Offender Record · OFF-2026-039
Ray Copeland (photo from the Radford University biography)
Raymond W. Copeland
Sex
Male
Race
White
Born
1914
Custody
Deceased
States
MO, AR, IL, OK, CA
Custody
Died October 19, 1993 (aged 78) at Potosi Correctional Center, Potosi, Missouri.
This record documents arrests, charges and convictions reported by courts, law enforcement agencies and news organizations. Every statement is tied to a cited source with an archived copy. A charge is an accusation, not proof of guilt; a person charged is presumed innocent unless convicted. Solve the Case does not allege that this person committed any offense beyond what the cited records state, and this record is not a suggestion that the person is connected to any unsolved case. How records are built, corrected and removed.
Summary of the record
Ray Copeland was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of five drifters he lured to his home as part of a cattle-buying swindle. He was convicted of killing five drifters at their farm in Mooresville, Missouri. He died October 19, 1993 (aged 78) at Potosi Correctional Center, Potosi, Missouri.
Documented Arrests, Charges and Convictions
Dispositions are shown exactly as the cited records report them. Pending charges are updated when a court acts; a record with no remaining conviction or pending charge is removed from the site.
Offense date Oct 17, 1986, Mooresville, Missouri
First degree murder
Livingston County Sheriff's Office, Missouri · Scotland County Circuit Court · Arrested Oct 17, 1989 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Death by lethal injection, May 23, 1991
Dennis Murphy, killed in October 1986. Police found his remains in an open well of a nearby farm, chained to a 40-pound block of concrete. Copeland killed the transients after hiring them to buy cattle with bad checks drawn on accounts he created in their names.
SourcesRadford University serial killer biography: Copeland, Ray
Offense date Nov 19, 1986, Mooresville, Missouri
First degree murder
Livingston County Sheriff's Office, Missouri · Scotland County Circuit Court · Arrested Oct 17, 1989 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Death by lethal injection, May 23, 1991
Wayne Warner in November 1986. Police discovered the body of Wayne Warner buried in a shallow grave beneath thousands of large round bales of hay.
SourcesRadford University serial killer biography: Copeland, Ray
Offense date Oct 25, 1988, Mooresville, Missouri
First degree murder
Livingston County Sheriff's Office, Missouri · Scotland County Circuit Court · Arrested Oct 17, 1989 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Death by lethal injection, May 23, 1991
27-year-old Jimmy Dale Harvey in October 1988. Bodies of Cowart, Freeman and Harvey were found Oct. 17 buried in shallow graves at a farm where Ray Copeland had done work.
SourcesRadford University serial killer biography: Copeland, Ray
Offense date Dec 08, 1988, Mooresville, Missouri
First degree murder
Livingston County Sheriff's Office, Missouri · Scotland County Circuit Court · Arrested Oct 17, 1989 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Death by lethal injection, May 23, 1991
John Freeman, also 27, in December 1988. Bodies of Cowart, Freeman and Harvey were found Oct. 17 buried in shallow graves at a farm where Ray Copeland had done work.
SourcesRadford University serial killer biography: Copeland, Ray
Offense date May 01, 1989, Mooresville, Missouri
First degree murder
Livingston County Sheriff's Office, Missouri · Scotland County Circuit Court · Arrested Oct 17, 1989 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Death by lethal injection, May 23, 1991
20-year-old Paul Cowart in May 1989. Paul Cowart, 21, of Dardanelle, Ark. The killings took place between October 1986 and May 1989.
SourcesRadford University serial killer biography: Copeland, Ray
Pattern and Background
Victim counts and the pattern of the offenses as stated by courts, agencies and the cited reporting. Suspected counts are what officials have said publicly, not a finding of this site.
5
Victims convicted
0
Victims confessed
7
Victims suspected
Active years
1986–1989
Stated motive
Concealing another crime, Financial gain
Range from home
local
Accomplice
Yes
Education
none
Marital history
Married
Children
4
Died
1993-10-19 · natural
Places Lived, Worked and Frequented
Each place and date range comes from a cited record. Dates marked approximate are as reported. Know a place that is missing? Use Edit record under the photo; a moderator reviews it before it appears.
AR
Ozark, Arkansas
approx. 1925 – 1936 · family moved and settled
Harrison, Arkansas
approx. 1936 – 1940 · arrested for forging checks in 1936
Arkansas
approx. 1949 – 1950 · moved family back from California, arrested for cattle theft within a month
CA
Fresno, California
approx. 1944 – 1945 · family residence 1944-1945
IL
Illinois
approx. 1953 – 1966 · moved family to Illinois 1953, arrested on three check forgery charges during this period
MO
Rocky Comfort, Missouri
approx. 1950 – 1953 · family residence after California return
Mooresville, Missouri
1967 – 1989 · Ray and his family bought a 40-acre farm in Mooresville, Missouri.
