Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 08/12/1992
- Missing From:
- Missing From Panama City, Florida
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 10/03/1955 (69)
- Age:
- Age 36 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’3, 110 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description Purple and black flip-flops, a watch, a wedding band, a one-carat diamond solitaire ring, half-carat diamond earrings, a red tank top and black shorts OR cut-off blue denim shorts and a white shirt, and possibly a necklace.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Ray’s maiden name is Bennett. She has a scar on her head, and her ears are pierced.
- Details of Disappearance:
- On August 12, 1992, Ray, her five-year-old, and her twelve-year-old drove from Atlanta to Panama City, Florida for a quick beach vacation. Around 3:30 a.m., they couldn’t find a motel room, so they parked their blue car at the Wilhite Apartments and slept there.
Around 5:30 a.m., Ray left her sleeping children in the car (with her purse and keys) and went to the apartment complex pool area. Witnesses saw her followed by a suspicious man. Someone heard a woman scream near the pool. Ray vanished and has never been seen again.
A police officer who saw Ray that night was hypnotized and described the man. This description led police to a suspect arrested for assaulting a woman in Chipley, Florida five months earlier. However, charges were dropped due to conflicting witness accounts, and he was never linked to Ray’s disappearance.
Separately, Ray’s family had faced financial trouble after her father received a large accidental bank deposit and failed to fully repay it. Ray and other family members were involved in the legal issues surrounding this. However, investigators don’t believe this is related to her disappearance.
Years later, serial killer suspect Mark Riebe confessed to killing Ray, but later retracted his confession. Despite the retraction, Ray’s family believes Riebe is responsible. Riebe’s daughter said their family moved suddenly after Ray’s disappearance, burying bags in the ground in Illinois. Police searched that location in 2019, but found nothing.
Ray’s disappearance remains a mystery, and foul play is suspected.
- Agency:
- Panama City Police Department 904-233-5000
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 08/12/1992