48 Hours - Who Took Our Dad? The Abduction of Ray Wright

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

A family man abruptly vanishes. Police tie his disappearance to a monstrous plot for revenge. "48 Hours" correspondent Natalie Morales reports. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pr...ivacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:01:14 Yeah! There was no explanation of why he was gone. The first real break is when your Uncle Dean went to your father's house and found an intruder in the house. Did it strike you all as, okay, that seems too coincidental, our dad is missing and here's a guy in his house? Yeah, 100%. Because it was just, it was scary. Ray Wright has been missing since Friday when he failed to show up for a meeting at work.
Starting point is 00:01:48 This case was a series of mysteries. You have an AM-PM soda cup, just like you would pick up at the gas station. The soda cup was the one piece of evidence left by the burglar at the victim's residence. In which we get some key
Starting point is 00:02:03 forensic evidence. And then that evidence is linked to a car wreck. And as ground units arrived, it was like the scene out of a movie. Inside that van is just a treasure trove of evidence. Inside that van is just a treasure trove of evidence. A rain jacket covered in blood. And a letter. I hand-delivered you your revenge.
Starting point is 00:02:38 Now it's time to pay me. All that added up to someone's got Ray. I knew something bad was happening to him. I felt it. It was weeks to months to then years without really knowing, right? Years of not knowing. Yeah. Throughout the case, it was clear
Starting point is 00:02:58 that many of the witnesses were afraid to come forward. Because I'm terrified of them, all of them. You guys are going to get me killed. I'm going to help you. I have to go. You're going to help me. You're going to get me killed. 100% of the truth. What happened to Ray?
Starting point is 00:03:15 I don't know. What happened to Ray? I don't know. I don't know what happened to Ray. Officers in the family are left with essentially a person that has vanished off the face of the earth. Dean Wright was nervous. Where's Ray? It was Saturday morning, January 13th, 2018, in Sacramento, California. I just wanted to know where Ray is. Dean hadn't heard from his younger brother, Ray, in two days.
Starting point is 00:04:18 Highly unusual for brothers who spoke every day without fail. All of a sudden, middle of January, there's just nothing. No phone calls, no texts, no social media posts. Nothing. Ray Wright, 55, had missed work. No one had seen or heard from him, including his daughters, Haley and Kennedy. My sister called me and she was like, hey, like, have you heard from dad? Like no one's heard from him.
Starting point is 00:04:45 I immediately hung up and called him. And I called and I called and I called straight to voicemail every time. So I was getting increasingly concerned. Dean had repeatedly checked his brother's house in Rockland, a Sacramento suburb, and the shop Ray rented in Rio Linda for his work as a master carpenter. Nothing seemed unusual except the silence of Ray's absence. And you didn't see his truck? No, his truck was not there. You're panicked at this point. Right. I think the first couple of days was when it really started to get real and serious.
Starting point is 00:05:27 I just felt really powerless over the situation, and it was really scary. It was the worst thing that could have ever happened. Ray's ex-wife, Peggy Wright, was also upset. I knew right away when he was out of touch that there was something wrong. Although they were no longer married, Peggy still considered Ray to be the love of her life. Was he romantic? Oh God, he was super romantic. They married in June 1994, and Ray became an instant dad to stepdaughter Haley, then three years old. He was meant to be a father, and he was so good with her. He was always there for me. First male role model, and he always did everything to the fullest.
Starting point is 00:06:26 Along came Kennedy nearly three years later. She says her father, a loving hands-on dad, would never just up and disappear. He was like a t-ball dad and he would like take me like fishing, soccer dad, swim meets. He could do it all. Yeah, he could do it all. He was good at everything. But after several good years, Peggy says, the couple found themselves drifting apart. He was so busy working, I was busy parenting, and I also worked.
Starting point is 00:07:04 They divorced in 2001. Ray remarried and divorced again in 2009. I think it was the end of his second marriage that kind of put him over the edge and that's when he fell off the wagon at almost 20 years sober. Ray Wright, a recovering alcoholic, had stayed sober for most of his adult life. But when he went missing, Peggy worried he was in trouble. You think, oh, gosh, maybe, you know, he had a setback or something. He was sober during your marriage. Oh, yeah. It was Ray's relapse after his second marriage that sparked a downward spiral,
Starting point is 00:07:41 exploding one night in November 2011 when Ray got in a car and drove drunk. He slammed head on into a vehicle severely injuring a husband and wife. Ray, then 49, was convicted of felony DUI and sentenced to 18 months in jail. I think that was rock bottom for him. Yeah. Rock bottom was getting in this devastating accident. Yeah. And hurting people in the midst of it.
