[2][3][4] As a young man, he began a life of petty crime, stealing livestock and forging checks, until he was caught and served a year in jail.

[2][3][4] During this time, Ray served several jail sentences, until he finally came up with a plan to improve his illegal money-making methods so as to be undetected.

[2][3][4] When she went to trial in November 1990, her defense mounted a picture of her as a dutiful wife and mother who had endured beatings and general ill-treatment from her husband.

[5] Upon hearing that Faye had been sentenced to death by lethal injection as well, Ray showed no emotion and replied "Well, those things happen to some, you know.

Faye's attorneys appealed her conviction, contending that the jury had not been allowed to hear evidence that Ray had abused her for years.

Weeks later, in September 2002, Governor Bob Holden authorized a medical parole for Faye, fulfilling her one wish that she not die in prison.

The Copelands' story has been fictionalized in a comic book Family Bones, written by Ray's great-nephew Shawn Granger.

[citation needed] The case was documented in multiple television series, such as Forensic Files,[10] Wicked Attraction, Becoming Evil: Sisterhood of Murder and The New Detectives.