The Horrific Crime Of Ray and Faye Copeland Who Made Homeless People Disappear

The oldest couple to get a death sentence in the US was Ray and Faye Della Copeland, who were 69 and 76 years old, respectively. At their farm in Mooresville, Missouri, they killed five homeless people, and they were found guilty. 

Ray and Faye Copeland's desire to kill grew after they retired.

The Beginning

Ray Copeland was born in Oklahoma in 1914, but his family never lived in the same place for long.

Copeland was found guilty of stealing animals and making fake checks in 1939. He was given a year in prison.

In 1940, soon after Copeland got out of jail, he met Faye Wilson. They dated for a short time, then got married and started having kids.

In 1940, soon after Copeland got out of jail, he met Faye Wilson. They dated for a short time, then got married and started having kids.

How He Was Stealing Livestock

Copeland quickly went back to stealing from livestock ranchers when he had to feed more people.

He was always getting arrested and went to jail more than once.

His trick wasn't very good. He would buy cattle at auctions, write fake checks, sell the cattle, and try to leave town before the auctioneers found out the checks were not genuine. If he didn't leave town on time, he would say he would cash the checks, but he never did.

Eventually, he was prohibited from purchasing and selling livestock. He needed a scheme that would allow him to continue operating despite the ban, one from which he could profit and which the authorities could not trace back to him. 40 years later, he came up with one.

Copeland started employing vagrants and drifters on his property. He set them up with checking accounts, then directed them to purchase livestock using bogus checks from their accounts. Copeland would then sell the livestock and fire the vagrants. 

This temporarily kept the cops off his back, but he was eventually apprehended and returned to jail. When he was released, he returned to the same scheme, but this time he ensured that his accomplices would never be apprehended or heard from again.

The Investigation That Led To Their Capture

In August 1989, Jack McCormick called the Crime Stoppers hotline to talk about the Copelands. McCormick said that while he worked on their farm, he had seen human bones and that Ray had tried to kill him.

The property was searched by the police. They didn't have to look for long before they found five dead bodies in shallow graves around the farm.

The autopsy report said that each man had been shot at close range in the back of the head. The murder weapon was later recovered in the couple's home.

In addition to the bones that were dispersed and the rifle, the handmade quilt that Faye Copeland fashioned using the deceased victim's clothes was the most unsettling piece of evidence. Five murder charges were swiftly brought against the Copelands.

Trial and Sentencing

In November 1990, Faye went to court. The jury found her guilty of five counts of murder in the first degree. She got four death sentences and one life sentence for the killings.

Ray was put on trial in March 1991. He was found guilty of five murders and given a death sentence.

Ray passed away due to natural causes on October 19, 1993. His remains were cremated.

Faye experienced a stroke on August 10, 2002, which rendered her largely paralyzed and unable to talk. In September 2002, she was given a medical parole.

She was paroled to a nursing facility in her birthplace of Chillicothe, Missouri, where she died at the age of 82 from natural causes.