discovered the badly beaten body of 35-year-old Treva Terrell Gray in a shallow grave on Brookside Avenue in Washington, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

[citation needed] Treva had married Ricky Javon Gray, a 28-year-old ex-convict, approximately six months before her murder, and had lived with her husband in a house owned by her family.

Ray Joseph Dandridge, Ricky's nephew, had moved in with the couple following his release from prison on October 26, 2005, after serving more than ten years for armed robbery.

Approximately a week after the discovery of their daughter's body, Treva's parents evicted Dandridge from their property; he then moved in with his father in West Philadelphia.

[3] On December 31, 2005, 26-year-old Ryan Carey was attacked by two men he later identified as Gray and Dandridge in front of his parents' home on the 5100 block of North 25th Street in Arlington.

Carey sustained extensive beating and stab wounds to the chest, neck and arms in a near-fatal assault, and spent the next two weeks in a coma.

[4] In the early afternoon of January 1, 2006, the bodies of Kathryn, Bryan, Stella, and Ruby Harvey were found dead in the basement of their burning house in the Woodland Heights district of Richmond, Virginia.

Kathryn Elizabeth "Kathy" Harvey (née Grabinsky; November 28, 1966 – January 1, 2006), aged 39, was the co-owner of a popular local toy store called World of Mirth in Richmond's Carytown district and was the half-sister of actor Steven Culp.

living on Hollywood Drive in Chesterfield County, Virginia, were robbed by two men and a woman who had gained entry to their house by pretending to ask for directions.

The police found items at the Chesterfield home linked to the Harvey case, and stormed the house on East Broad Rock Road where Ashley lived with her mother, 46-year-old Mary Baskerville-Tucker, and her stepfather, 55-year-old Percyell Tucker.

[10] Twelve hours after the arrest, Gray asked to speak with a detective, then proceeded to provide a detailed, three-page confession in which he described using a kitchen knife and claw hammer to kill the Harveys, stating "I don't believe sorry is strong enough.

"[11] In subsequent confessions, he admitted to beating his wife Treva to death while Dandridge held her down, to being an accomplice in the Tucker-Baskerville murders, and to the attack on Ryan Carey.

[17][18] Gray pleaded not guilty, and his defense team sought leniency by presenting evidence of physical and sexual abuse during childhood as well as PCP use during the commission of the crimes.

[16] The jury recommended that Gray receive the death penalty for the murders of Stella and Ruby Harvey, and life in prison for the three remaining charges.

[20] In December 2006, Culpeper County also indicted Gray for the murder of Sheryl Warner, a 37-year-old legal secretary and mother of three, found shot and hanged by an electrical cord in the basement of her burning house in the town of Reva.