making methods so he could remain undetected.
   
     Faye and Ray eventually settled down on a farm in Mooresville, Missouri, and Ray would start to pick up drifters and hobos to work as farmhands since Ray couldn't buy or sell cattle due to his criminal past. So Ray's plan was that he would take the farmhands to the market, armed with his fake checks, buy the cattle with the fake checks, and then Ray would quickly sell the cattle and the farmhands would disappear. This scam worked for a period of time, but eventually, Ray was sent to jail. After he was released, he resumed his scam but made sure the farmhands wouldn't be connected to him.

   In August 1989, one of Ray's previous employees, Jack McCormick claimed that he had seen human bones on the property and that Ray had even tried to kill him. In October 1989, police finally searched the Copeland's farm to find three bodies in a nearby barn and as the search continued more bodies were found, all shot by a .22 caliber Marlin rifle, that was also found in their home.

   Both of them were arrested and charged with murder. It was fairly obvious that Ray's motive was money in the murders, but the police were unsure with Faye's. Her defense attorney claimed that she had battered woman syndrome and that she was forced to be complicit. Her trial was in November 1990 and she was convicted of four counts of murder and one count of manslaughter, which gave her four death sentences and one life without parole. For Ray, he went on trial in March 1991 and he was convicted of five counts of murder and was given five death sentences. On October 19, 1993, Ray Copeland died of natural causes and on August 6, 1999, Faye's death sentences were overturned and was given life sentences in lieu. She suffered a stroke on August 10, 2002, that left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak. She was given a medical parole a few weeks later to a nursing home in her home town, allowing her not to have to die in prison; and she passed away about a year later. In total, they had at least five victims but could have had as many as 12.