Starting point is 00:08:18 Ray immediately stopped drinking, rejoined Alcoholics Anonymous, and checked in with his sponsor every day. I think the Ray after that time was even better than the Ray prior to that time because he wanted to be the best version of Ray Wright that he could be. Just weeks before he went missing, This is the last Thanksgiving. Ray spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with his growing family, celebrations that included Ray's first granddaughter, Ashton.
Starting point is 00:08:47 That's Ashton when she was really small. Oh, I love that. Proud mom Haley was thrilled for her dad. He was super excited. He built her a custom crib. He loved being a grandpa. And she loved Grandpa Ray. Ray was at such a great spot in his life. He had it all.
Starting point is 00:09:08 And then he disappeared. By Saturday afternoon on January 13th, more than 48 hours had passed without a single sign of Ray. Dean Wright went back to his brother's house yet again, knocked on the door, then let himself in. I said, hello, hello. And immediately I smelled marijuana smoke. And that's when I knew this is completely wrong because he didn't like that. didn't like that. And I'm getting increasingly tense about it. So as I walked forward, I saw a cup and that had not been there. I took another step and a half. That's when a back door burst open. And a guy yelled at me, get out of here. And I said, who are you? Where's Ray? The man took a step toward Dean, he says, then turned away and ran out the back door. I immediately called 911.
Starting point is 00:10:15 Rockland police arrived. Dean, shaken, filed a missing persons report and pointed to the soda cup on the kitchen counter, explaining that the intruder must have left it. The cup is full of ice. It's full of soda. Sacramento County Prosecutor Matt Chisholm. It has a lid and a straw, and it's sweating. So it's fresh. When did you start to fear the worst, Dean?
Starting point is 00:10:42 Then, right then. It was crushing. And you suspected foul play? Yes. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military, and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in
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Starting point is 00:12:27 It's just the best idea yet. Ray Wright, much admired and loved by friends and family, described as generous, creative and vibrant, had seemingly vanished with the snap of a finger. No one has any leads as to where he is or what happened to him. It was the frightening home invasion, just two days after Ray had disappeared, that seemed too coincidental, says prosecutor Matt Chisholm. I think that raised everyone's concern to a different level. As days go by, it becomes more suspicious. Rockland Police Sergeant Zach Lewis briefly considered Ray's history of alcohol abuse, but dismissed the possibility of a relapse. We checked his bank accounts. There was no We checked his bank accounts. There was no activity on his bank.
Starting point is 00:13:29 His vehicle had disappeared off of license plate readers. We couldn't find his vehicle anymore. His phone wasn't working. All those things led us to believe that it was more than just him not calling family members back and drinking. Ray's family immediately organized a search. We all met up at a Target parking lot and passed out flyers. And then we just spread out and went in all different directions. We were doing everything we could and exhausting everything that we could do.
Starting point is 00:13:57 The resounding question for the Wright family, echoing at all hours of the day and night where was ray vanished without a trace he was last seen a week ago today he was driving a white ford f10 days after his disappearance police discovered ray's abandoned pickup truck in a north highlands apartment complex in this really high crime area the radio and license plates had been stripped. For police, finding Ray's vehicle was a break in the case. For Haley, it was just heartbreaking. That was the first real piece of evidence. I was like, okay, we know something bad happened to him.
Starting point is 00:14:42 Rockland PD seized the car and collaborated with the FBI to have it processed for trace evidence. In the back of the truck, brown stains barely visible on black carpet liner were later determined to be human blood. That was tested for DNA against Ray Wright's toothbrushes, since we don't have a body, and it was a match. 16 days after Ray's disappearance, something happened that would shift the investigation into overdrive. It all began with a harrowing high-speed police chase through Sacramento.
Starting point is 00:15:29 It was a very dangerous high-speed chase, speeds of up to 100 miles an hour. There was a terrible accident at the end of that pursuit. This is one of those chases that you watch on TV and it's like, whoa. Yes. Except in this case, the guy who was responsible for that is much more dangerous than we even know. The driver pinned inside the vehicle with a broken leg was unable to move. with a broken leg was unable to move. California Highway Patrol officers cuffed the driver, who appeared to be intoxicated. The man's name, Victor Gray.