Ludlow, Missouri
approx. 1980 – 1989 · worked odd jobs at neighboring farms, locations where bodies were recovered
Mineral Point, Missouri
May 23, 1991 – Oct 19, 1993 · Potosi Correctional Center · Scotland County Circuit Judge E. Richard Webber sentenced Copeland to die by lethal injection at the Potosi Correctional Center.
OK
Oklahoma, Oklahoma
approx. 1914 – 1925 · born in Oklahoma, early childhood
Timeline
Dec 30, 1914
Ray Copeland was born December 30, 1914 in Oklahoma.
1936
Ray was arrested in Harrison, Arkansas for forging checks and sentenced to one year in jail.
1940
Ray met his future wife Faye Della Wilson and married Faye six months after they met in 1940-1941.
1967
Ray and his family bought a 40-acre farm in Mooresville, Missouri.
Oct 17, 1986
Dennis Murphy was killed in October 1986.
Nov 19, 1986
Wayne Warner was killed in November 1986.
Oct 25, 1988
27-year-old Jimmy Dale Harvey was killed in October 1988.
Dec 08, 1988
John Freeman, also 27, was killed in December 1988.
May 01, 1989
20-year-old Paul Cowart was killed in May 1989.
Aug 20, 1989
A former employee, Jack McCormick, called the Crime Stoppers hotline to report human bones on the Copeland farm.
Oct 09, 1989
Sheriff Leland ODell, along with as many as 40 officers, several backhoes, and teams of bloodhounds, descended upon the Copeland farm.
Oct 17, 1989
Bodies of Cowart, Freeman and Harvey were found Oct. 17 buried in shallow graves at a farm where Ray Copeland had done work.
Oct 17, 1989
Authorities arrested Ray and Faye Copeland on October 17, 1989.
Dec 1989
The Copelands were charged with murder in an indictment returned in December 1989 by a Livingston County grand jury.
Jan 02, 1990
Ray Copeland, 75, and his 68-year-old wife, Faye, were arraigned separately on five counts of first-degree murder between 1986 and 1989.
Mar 07, 1991
On March 7, 1991, 76-year-old Ray Copeland went to trial. After weeks of testimony, a jury found him guilty on all five counts of first-degree murder.
Mar 20, 1991
A jury found Copeland guilty March 20 of killing five transient workers in order to cover up a fraudulent cattle-buying scheme.
May 23, 1991
Scotland County Circuit Judge E. Richard Webber sentenced Copeland to die by lethal injection at the Potosi Correctional Center.
Oct 19, 1993
Ray Copeland died October 19, 1993 (aged 78) at Potosi Correctional Center, Potosi, Missouri.
Sources
Solve the Case is never the original source. Each item below is the public record a statement on this page rests on, with an archived copy where one exists.
News report · Forensic Reader ·
Killer's Cattle Log Scam“The bodies recovered were identified to be Paul Jason Cowart, John Freeman, Jimmie Dale Harvey, Wayne Warner, and Dennis Murphy, all alleged scammers, and ex-employee on the Copeland farm.”
News report · Wikipedia ·
Ray and Faye Copeland“Raymond W. Copeland (December 30, 1914 – October 19, 1993) and his wife Faye became, at the ages of 76 and 69 respectively, the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the United States.”
Other government record · Find a Grave ·
Raymond W. Copeland Memorial“Raymond W. Copeland (December 30, 1914 – October 19, 1993). Ray was sentenced to death, but died of natural causes before he could be executed.”
News report · Bloody Disgusting ·
'X' in Real Life - The True Story of the Ray & Faye Copeland Killings“Ray would go on to kill at least five young men: Dennis Murphy, killed in October 1986; Wayne Warner in November 1986; 27-year-old Jimmy Dale Harvey in October 1988; John Freeman, also 27, in December 1988; and 20-year-old Paul Cowart in May 1989.”
Other · Radford University ·
Radford University serial killer biography: Copeland, Ray“03/07/1991 76 Copeland goes to trial for five counts of murder in the first degree. Dies in Potosi Correctional Center in 1993.”
Court record · Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ·
Copeland v. Washington“In a separate proceeding, Ray Copeland was later convicted and sentenced to death for the murders. He was ill at the time of trial and died in jail a few months later.”
Court record · Missouri Supreme Court ·
State v. Copeland“The homicides occurred between 1986 and 1989. The search of the premises disclosed two pasture rental agreements in defendant's handwriting.”
News report · UPI ·
Elderly farmer sentenced to death“Ray Copeland, the elderly farmer convicted in March of five counts of first-degree murder in the killings of transient farm workers, received the death penalty for each of the murders.”
News report · The Washington Post ·
Farmer Guilty of Killing 5 Drifters“A jury convicted farmer Ray Copeland, 76, of first-degree murder in the deaths of five drifters he lured to his home as part of a cattle-buying swindle.”
News report · UPI ·
Couple arraigned on murder charges“Ray Copeland, 75, and his 68-year-old wife, Faye, were arraigned separately Tuesday on five counts of first-degree murder between 1986 and 1989.”
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