Billy Ray Bowers was a man who disappeared from Phoenix, Arizona on September 25, 1988 whose body was located near Elephant Butte, New Mexico a year later. He was identified in March 1999 after the arrest of serial torturer and presumed serial killer David Parker Ray, who is the prime suspect in his death.
Background[]
Billy was born on November 1, 1934, in Summertown, Tennessee, to Wales and Lila Gilbreath Bowers. He and his sister Maggie were twins.Between 1964 and 1986, he lived in Neosho, Missouri, as a chicken and cattle farmer and also owned and operated an egg warehouse called Ray Bowers Produce, Inc. At some point in his life, he had four sons.
In 1986, Billy moved to Phoenix, where he became a co-owner, alongside Bill Stone, of Canal Motors, a used car business that was on North Van Buren Street in Phoenix. The owners employed David Parker Ray, who worked as a mechanic and was described as "very talented," but was also disgruntled and often in conflict with Billy.
Billy was last seen on September 25, 1988, under suspicious circumstances. Despite a $5000 reward offered by his family and friends, no information was forthcoming on what happened to him.
Case[]
Discovery[]
On September 28, 1989, the body of an unknown man wrapped in a blue tarp was found by a fisherman at McCrea Cove at Elephant Butte Lake in Elephant Butte, New Mexico. No identification was found on him, and it was determined he was shot in the back of the head. The unknown man was then buried at a cemetery in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
Identification[]
On March 22, 1999, David Parker Ray and his girlfriend, Cynthia Hendy, were arrested after Cynthia Vigil escaped their property. For the past three days, Vigil has been held captive and sexually tortured in a trailer owned by Ray. In addition to Ray and Hendy, two more associates, Ray's daughter, Glenda, and Dennis Roy Yancy, were arrested. All were charged for multiple offenses, including kidnapping, conspiracy, and torture. Yancy was also charged with second-degree murder in the 1997 disappearance of Marie Parker. In addition to Vigil, two more surviving women, Angelica Montano and Kelli Van Cleave, were identified as torture victims of Ray and his accomplices.
After the arrests were made, the FBI and New Mexico State Police started a search of Ray's property, including his torture trailer, which he called "The Toy Box." The trailer contained torture equipment such as syringes, whips, chains, and ankle and knee spreaders, satanic imagery, jewelry and clothing from previous victims, and a video camera that held footage of Ray and accomplices torturing and killing their victims, including Van Cleave and Parker. According to reports, it was the worst case that the FBI or the NMSP had ever seen.
While incarcerated, Hendy stated that Ray told her he killed Bowers and dumped his body in the Elephant Butte River. Remembering the unknown man found in the river in 1989, authorities made dental record comparisons and identified the unknown man as Billy Ray Bowers. Following the identification, his oldest son, Michael, retrieved his body and had him buried in Maness Cemetery in Neosho. Additionally, he has a cenotaph in Bonnertown Cemetery in Bonnertown, Tennessee.
Aftermath[]
Between the 1950s and his arrest in 1999, David Parker Ray and his accomplices may have abducted and sexually tortured up to 40 women. Some of the victims were believed to have been drugged to induce amnesia to avoid being reported, while others were killed and either buried in the desert or dumped into Elephant Butte Lake, where Ray said their remains would be eaten by the catfish living in the lake.
Aside from the surviving three victims, Parker, and Bowers, the group is also suspected in the 1997 disappearance of Jill Troia. No other victims have been identified from the clothing and jewelry found in the trailer the FBI publicly showed or from the videos Ray took. Additionally, no remains aside from Bowers' have been located in Elephant Butte Lake.
In September 2001, Ray was convicted of 12 counts of kidnapping, torture, and conspiracy and sentenced to 223 years, but died on May 28, 2002, from a heart attack. Despite the confession from Hendy and circumstantial evidence, Ray was never charged and convicted of Billy's murder. Additionally, Glenda Ray pleaded guilty to kidnapping and was sentenced to time served with an additional five years to be served on probation. In 2000, Cindy Hendy was convicted and sentenced to 36 years' imprisonment. She received parole in 2017 and was released on July 15, 2019. In 1999, Dennis Roy Yancy pleaded guilty to killing Parker, was sentenced to 30 years, and was released in 2021.