Two Arizona police departments and the FBI are asking for the public’s help in finding victims of a sexual assault and homicide suspect.
Police and the FBI said Monday that Lance David Ray, now 53, was arrested in October in Bloomington, Indiana, where he was visiting, and is now held at the Maricopa County Jail.
Phoenix and Peoria police say that Lance David Ray kidnapped and sexually assaulted two young men about 20 years ago. A third victim was killed after a struggle. Police had evidence in all three cases, but were only recently able to connect them.
In a statement, officials said Ray was identified as the suspect in at least three cases from July and August 2000: the killing of an 18-year-old man and a separate armed sex assault of a 17-year-old at gunpoint, both in Phoenix, and a gunpoint sexual assault of a 14-year-old male in suburban Peoria.
Investigators say they are trying to determine if Ray is responsible for other attacks.
“With the assistance of the FBI, we were able to take a relook and restudy that DNA profile, and forensic genetic genealogy was used to elicit a person of interest,” said Mercedes Fortune, a spokeswoman with the Phoenix Police Department.
Officials say Ray in the San Francisco area in the early 1990s before moving to Portland, Oregon in 1993. He lived in Oregon, Washington, and California before moving to Phoenix in 1999, back to California in 2003 and to Missouri in 2017.
Police believe there may be more victims. Anyone with information on the suspect should contact the FBI. You can reach the agency online at [email protected], or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Court records show Ray pleaded not guilty Dec. 4 to eight felony charges and has a Jan. 8 court date. Trial is scheduled in March.
