On April 27, 1986, 24-year-old white female Linda Jean Coats was found dead in her trailer in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Coats, a university student enrolled in the Army's ROTC program, was scheduled to receive her commission the week she was murdered. She had been sexually assaulted and killed by a shot to the head.
The investigation into Coats' death eventually led to the arrest of Ronald Adrin Gray, a 21-year-old Black male serving as a cook in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg.
Gray's crimes spanned from April 1986 to January 1987 and included multiple rapes and murders in the Fayetteville area.
In civilian court, Gray pleaded guilty to the murders of Linda Coats and Tammy Wilson, receiving eight life sentences. Subsequently, a military court convicted him of the murders of Kimberly Ann Ruggles and Laura Lee Vickery-Clay, sentencing him to death. Gray has been confined at the U.S. Army Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since his sentencing.
Despite multiple appeals, Gray's death sentence has been upheld. In 2008, President George W. Bush approved his execution, which would have been the first by the U.S. military since 1961. However, a federal judge issued a stay of execution, and as of 2021, Gray remains on military death row.