Starting point is 00:16:15 He had problems with the law before, and police arrested him this time for felony evasion and DUI. He's taken to a hospital for treatment and is under guard and has been booked in the Sacramento County Jail. It was Gray's expired registration with current registration sticker tabs that caught the attention of a police officer. Like a stolen vehicle, is that what they're thinking? Possibly. Or somebody stole a registration tab and just stuck it on their license plate. A DMV records search showed the registration tab actually belonged to a 2016 Ford pickup truck that had recently been reported missing, along with its owner, Raymond Wright.
Starting point is 00:17:02 The registration tab is actually Ray Wright's registration tag off of his license plate. And so that's the first connection that they're able to make between Victor Gray and Ray Wright's disappearance. And then three months after Ray's disappearance, another turning point in the case. And then three months after Ray's disappearance, another turning point in the case. Investigators got a DNA hit off that soda straw in the cup left behind by the fleeing intruder, who finally had a name. And it's one the police already knew. Victor Gray. So now we have two pieces of evidence linking him to Ray Wright. The DNA match placed Victor Gray inside Ray's home and at the center of the expanding investigation.
Starting point is 00:17:56 Turned out things were about to get a lot worse for Gray because his wrecked smoking van was a smoking gun. Here you've got a treasure trove of evidence. Where was all of this found? All this was located in the vehicle that Victor Gray was driving. In the van's cluttered cargo area, Rockland PD and FBI investigators unraveled a black plastic tarp. Inside, disturbing evidence deepened the Ray Wright mystery. The hat. You pull that hat out, Ray Wright design. It was like a holy moment. This is huge for us. The yellow rain jacket. That is Ray Wright's jacket. And what was found on that? His DNA was found on that jacket. The glasses. Glasses. Heartbreaking.
Starting point is 00:18:45 Yeah. And they're just broken into a bunch of pieces. His wallet, which it appeared they tried to burn. A cell phone that's clearly been destroyed. Like somebody took a hammer to it, right? That's what it looked like, yes. We had to run the serial number on the back, and it was registered to Ray Wright's cell phone carrier.
Starting point is 00:19:03 We now were definitely able to tie Victor Gray to Ray Wright going missing. But police had not found Ray. There was still a sliver of hope. It was just really hard being patient. It's still a hot investigation. There's still many details left to figure out. Perhaps none more significant than Victor Gray's cell phone. It wasn't just Ray's phone in the van. Victor Gray's was there too.
Starting point is 00:19:36 The violent collision ending the police chase sent Gray's cell phone sliding underneath the van's center console. The FBI found that and was able to process it for its contents. And inside that cell phone was also a treasure trove of evidence. Astonishingly, there was a photo of a handwritten three-page letter, prosecutors say, from Victor Gray to someone named Bob. And at this point, we don't know who Bob is. It was dated January 27th, the same day as Gray's ill-fated chase with police. And it's clear that Victor has grievances with Bob. And the grievances stem about not being paid for delivering the dude to you.
Starting point is 00:20:27 Those are his words, the dude. Yeah. I hand-delivered you your revenge. Now it's time to pay me. Let's talk about what was found in that phone. Let's talk about what was found in that phone. Text messages that seemed to refer to Ray Wright's possible kidnapping at that point, right? Yes. It took months, but investigators eventually dug up a gold mine of evidence from Victor Gray's cell phone. There was a text conversation with a woman who appeared to be working as a lookout for Mr. Gray.
Starting point is 00:21:27 Ray's out front of the shop texted the woman, California Katie, in a series of misspelled texts. It was 9.50 a.m. January 11, 2018. Yes, I'm watching out front for anything. Tracing California Katie's number found in Gray's cell phone, police identified her as Katie Bernard. The text messages with Katie Bernard were invaluable. Those messages were sent the very morning Ray Wright went missing, last seen at his workshop. They revealed a plan of sorts, says Placer County District Attorney Investigator Ashley Anglefield. Ray Wright's house, probably about 30 or 40 minutes east from here. Investigator Anglefield showed us Ray Wright's former workshop in Rio Linda
Starting point is 00:22:17 and its close proximity to a neighbor, Katie Bernard. She happened to be living in a trailer next to Ray Wright's cabinet shop. So that trailer right there is where Katie Bernard. She happened to be living in a trailer next to Ray Wright's cabinet shop. So that trailer right there is where Katie Bernard was staying. That morning, Englefield believes Katie Bernard was watching Ray's workshop from just yards away. She was in a prime spot to be a source of intelligence for Victor Gray. She's looking out that window, and she's looking at the shop. So where do we think Victor Gray is on that morning? During the course
Starting point is 00:22:50 of that text conversation, we think Victor is out there on the road. He's waiting for the text from Katie. The one that would tell him when Ray Wright was alone at his shop.
