The Story Of The "Toy Box Killer"

Cynthia Vigil, then 22 years old, was hooking in an Albuquerque, New Mexico, parking lot on March 19, 1999, when a man posing as an undercover police officer told her she was being arrested for soliciting sex work and put her in the back of his car.

Vigil claimed, "He told me I was under arrest and he put handcuffs on me."

He introduced Vigil to his neighboring soundproof trailer, which he called his "Toy Box," and identified himself as David Parker Ray.

Then, with the assistance of his girlfriend and accomplice Cindy Hendy, he shackled her to a gynecologist-style table in the middle of the trailer and, over the course of the following three days, raped and tortured Vigil.

Whips, medical equipment, electric shock, and sexual implements were just some of the torture tools the two of them used on Vigil. Ray would play a cassette tape containing a recording that described her punishment in detail before to torturing her.

She was only to address him as "master" and the other woman accompanying him as "mistress," and she was never to speak until she was spoken to first, according to Ray's instructions on the cassette. He continued by detailing in detail how he would torment and rape her.

In a subsequent interview, Vigil remarked, "I didn't feel like this was his first time. He appeared to be skilled at what he was doing. He informed me that I would never see my family again. He threatened to kill me just like the others".

On the third day, Hendy unintentionally left Vigil's restraints' keys on a table close to where she was tied while she was out of the room and Ray was at work.

Vigil pounced on the chance and dove for the keys, freeing her hands in the process. Hendy made an effort to stop her, but when she did, Vigil stabbed her in the neck with an icepick.

She exited the trailer without any clothing on other than a slave collar and padlocked chains.

She frantically pounded on the door of an adjacent trailer. The home's owner pulled Vigil inside and dialed the police, who quickly detained Ray and Hendy.

Inside The ‘Toy Box’

The police searched Ray's home and trailer after apprehending him, and what they discovered astonished and alarmed them.

A gynecologist-style table with a mirror affixed to the ceiling was in the center of Ray's "Toy Box," where his victims could watch the atrocities Ray inflicted on them. Whips, chains, pulleys, straps, clamps, leg spreader bars, surgical blades, saws, and many sex toys littered the floor.

A wooden device was utilized to bend over and hold Ray's victims still while he and his friends raped them.

There were intricate graphics on the walls illustrating many ways to cause agony.

The authorities also found a 1996 videotape of Ray and his girlfriend torturing and raping a terrified lady in the "Toy Box Killer" trailer.

Another woman shared a similar account in light of the David Parker Ray's arrest's exposure and the horrible details of his crime. An acquaintance of Ray's named Angelica Montano had gone to his house to borrow cake mix, but instead ended up getting drugged, raped, and tormented by Ray before being abandoned by a highway in the middle of the desert. Police discovered her there, but her case had not received any further attention.

In order to prevent his victims from fully remembering what had occurred to them, Ray frequently used medications like sodium pentothal and phenobarbitol to cause amnesia and memory loss in them.

The authorities were able to prod Hendy into divulging what she knew about the killings thanks to this better case, which included two victims who had testified about the atrocities. The authorities were able to identify Ray through her testimony and learn that his daughter Glenda "Jesse" Ray and buddy Dennis Roy Yancy had assisted him in the kidnappings and murders.

Marie Parker was kidnapped, drugged, and tortured for days by Ray and his daughter before she was strangled to death in 1997. Yancy confessed to being a part of the murder.

Kelly Garrett's Abduction

Kelli Garrett, a former friend of Ray's daughter, was recognized by her ex-mother-in-law after some information about the woman in the video was made public.

After a disagreement with her then-husband on July 24, 1996, Garrett made the decision to spend the evening with Jesse playing pool at a nearby tavern. Jesse stole Garrett's beer, put a dog collar and leash on her, and took her to his trailer with her father.

He continued to torment and rape her for the next two days while also keeping her on date-rape medicines. Ray killed her after these two days and dumped her by the side of the road.

Garrett somehow survived the incident, but neither her husband nor the police accepted her account of what happened. In reality, that year she filed for divorce because her spouse thought she had cheated on him.

Garrett had little memory of what happened during those two days as a result of the medications, although he did recall being raped by the "Toy Box Killer."

The socioeconomic circumstances of many of the participating women, along with these medicines, made it difficult for juries to quickly believe the testimony of these women.

The "Toy Box Killer" was finally given a 224-year prison term for a number of acts related to the kidnapping and sexual abuse of these three ladies, despite winning two of the cases brought against him.

Jesse Ray was handed a nine-year sentence, and Cindy Hendy was given a 36-year prison term.

Only three years into his sentence, on May 28, 2002, David Parker Ray passed away from a heart attack.

How Many Victims?

Police discovered evidence of numerous further murders during their search of David Parker Ray's trailer, including journals that Ray had kept detailing the deaths of at least 50 additional women. The authorities were unable to build cases using the evidence in spite of it.

Police did not discover any human remains in any of the places Hendy and Yancy said Ray dumped these victims, despite their assertions.

A serial murderer who invested this much time and effort into creating his dreadful "Toy Box" and who murdered multiple women over an extended period of time is thought to have had more victims. The numerous unidentified personal items and jewels discovered in his trailer suggest that the "Toy Box Killer" has killed more people.

In 2011, FBI spokesman Frank Fisher remarked of the "Toy Box Killer," "We're still getting good leads."

"We're going to keep looking into this as long as we're getting those leads and as long as the press coverage keeps people interested in the case," said the investigator.