By Austin Price, Staff Writer
WARNING: This article contains graphic content with mentions and descriptions of abduction, sexual assault, rape, murder, and suicide. Please read at your discretion.
David Parker Ray is an infamous character in the true crime world. His name is as recognizable as individuals such as Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy. However, few actually know the extent of the inhumane crimes he committed, and the countless lives he ruined.
I had the opportunity to listen in on a lecture by the lead prosecutor against David Parker Ray himself, Jim Yontz through Regis University’s event, Inside the Mind of a Sexual Killer, David Parker Ray. As an unofficial and self-proclaimed true crime addict and enthusiast, this was an extraordinary experience and lecture I was lucky enough to attend. While there are countless podcasts and documentaries of this horrific individual, getting to hear from the man who went up against him, and advocated for David’s victims, was something I will never forget.
Before we get started, I just want to let you all know that David Parker Ray will be referred to as “David” throughout the duration of this article. While David Parker Ray is best known as “The Toy Box Killer” I refuse to give him the recognition for his crimes that he viewed as a victory. As Jim Yontz said, “David is nothing more than the most evil individual you would ever run in to.” David is not someone to idolize, or to fawn over. He was a criminally sexual sadist and does not deserve our respect, or our admiration.
Our story begins in Elephant Butte, New Mexico. A small town with a small community. On November 6th, 1939, David Parker Ray entered the world and was raised by his grandmother. David’s grandmother struggled with undiagnosed mental illness and had strange beliefs surrounding David. She believed that David was the reincarnation of her son, his uncle, and raised him in a heavily conservative and sheltered life. As many of us true crime fans know, mommy issues, or in this case, grandma issues, can lead to the development of a serial killer and David is no exception.
As David got older, he began working as a maintenance man for New Mexico State Parks, and his job gave him access to the Elephant Butte River and trail, and his surroundings became an aid in his crimes. This location allowed David to live near deep water, giving him the perfect way to dispose of the bodies of his victims. Because of this system, it was hard to pin a victim on David, and the police did not have contact with him until 1990, after he had brutalized many women, and was suspected of killing many more. David was discovered when guests of Elephant Butte River and trail noticed a strange object in the water, which when they pulled it out, was revealed to be a dismembered foot. Upon further inspection, a gunnysack filled with human muscle was found nearby.
In Yontz’s lecture, he discussed several victims of David’s whether they were personally killed or assaulted by David, or if their deaths were associated with him in any way. Some victims have declared their wish to remain anonymous and will only be listed as their alias, or by their first name only. The victims Yontz recognized were Billy B., Kelly, Angelica, Cindy Vigil, Marie Parker, and S.A. Patricia Rust, F.B.I.
Jim Yontz began his lecture by recognizing the severity of this case, and the extreme details surrounding it. To the outside world, this case looks more like the plot of a horror movie, but instead of being fake, this case is real, and destroyed the lives of many. “The hardest thing in this case was convincing the jury that this monster actually existed and really did the things he did to people,” Yontz said.
With such an unbelievable case, many of David’s victims faced backlash for speaking out against him and were labeled as liars and prostitutes who deserved it. There is a lot wrong with the treatment of David’s victims, but Yontz recognized the public scrutiny the victims faced, and how it was impacting them. “It’s so messed up, they’re not gonna believe me. I can’t tell anyone,” said one of the victims, Kelly.
The victims themselves knew this was a long shot to convince the jury of the reality of this case. But they were adamant in seeing justice and making David pay for his crimes. Before David’s trial, Cindy Vigil spoke to Yontz and said, “He’s so sick that if you don’t convict him, he will offend again on his way home,”.
Yontz then described a seemingly simple man, who lived in a small town, in a tiny trailer, who had a daughter named Jessica, and was nice enough to everyone that he seemed innocent and unsuspecting. However, in that small trailer with the address of 513 Bass Road k8, David chained, beat, and tortured his victims in his self-built “Toy Box” where the handmade sex toys and weapons he created hung on the walls, ready for his use on his terrified victims.
The “Toy Box” is the perfect description of a woman’s worst nightmare and is a place that makes me sick to my stomach when thinking about it. David made all his tools of torture and designed them with the intent of making them hurt a woman as much as physically possible, and to make this pain easy for him to inflict. David created handmade devices costing him thousands of dollars and installed a personalized gynecological chair that was customized to accommodate moving chains and other torture devices. The entirety of the “Toy Box” was kept sterile, with no traces of DNA or evidence left over.
In addition to these tools, David had displays and instructions for his sexual torture. He used Barbie dolls, which served as three dimensional diagrams for his victims and had written out procedures and instructions to follow during his torture sessions.
Despite all these horrific physical items and equipment, the most terrifying thing in the “Toy Box” was David’s list of mottos and self-affirmations. In large posters taped to the walls of the “Toy Box”, David had written the following:
“Expect the unexpected.”
“A woman will say or do anything to get loose.”
“Never trust a chained captive”
“Don’t let her get to you. If she’s worth taking, she’s worth keeping.”
In this terrifying tale, the hero of our story is Cindy Vigil, a prostitute who escaped David and sought justice for herself and David’s other victims. Cindy was tricked by David, leading to her abduction. David used fake ID and badge to trick Cindy into making her think that she was being arrested by him. He drove her back to his trailer, and separated the torture chamber, the “Toy Box”, and chained her inside, letting her worst nightmares begin. While Cindy’s abuse was nowhere near her fault, Yontz and Cindy openly declared that she made a mistake by trusting David and falling for his lies. “If you think there is something wrong, trust yourself. If you think something may happen, get out of the situation,” Yontz said. "All it takes is one mistake, and things like this happen,” he continued.
