In the summer of 1986, the quiet ranching community of Arapahoe, Colorado, was shattered by the brutal murder of Virginia Louise “Ginny” MacLennan May. At 34 years old, Ginny was a mother of two young children, living with her husband on a cattle ranch. She was known for her love of gardening and her willingness to lend a hand to her neighbors and family.
On the afternoon of July 21, a neighbor, Becky Fincham, contacted Ginny with an offer of children's clothes.
Fincham inquired if Ginny's husband was home, and upon learning he was not, she arrived at the MacLennan May ranch with her husband, Gary Lee Davis. The couple then abducted Ginny, leaving her two toddlers behind. For two days, family, friends, and neighbors frantically searched for the missing woman, holding onto a sliver of hope that she would be found alive.
The search ended in heartbreak when Ginny's body was discovered. The investigation revealed a horrific ordeal. She had been taken to a secluded area where she was sexually assaulted and ultimately murdered. Despite her pleas for her life and even offering her attackers money, she was struck in the head with a rifle and shot fourteen times. Her body was then concealed under a bale of hay.
Gary Lee Davis and Becky Fincham were arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of Virginia MacLennan May. A year after the crime, Davis was convicted of kidnapping and first-degree murder. The jury sentenced him to death for his role in the heinous crime that cut short the life of a young mother and shook a close-knit community to its core.