Starting point is 00:23:02 It came just before 10 a.m. Just you and him, hon. A few hours later, Ray Wright would disappear. I'll sit right there. We'll be right with you, okay? Okay. Englefield brought in Katie Bernard for questioning in October 2018. Ray Wright had been missing for nearly 300 days. If we don't have reasons for why you did certain things and you lie to us about doing the things
Starting point is 00:23:33 we know you did, it makes you look like a killer. Are you a killer? No. Katie Bernard would grudgingly become a pivotal witness. What did Katie Bernard think she was doing this all for? She told us that she was only involved because she thought that Victor Gray wanted to steal Raymond Wright's truck. This wasn't about Ray's truck. This doesn't start and end with Victor Gray. It starts with somebody else. You're about to say it. Who, Bob? Katie knew the key players, including the mysterious Bob named in that letter. Who's Bob? Bob is my ex-boyfriend. What's Bob's full name?
Starting point is 00:24:12 Bob Manor. Robert Bobby Manor. And so what's the story then? What's the whole backstory? Ray and Bob are in a car accident. When Ray Wright drove drunk six years earlier in November 2011, the married couple he struck was Robert Manor and his wife. She nearly died, and Manor suffered multiple broken bones that left him with a permanent limp and lingering pain. He was reminded about it on a daily basis from his injuries, and he could never let it go. He was reminded about it on a daily basis from his injuries, and he could never let it go. After Ray's DUI conviction, he was ordered to pay more than $275,000 in restitution to Manor and his wife.
Starting point is 00:24:58 He had occasionally made payments, but not very much. Police say Robert Manor was not a man to stiff. He was a feared methamphetamine dealer in North Sacramento, authorities say, who had done time for assault and selling drugs armed with a gun. And witnesses told police that Manor was enraged and wanted revenge against Ray Wright. That gives you a motive, right? The money and the revenge, mostly. Ray Wright. That gives you a motive, right? The money and the revenge, mostly. A few months before Ray went missing, in a staggering coincidence, police believe that Manor, while visiting Katie, just happened to see the man who had smashed into him
Starting point is 00:25:40 driving drunk years ago. The man he blamed for shattering his life. He came over one day and Ray was there. Ray Wright was working in his shop about 30 feet away. That might have been the moment, Engelfield says, when Manor lit the fuse, igniting his plot for revenge that had smoldered for years. The truck is gone. Yes.
Starting point is 00:26:10 And Ray's been missing. And Ray's gone. Yes. Katie told police when she heard the news that Ray was missing, she realized this wasn't just about stealing his truck. I'm freaking out. Why? Because, like, it's obvious, you know, like, that he's been taken or hurt or something.
Starting point is 00:26:28 The cop can tell Victor and Bob. Katie says Victor Gray later told her that morning, armed with a gun, he approached Ray Wright and punched him. I think he then somehow secured Ray's hands and he was able to put Ray into his own truck. Then, Engelfield says, Victor Gray drove Ray's truck with a bloodied Ray Wright in the back to Manor's house a few miles away. I don't know what they did with Ray. Afraid she might be implicated in Ray Wright's disappearance, Katie told investigators she confronted Robert Manner. She asked him about whether he killed Ray Wright, and he tells her that he did.
Starting point is 00:27:16 Manner then grabbed her around the neck, choked her, and told her never to speak about this again. According to Chisholm, Manor's chilling admission came in just three words. He says, I got him. I got him. I got him.
Starting point is 00:27:34 We heard that quote from Mr. Manor from multiple witnesses. I didn't do anything. I'm not saying you did. Like Tessa Trimble. I'm not involved in it. I'm not saying you did. Like Tessa Trimble. I'm not involved in it. I'm not saying that you are.
Starting point is 00:27:49 In an audio-only police interview, Ashley Englefield spoke to Tessa, a massage therapist who had treated Robert Manor's injuries from the accident. She says they eventually became romantically involved. Tessa was very hesitant to speak initially. And she was also very afraid of Bobby. They're going to get me killed. I have to go. I want to get out of here. It would take some time, but Tessa began to talk. She received a phone call from Bobby, and Bobby had told her, hey, come over to the house. We need to talk.
Starting point is 00:28:20 According to her, what she thought at the time was that they were going to talk about their relationship. But when she saw Manor, Tessa says there was something else on his mind. What did he talk to you about? He told me he took care of whatever. Something he was trying to take care of for a long time. He didn't give me details. He just told me that he took care of it. He felt good about that.
