Update on Ray and the murder case...

I wrote a post about Ray last year because I was aware that his release from prison was coming up.  I was aware that he and I had some unfinished business, and he knew where I worked.  I am certain he would have waited for me.  Anyway, I looked up Ray’s name on Google and discovered he passed away last year.  

2005-2025, it feels the story has finally been completed.

As I stated before, Ray, a person I used to work with, murdered an innocent man.  They both worked at a factory.  They got into some issues in a breakroom.  It had something to do with a radio. I believe Ray was looking for a confrontation. After work, the man went to McDonald’s with his friends, and Ray followed him there.  Ray confronted him and attacked the man.  The man defended himself and beat up Ray.  Ray, defeated and embarrassed, went to his car, retrieved his gun, and killed the working man. 

The part about Ray having a gun in his car always bothered me. That means Ray was always planning on using that weapon on one of his coworkers.  Ray would wait for people after work in the parking lot and confront them over the littlest things. It was disturbing, but most people laughed and shrugged it off. Now, we know he was planning to escalate the situation. It makes sense he'd follow the guy after work and murder him. Ray held grudges over the smallest things

I don’t feel sad about his passing.  I feel angry and a bit uneasy.  It feels a bit of a letdown.  I wanted Ray to get out of prison, 20 years later, and see how much the world has changed.  I wanted him to feel the pain of knowing he spent his entire life wasting away in prison, while the world moved on without him. I wanted the wife and the child of the victim to see how he fared in this free world.  Would he redeem himself and be a better person?  Would he start helping save lives or go back to prison?  We’ll never know.  He died last year.  And, I still don't feel sorry for Ray...

From what little information I can gather, Ray died in prison.  The state denied his early prorole, and his release date was either this year or next year.  He only had a couple of years before his release.  What happened?  Was it a long-term illness or self-inflicted?  His obit says he “died peacefully in his sleep.”  

There are some interesting facts about his death.

Ray was born on October 10, 1979.  He was convicted and sentenced on October 6, 2009.  He died on October 4, 2024.  While not knowing exactly how he died, all the dates line up in October.  He was born, jailed, and died in October.  Things get even more strange.  All the dates are even numbers.  4, 6, 10.  Did he do this intentionally?

I hope the former wife and now fully grown child of the victim breathe a little easier knowing he is gone.