From the mid-1950s to the late 1990s, David Parker Ray kidnapped dozens of women in New Mexico — and brutalized them in his "Toy Box" torture chamber.
David Parker Ray was born in Belen, New Mexico in 1939. Little is known about his childhood, outside of the fact that he was mainly raised by his grandfather. He also regularly saw his father, who often beat him.
As a young boy, Ray was bullied by his peers for his shyness around girls. These insecurities eventually drove Ray to drink and abuse drugs.
He served in the U.S. Army and later received an honorable discharge. Ray was married and divorced four times, and he eventually found work as a mechanic with New Mexico State Parks.
To this day, it's unclear exactly when Ray began his crime spree. But it's believed that it started at some point during the mid-1950s.
And it only came to light after the escape of Vigil.
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On March 19, 1999, 22-year-old Cynthia Vigil was hooking in a parking lot in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when a man claiming to be an undercover cop told her she was under arrest for solicitation of sex work and put her in the back of his car. That man was David Parker Ray, and he brought Vigil to his nearby soundproof trailer, which he called his "Toy Box."
Then, he chained her to a table in the trailer. Over the next three days, he raped and tortured Vigil, with help from his girlfriend and accomplice Cindy Hendy. Ray and Hendy used whips, medical and sexual instruments, and electric shocks to torment Vigil. Just before her torture, Ray would play a cassette tape with a recording detailing what she would be forced to endure.
On the cassette, Ray explained that she was to refer to him only as "Master" and the woman with him as "Mistress" and never to speak unless spoken to first. He then went on to explain exactly how he would rape and abuse her.
"The way he talked, I didn't feel like this was his first time," Vigil said in a later interview. "It was like he knew what he was doing. He told me I was never going to see my family again. He told me he would kill me like the others."
On the third day, while Ray was at work, Hendy accidentally left the keys to Vigil's restraints on a table near where Vigil was chained up. Seizing the opportunity, Vigil lunged for the keys and freed her hands. Hendy attempted to stop her escape, but Vigil was able to stab her with an ice pick.
She ran out of the trailer naked, wearing only a slave collar and padlocked chains. In desperation, she knocked on the door of a nearby mobile home. The homeowner brought Vigil inside and called the police, who promptly arrested both Ray and Hendy — and learned of their many sickening crimes.
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After arresting David Parker Ray for the abduction of Vigil, the police quickly obtained a warrant to search his home and trailer, according to truTV. What the authorities found inside the trailer shocked and disturbed them.
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