"He told me I was never going to see my family again. He told me he would ǩill me like the others."
In 1999, the small town of Elephant Butte, New Mexico, was rocked by a chilling story from Cynthia Vigil, a 22-year-old woman who had narrowly escaped being murdered by a local mechanic named David Parker Ray. According to Vigil, Ray had pretended to be an undercover cop who told her that she was under arrest for solicitation of sḛx work.
Instead, Ray chained her up in his soundproof trailer, where he ɍậpḛ and tortured her with whips, medical instruments, and electric shocks with help from his girlfriend.
Image: David and his soundproof torture chamber
Fortunately for Vigil, Ray's girlfriend accidentally left the keys to Vigil's restraints out in the open on the third day. This gave Vigil the chance to free her hands, stab Ray's girlfriend with an ice pick, and run to a nearby mobile home, where the homeowner promptly called the police. And as harrowing as Vigil's experience was, it could have been far worse.
While the authorities were investigating Ray's trailer, they uncovered evidence of numerous m̃urdḛr, including diaries written by Ray, which detailed the brutal dḛậth of several women. Authorities also uncovered hundreds of pieces of jewelry, clothes, and other personal items, which are believed to have belonged to Ray's victims.
David Parker Ray was a serial killer and rapist who terrorized the New Mexico area in the 1990s. Known as the "Toy Box Killer," Ray's crimes were particularly heinous and involved the abduction, rape, and torture of numerous victims.
His Early Life
David Parker Ray was born in Belen, New Mexico, in 1939. David Parker Ray and his younger sister Peggy were raised by their disciplinarian grandfather during their childhood. Ray's father, who was a violent alcoholic, would occasionally visit him and provide him with magazines that depicted sadomasochistic pornography.
David Parker Ray developed his sexual fantasies, which included rape, torture, and even the murder of women early in his life.
Crimes of David Parker Ray
He was a former mechanic and a part-time park ranger who lived in the small town of Elephant Butte. In the 1990s, Ray began abducting women and bringing them to his home, where he would torture and rape them in a custom-made "toy box" that he had built for this purpose.
David Parker Ray subjected his victims to sexual torture and presumably killed them using a variety of tools, including whips, chains, pulleys, straps, clamps, leg spreader bars, surgical blades, electric shock machines, and saws.
In addition to the various tools and restraints used during his crimes, David Parker Ray also installed a mirror in the ceiling above an obstetric table to which he would strap his victims. He also constructed wooden contraptions that would bend his victims over, immobilizing them while he allowed his dogs, and sometimes other friends, to rape them.
The Investigation and Capture of David Parker Ray
David Parker Ray would drug his victims with the intention of inducing amnesia and prevent them from reporting the assaults. He even made a tape recording of himself telling one of his victims that he was administering "sodium pentothal and phenobarbital" to her in order to achieve this effect. This was a disturbing tactic used by Ray to cover up his crimes and evade law enforcement.
On March 22, 1999, Cynthia Vigil was abducted from an Albuquerque parking lot by David Parker Ray and his girlfriend, Cindy Hendy. She was taken to Ray's home in Elephant Butte, where she was confined to a trailer and subjected to torture and sexual assault.
After three days of captivity, Vigil managed to escape from the trailer and ran down the road until she found help. After managing to escape from David Parker Ray's trailer, Cynthia Vigil fled while still wearing an iron slave collar and padlocked chains. Her bravery led to the arrest and conviction of Ray on multiple charges related to his crimes.
With the help of Vigil's testimony and a search warrant, the authorities were able to find evidence of Ray's crimes, including the custom-made "toy box," videotapes of his crimes, and a detailed manual on how to kidnap, rape, and torture women.
Ray was subsequently charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, kidnapping, and torture.
Trial and Sentencing
Once Ray's crimes were discovered, law enforcement agencies worked tirelessly to bring him to justice. In 2001, Ray was convicted of numerous charges related to his crimes, including kidnapping, rape, and torture. He was sentenced to over 200 years in prison and died in custody in 2002.
In 2000, Cindy Hendy, an accomplice of David Parker Ray, was sentenced to 36 years in prison for her role in the crimes.
She testified against Ray during his trial, which ultimately led to his conviction. She was scheduled to receive parole in 2017. She was released on July 15, 2019, after serving the two years of her parole in prison.
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