As Cindy Vigil told her story, we need to understand the type of criminal David was, and the reasoning behind the behaviors he exhibited. “He is not mentally ill, he is not insane, he is not incompetent. He is a criminal, sexual sadist,” Yontz said. So, that pegs the question, what is a sexual sadist?
Criminal sexual sadism is the most extreme paraphiliac behavior. It is often caused by traumatic events, sexual and / or physical abuse, and exposure to deviant stimuli, all of which could be attributed to David’s childhood and his complex relationship with his grandmother. The characteristics of a criminal, sexual sadist is presented almost exclusively in males, multiple paraphilias are found in one person, and one paraphilia (out of two partners) typically become dominant. The behaviors that David exhibited are sexual sadism, voyeurism, sexual attraction to objects.
Criminal sexual sadism allows a sadist to indulge in fantasy roleplay, letting them personify a “master” and assert dominance over a nonconsenting victim. This role makes it possible for David to disconnect from himself, and his victims, from the real world, blocking out what he was doing and from what was happening.
The key thing to understand about this relationship dynamic is that it is nonconsensual. While the initial behaviors may present as BDSM kinks or sexual practices, David took it a step too far and introduced criminal acts against his victims. As Yontz explained, “David’s fantasy told a lot about David. His fantasies were not fantasies at all. They were actual, real-world depictions of what he had done.”
Another key factor to understanding David’s behavior and crimes is the difference between normal, sexual exploration through kinks, and criminal, sexual sadism through perversion. Yontz explains perversion as an irrational, intense, and inappropriate relationship with sex. “Kinky uses a feather, perverted uses the whole chicken, and David used the whole chicken. David cannot get sexually aroused unless he is hurting a woman,”.
Now that we understand David’s nature, let’s get back to our victims. After the leads and assistance from Cindy Vigil, more victims of David’s were found in physical evidence and the victim’s testimony. The next victim that was revealed was Kelly. Kelly was discovered in the “Toy Box” after police received a tip from Cindy. Inside the “Toy Box” David’s extensive sexual tools collection was discovered, as well as video evidence showcasing the abuse Kelly endured, that David had attempted to delete.
With this immense amount of evidence against David, the prosecution had a strong case, and the guarantee of putting David away for a long time. However, despite the intense investigation and police involvement in this case, the media was the trailblazer in finding and identifying victims. As the case gained more coverage, more victims were revealed, and chose to come forward against Daivd. In addition, a co-conspirator of David’s was highlighted and brought to justice. Roy Yancy, a friend of David, was exposed and convicted for the murder of Marie Parker, a murder that David assisted with.
As Jim Yontz tackled this case, he had one goal in mind, advocate for David’s victims. “My job is to seek justice, and to protect my victim,” he said. Yontz helped represent Kelly, Angelica, Cindy Vigil, and the late Marie Parker. Yontz’s top priority was respecting and representing his clients. “As a DA, you have to consider your live victims.”
The victims of David faced intense public backlash and constant judgement, which was unnecessary, inappropriate and cruel. However, Yontz was determined to protect his clients to the best of his ability. A challenge Yontz faced was balancing his emotions and hatred towards David with his fight for David’s victims. “There’s nothing worse than being mad at someone else and forgetting about everyone else around you,”.
Despite this emotional toll, Yontz was successful in this case. After going up the defendants of David, including Cindy Hendy, his partner in crime, Jessica Parker, his daughter, and Roy Yancy, his friend, Yontz won the case and David was sentenced to 224 years in prison. While David was never convicted of any confirmed murders, the combination of sexual assault, rape, abduction, torture, and imprisonment gave him a lengthy punishment. However, David would never serve time for his crimes, as he died one year into his sentence, due to a heart attack.
While this premature death seems cowardly, and a huge disappointment to his victims, as they fought so hard for justice, they did feel a sense of peace knowing he could no longer hurt anyone. However, I would be remiss to not fully represent or honor his many victims that suffered his abuse both directly and indirectly.
As we end David’s story, we recognize the following:
Billy Ray Bowers – suspected victim, murdered by David
Kelly – Victim of David’s, sexual abuse survivor and advocate
Angelica - Victim of David’s, sexual abuse survivor and advocate
Marie Parker - Murdered by Roy Yancy, murder assisted by David
S.A. Patricia Rust, F.B.I. - Tasked with sketching the crime scene and evidence of David’s actions and was left alone in the “Toy Box” for 3 days as she sketched. Patricia killed herself the night she returned home, after witnessing the horror of David’s crimes.
As a true crime enthusiast, it is imperative to do your research and feed your true crime soul responsibly and respectfully. I have compiled some of my top resources that show respect to the victims and expose David as the villain he is. For those interested in learning more about David Parker Ray, the crimes he committed, and the victims he hurt, please invest in the following resources:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11827256/
https://radiopublic.com/redhanded-WPROXw/s1!57d43
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1277353/
https://www.killerqueenspodcast.com/episode/toy-box-killer/
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/serial-killing/episodes/David-Parker-Ray-e94lni
https://www.amazon.com/Slow-Death-Sickest-Serial-Southwest-dp-0786029269/dp/0786029269/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781429904711
If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual assault, please use the following resources:
https://www.nsvrc.org/
https://www.rainn.org/about-national-sexual-assault-telephone-hotline
https://www.rainn.org/about-national-sexual-assault-telephone-hotline
To join the fight against sexual assault and violence, visit the following resources:
https://www.wcasa.org/resources/areas-of-interest/advocacy/
https://www.safeaustin.org/our-services/face-to-face-support/sexual-assault-survivor-advocacy/
https://www.actompkins.org/education/sa-and-rape/