Starting point is 00:28:47 When he said that, who do you think he was talking about? So not Ray Wright. Why would you think he was talking about Ray Wright? Because he had a problem with that guy. He mentioned on numerous occasions he wanted to get that guy. It sounded to me like one of the only persons that Bobby could tell about this was Tessa. And so he did.
Starting point is 00:29:11 Bobby's telling you what? He got him? Mm-hmm. Is that what he said? I got him? Yeah. Everyone knew that Manor was talking about Ray Wright. And then the first time they see him after the disappearance, see Manor, he says, I got him. In March 2021, prosecutors charged Robert Manor and Victor Gray with the kidnapping and murder of Ray Wright, even though police had yet to find Ray.
Starting point is 00:29:41 Both men pleaded not guilty. Manor facing a life sentence without parole. Can you hear me, guilty. Manor, facing a life sentence without parole... Can you hear me, Mr. Manor? ...had a very different story to tell. I'm innocent. You had nothing to do with the murder of Ray Ray. Nothing to do with it. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand,
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Starting point is 00:30:45 In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own.
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Starting point is 00:31:54 Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime, early and ad-free right now. It was still a missing person, but we all assumed it was a homicide. Did they tell you at any point, we believe your brother is dead? Yes. Maybe three and a half years in. During those agonizing years, Ray Wright's family, one by one, eventually came to the same conclusion.
Starting point is 00:32:42 Ray was no longer alive. And their grief was compounded by not having his body to bury. That's definitely still a source of pain for us. There was no laying him to rest. Like, he doesn't get the send-away that he deserves. Prosecutor Matt Chisholm hoped to provide the family a measure of justice by convicting Robert Manor and Victor Gray. Approaching trial, Chisholm's crucial concern was the credibility of his witnesses. You've got witnesses who have a history of drugs and drug use.
Starting point is 00:33:18 Does that create a complication with the jury? Yes. All these witnesses had significant credibility issues. Including another witness who had come forward, Victor Gray's cellmate, Chris Mitchell. Well, I started off talking to him, and I'm real comfortable talking to him. In an audio-only interview, Mitchell says Victor Gray told him about Ray Wright's tortured final hours in Bob Manor's house. What did Gray tell you? He delivered you to Bobby alive, though. Mitchell claims Victor Gray told him there was plastic sheeting laying on the floor. Plastic everywhere.
Starting point is 00:34:09 According to Mitchell, Gray said Manor had Ray Wright poisoned. He poisoned me. Mitchell says Gray also told him that Manor had Ray's body dismembered. Cut the body up. Did he tell you what they did with it? No, he didn't tell me none of that. Victor was your accomplice in this kidnapping and murder plot. There's no connection whatsoever with me and Victor before the incident.
Starting point is 00:34:39 Robert Manor spoke to us from the Sacramento County Jail. They searched my house. They tore the carpet up. They did everything like that. There was no DNA found. Well, because you put plastic all over the floor. No. He was good at covering his tracks. He got other people to do the dirty work.
Starting point is 00:34:57 People like Victor Gray, says Chisholm. We find all the evidence of Ray Wright's death. In Victor Gray's van. The cleanup is done and Victor Gray tells you that on the jail call. In a jailhouse visit with his wife after the high-speed chase with police, Victor Gray made a powerful admissions as Chisholm. He almost kind of confesses to his wife and brings his wife into the know. He said, I had to clean up the scene. As if he was almost bitter about it. We believe that Victor was supposed to be paid $10,000.
Starting point is 00:35:51 That's why prosecutors believe Victor Gray wrote the three-page letter found on his cell phone. In it, he said, I'm done waiting and need a fat package today. Meaning the money Gray believed he was owed. He told Bob Manor to take care of him because he had hand-delivered you your revenge. But Manor never paid, Chisholm says, so Victor Gray decided to deliver some revenge of his own. He was on his way to Manor's house with all the Ray Wright evidence still inside the van, according to Chisholm. That's when police tried pulling Gray over.
Starting point is 00:36:32 Had Victor Gray been paid, then maybe he's not driving across town with this treasure trove of evidence in the back of the van. The trial finally began in March 2023, more than five years after Raymond Wright went missing. Since there was still no body, the case had become a no body homicide. No body cases are tough to prove. You lose a lot of information by losing the body. We developed every single lead possible in order to prove this case. As Chisholm fully expected, the credibility of his witnesses came under relentless fire. The thrust of the defense was these witnesses are saying whatever the cops want them to say in order to help themselves. I'm terrified of them. They're dangerous people. They have guns.
