Ray Copeland

Serial Killer

Ray Copeland: The Missouri Cattle-Swindle Serial Killer

Overview

Raymond W. "Ray" Copeland was an American serial killer and longtime cattle swindler who was convicted of murdering five men in northwestern Missouri between 1986 and 1989. Born on December 30, 1914, Copeland spent much of his adult life moving between legitimate farm work and criminal schemes involving livestock, worthless checks, theft and fraud. By the time the murders were discovered, he was an elderly farmer living near Mooresville, Missouri, with his wife, Faye Copeland. What made the Copeland case particularly disturbing was the connection between murder and an apparently routine financial fraud. Ray recruited homeless men, transients and men looking for work, brought them to rural Missouri and presented himself as someone willing to employ them in the cattle business. The men were then used as intermediaries in a fraudulent cattle-buying operation. Once their usefulness ended and bad checks threatened to lead investigators back to the scheme, the workers disappeared. Five were eventually found dead.

Ray Copeland's Criminal Background

Copeland had a criminal history extending back decades before he became known as a murderer. He became involved in check fraud and livestock-related crimes as a young man and accumulated arrests and convictions over the years. His reputation made conducting cattle transactions in his own name increasingly difficult. Rather than abandon livestock dealing, he developed ways to put other people's names on the transactions. Copeland began recruiting men who had few financial resources and often few close connections in the area. Some were contacted through homeless shelters or missions. To the men, Copeland appeared to be offering work, food, lodging and an opportunity to earn money. In reality, prosecutors later demonstrated that the workers were being positioned to take responsibility for fraudulent livestock purchases. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Dennis K. Murphy Age: (27), Date of Death: October 17, 1986

Ray and Faye Copeland - Wikipedia