"It Was Just One of Those Unfortunate Situations," Petit Says As he Prepares to Head to Richmond to Swap Notes With Richmond Detectives.   Jan. 17, 2006

By  Seamus McGraw

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(Crime Library)  

WASHINGTON, Pa.   Though authorities in Pennsylvania's Washington County had long suspected that at least one of the two men now charged in connection with a murderous crime spree in Virginia was also responsible for the beating and suffocation death of Gray's wife, they never had enough evidence to press charges.

Perhaps if they had, some pundits have suggested, Ricky Gray and Ray Joseph Dandridge might not have been free to sweep south, cutting through northern Virginia and allegedly leaving in their wake a pile of bodies seven deep, among them, Bryan Harvey, a well-liked and respected Richmond rocker, his wife and their two young children. The family was found bound with tape, their throats slit, in the basement of their burning home on New Year's Day.

Harvey Family from left: Kathryn, Bryan, Stella and Ruby.

Perhaps the pair would not have been free to slit the throat of a 25-year-old man in Arlington, as authorities in Virginia allege they did, or to hold a Chesterfield County man and his ailing wife prisoner in their own home, as authorities believe they did.

Maybe Percyell Tucker, Mary Baskerville Tucker, and her daughter, Ashley Baskerville, whom authorities suspect joined Gray and Dandridge on part of their crime spree, might still be alive. The two men are also charged with conspiring to kill Baskerville and her family. Like the Harvey family, all of them were found bound and slain in their home.

To Washington County District Attorney John C. Pettit, that kind of speculation is unfair. "There isn't anything we could have done," said Pettit, whose office is heading the investigation into the Nov. 5 slaying of Treva Gray  "We looked at it carefully at the time and of course we've looked at it again and again since. It was just one of those unfortunate situations."

Ricky Gray

Now, two and a half months after her death, Pettit and two of his detectives say they may soon be prepared to file charges in the case. Pettit said he and at least two detectives from Washington County are headed to Richmond, perhaps as early as the beginning of next week, to meet with investigators there to trade notes on the cases. Pettit noted that in the days since their arrest on multiple charges of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the deaths of the Harvey and Baskerville families, Gray and Dandridge have apparently been cooperating with authorities. Among other things, the two men are believed to have made a statement implicating themselves in Treva Gray's slaying. "I believe they have," Pettit said, though he added that he could not independently confirm that or elaborate on the details of their statement.

The woman, who had only recently married Gray, was found buried in a shallow grave not far from her home. She had been beaten, Pettit said, and suffocated. Authorities suspect that the killer or killers covered the woman's head with a plastic bag. Investigators immediately focused on Gray, a small-time ex-con, and interviewed him in connection with his wife's death. Despite their strong suspicions, "we did not have enough to arrest him," Pettit said.

The two men were arrested Jan. 7 at the home of a relative in Philadelphia. They had arrived there, authorities said, driving Percyell Tucker's stolen Chevrolet Blazer, packed with loot apparently taken during their crime spree. Last week, the pair waived extradition and were returned to Virginia where they are being held without bail as the investigation into the slayings — as well as the men's possible role in a string of other unsolved crimes in Virginia, continues.

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