Family: Misty Ray is a 'monster' for starving daughter
The adoptive mother of 16-year-old Sabrina Ray -- whose horrific starvation death inspired statewide reform concerning child abuse cases -- will spend the rest of her life in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to kidnapping charges.
Misty Ray, of Perry, was originally charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty in Dallas County court to first-degree kidnapping, as well as two counts of third-degree kidnapping for locking her two other adopted children in a bedroom.
Misty Ray locked her adoptive daughter in a bedroom over the course of a five-year period and admitted that her actions led to Sabrina’s death. She weighed just 56 pounds when she died.
“I intentionally acted to secretly and unreasonably confine Sabrina Ray without her consent and having no authority to do so,” Misty Ray said.
“I caused such confinement by way of covering the bedroom windows from the outside view by placing the lock on the door and by causing the door to be locked while she was so confined,” she said. “During and as a result of that confinement, on May 12, 2017, Sabrina Ray died of malnutrition, which is a serious injury.”
Marlys Farrell, Misty Ray's cousin, said she is embarrassed and disgusted to be related to a "monster."
"I think it's horrid," Farrell said. "It's horrid that a 300-plus (pound) woman would starve a child to death, and I think she did it for the money that she was going to get for adopting kids."
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"Somehow I feel I should do something for Sabrina's family to make it better because I am part of that same family that is responsible, but I didn't know," she continued. "If I would have known, I would have gotten her out. I would have gotten them all out."
Sabrina's biological aunt, Nicole Bond, sat in the front row of the courtroom Wednesday. She said hearing Misty Ray's admission meant nothing to her.
"It felt heartless to me," Bond said. "There won't be a day that goes by that we won't think about the other two girls."
Her focus is now on remembering her sweet niece who only wanted to be loved.
"She was just so loving, and that makes it so much harder. How could somebody do something to somebody so loving?" Bond said.
Sabrina Ray's adoptive father, Marc Ray, pleaded guilty last month to child endangerment and multiple counts of kidnapping after he admitted to locking her and her siblings in a room and hiding the locks from investigators.
The couple are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 18.