Starting point is 00:37:26 But Katie Bernard, who was granted immunity and never charged with a crime, emerged as a star witness, says Chisholm, for her damaging testimony about Gray's involvement and Manor's admission. And it was something that Manor was trying to keep under wraps, even though that he said it to her. It was something that she was to take to her grave.
Starting point is 00:37:48 In court, Manor and Gray's defense teams zeroed in on the prosecution's lack of direct physical evidence against Robert Manor and the absence of a body. I reminded the jury that it had been 1,889 days, and no one on the face of this earth had seen Ray Wright. And this one was magical. He spent hours on that. The trial, says Peggy, left her imagining the unimaginable, Ray's final moments. It's even worse to find out what it must have been like at the end for him, how scared he must have been.
Starting point is 00:38:36 He knew what was going to happen. After an eight-day trial, the jury got the case. I remember, like, squeezing Haley's hand and, like, thinking I was going to throw up, like, while we were waiting for the verdict. What do you make of the evidence against Manor and Gray? See a timeline of the investigation at 48hours.com. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman.
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Starting point is 00:39:32 wherever you get your podcasts. How long before you got word there's a verdict? The jury was out about four hours. It was late afternoon on March 17, 2023. The verdict was in. It was the most gut-wrenching day of my life. Robert Manor and Victor Gray were found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping. But it didn't bring him back.
Starting point is 00:40:10 So it was like, it was a bittersweet victory. It's unthinkable that someone would do something like that. Like, you can't imagine that your loved one would be swept off the earth like that. April 28th, the day of reckoning for Manor and Gray. Before hearing their sentence, they heard from Ray Wright's family. I said, my dad will be in heaven, like amongst the angels, like where he belongs. And you'll be in prison for life where you belong. We'll never be the same, none of us. You just can't imagine how it impacts a family. Manor and Gray were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Starting point is 00:40:52 Gray never responded to our request for an interview, but Robert Manor insisted there had been a miscarriage of justice. I did not have anything to do with Ray Wright's disappearance at all. Ray Wright's body has never been found. No. Where did you bury him? I never buried Ray Wright. I never chopped Ray Wright up.
Starting point is 00:41:13 I never had anything to do with Ray Wright's disappearance or murder. Nothing. He has a family that deserves answers. They want to know why. Why did you do this? I didn't. I did not do this. And there was something else Manor wanted to say.
Starting point is 00:41:27 He claimed it was Victor Gray and Katie Bernard who had plotted to set him up by kidnapping and killing Ray Wright. They came up with this and tried to come and ask me for money. Gray and Bernard tried to extort Manor for $20,000, he says A claim that was never raised in court Manor was making it for the first time during our interview What do you make of that argument? Wow, that's a whopper, right? There's no proof of anything like that
Starting point is 00:42:00 Chisholm argues it makes much more sense that Manor was the mastermind. You also have this monster motive. Revenge. Let the evidence speak for itself. It's not people that got on there and said the same exact phrase. You know, I got him. I didn't get nobody. The remnants of Ray Wright's life, these silent witnesses, did speak loud and clear.
Starting point is 00:42:30 His famous yellow raincoat that he had had for like 15 years, like soaked in blood. Yeah, I think seeing his broken glasses is what sealed the deal for me. Haley says even her young daughter, Ashton, was overwhelmed by losing Grandpa Ray. She
Starting point is 00:42:58 always thought people were going to go missing. I caught her singing in the dark songs that she would make up about where her grandpa went. I hope we did enough for the family. Until we find the body, it's still an open missing person's case with the Rockland Police Department. At the end of the day, do you, justice was served. It gives this family somewhere to start over. Consumed by Ray's disappearance and death for years, friends and family decided it was time to celebrate his life.
Starting point is 00:43:40 I'm glad you are here to share these times with us. Ray was, to me, my first, best, and forever friend. On this day, June 17th, day 1983, since he went missing, Ray Wright's presence filled the room and the hearts of those who loved him. We love you, Ray. How do you want your dad to be remembered, Haley? Exactly how he is remembered. Lovable, accountable, creative, thoughtful. I have never met anyone like my dad. Like, I definitely used this whole event
Starting point is 00:44:23 as motivation to do better. It's all like a testament to my dad. I hope he's, you know, at peace, free as a bird. Join me Tuesday for Postmortem from 48 Hours, where we'll dive even deeper into today's episode and answer your questions about the case.

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