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Records Show Cocaine Arrests for Ricky Gray
People called him "Cooley" (sic), but his real name was Ricky Gray. Virginia court records give the spelling of his middle name as Jovan, but many news stories written since his arrest on Saturday, January 7, 2006, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have spelled the name "Gavon," or "Gevon."
Regardless, Ricky "Cooley" Gray, also 28, had problems all his own — at least two cocaine-related arrests in Arlington, VA, between 1998 and 2000. In both cases, the state declined to prosecute.
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| Ricky Gray |
Though they were the same age, Ricky Gray, Cooley, was Ray Dandridge's uncle.
After Ray Dandridge was released from prison in November 2005, he went to live with his Uncle Ricky.
In chemistry, a catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction. Two substances combine, and anything from froth to flame results. In life, an explosive catalyst can often be the meeting of two criminal minds and styles. A woman who formerly got her thrills from shoplifting meets a man who gets his from hurting people, and a kind of "Bonnie and Clyde" dynamic is born. A man who could either strong-arm or psychologically manipulate people as he chose meets up with another man whose moral compass is equally slippery, but he has managed to stay out of jail through wily means — informing, perhaps, or simply being very good at covering his tracks.
They meet, and people die.
It may be that when Luckey got out of jail after 10 years and met up again with Cooley, a truly deadly kind of chemical reaction occurred.
Reports raise Questions About the Slaying of Ricky Gray's Wife
On January 7, 2006, ABC affiliate WPVI in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania reported the following:
"And now, investigators in the city of Washington, outside Pittsburgh, tell Action News that they believe...Gray may be responsible for the murder of Gray's wife.
35-year-old Treva Gray was found beaten and strangled in a wooded area on November 5th. The killing happened just days after Dandridge finished serving a 10-year prison sentence for robbery and went to live with the couple in their Pittsburgh area home." Authorities do not suspect Dandridge in that slaying.
There was no way to know, for anyone aware of Treva Gray's being found murdered on Nov. 5, that her death might have been a kind of warning to the world, a bellwetherof terrible things to come.
But Luckey Ray Dandridge and Ricky Cooley Gray hooked up, and less than a week later, Gray's wife was dead.
If either man was responsible, it appears they were just starting.
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Harvey Family Killers Arrested
Harvey Family Murders Full Coverage & Breaking News
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