About the Author: Dixie Murphy
Crime puzzles have always been a fascination of mine ... the desire to know why crimes are committed, the events that lead up to them and eventually the hunt for the guilty. Some are obvious and some require a great deal of investigation to uncover the truth. Now that premeditated killers know how damaging fingerprints and DNA are, they don't leave them behind. Killers who plan their kill well in advance tend to leave the barest of clues.
But as smart as they think they are, they always leave something of themselves, if nothing more than a good motive or the lack of an alibi. It is my interest in the investigation and the smallest details forensic experts uncover that lead me to the true crime section of every bookstore.
The murders in this book were committed in my hometown where murder is rare. The fact that this case went unsolved for so long piqued my curiosity. After sitting through a three-week trial, I spent countless hours sitting on a hard bench in the hall of the courthouse pouring through stacks of documents that revealed additional information into the personality of Bill Gray. I did not know anyone involved in this crime, but as the story unfolded, it became apparent that it was so cold blooded and destroyed so many lives, the story had to be written.
I traveled and interviewed family members, detectives and others, transcribed the cassette tapes and then put the information in order of events for this story to emerge. Ultimately, all the pieces came together and the puzzle fell into place.
However, I wrote this book 20 years ago and left it residing in my computer. Early on, I was reluctant to pursue it as I felt the families had been so traumatized through the trial, I did not want to add further grief. When I believed enough time had passed, I then found it impossible for unknown, first-time authors to get published, so it stayed in the computer. Over the years I had several friends read it and offer editing help. All encouraged me to go forward. And then finally technology caught up and allowed this first-time author to turn this story into a book.
The two women found dead in their beds had been executed. There was no robbery, no sexual motivation.
The satanic writings and red candles found at the scene had been staged to throw investigators off track. The killer, or killers, just wanted the women dead! One of them, Betty Lou Gray, had been the primary target, while the other, a close friend, had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
From the beginning, the prime suspect had been Betty Lou's husband Bill. A dominating and controlling husband, he had kept his wife penniless and almost in bondage for 28 years until, finally, she'd had enough and asked for a divorce.
The obvious motivation was money, a $250,000 life insurance policy, and with his wife dead there would be no splitting of assets in a divorce settlement. If he could succeed in hiding the insurance money and the pawnshop assets from his children, Bill Gray would become a rich man.
It seemed an open and shut case, but it was not to be. In this true story, Dixie Murphy follows a trail of suspicion and intrigue, and reveals the virtually unprecedented means used to finally bring a murderer to justice.
