Mr. McCormick is jailed in a neighboring county on a bad check charge, and has been talking with officers about the Copeland operation.
Soon enough the police figured out what Ray Copeland was doing and he was sent back to jail again for fraud. After the men arrived at the Copeland farm near Mooresville, Mo., the Copelands would help the men establish a post office box address, then open checking accounts in their names. Authorities search their farm for days only to find little evidence. Rural Intrigue Is Unearthed With 5 Bodies. Crazy to think all of this happened somewhat recently on a farm in Missouri. Thank you! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
The check would bounce, the sheriff said, but not until after the cattle had been delivered to the Copelands and they had resold the animals and kept the full proceeds. We’re aware that these uncertain times are limiting many aspects of life as we all practice social and physical distancing. Mr. Copeland, who is 75 years old, and his 68-year-old wife are in the Livingston County jail in Chillicothe, charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of transient farm workers. The Copelands had worked temporarily for cattle sales barns in both locations. Unfortunately for 12 men in Missouri, this opportunity turned into a deadly one at a Mooresville farm during the 80’s. Officers had also received a tip from a former Copeland employee, Jack McCormick, 56, who told of seeing human remains on the Copeland farm. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Directed by J. Darin Wales. Ray decided that the next time he had his farmhands buy his cattle, he would have to make them "disappear" so there would be no trace back to him. Soon, authorities picked up on this and traced the bad checks from the farmhands to Ray. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. ''I mean, we knew them, but we really didn't talk to them a lot, or pry into what they did or didn't do, things like that.''.
Ray Copeland was born Dec. 30, 1914, in Oklahoma. Love Missouri?
See the TV shows set to premiere in the rest of 2020, including "Utopia" and Season 2 of "The Mandalorian. We believe that supporting local attractions is important now more than ever and we hope our articles inspire your future adventures! Police in a small farming community in Missouri receive an anonymous call about some bones found in the barn of an elderly couple. Ray & Faye Copeland. Add the first question. Ray died in prison of natural causes while awaiting execution. But in the past six weeks a lifetime of questions about the Copelands have been spewing forth. Wicked Attraction examines the case of Ray and Faye Copeland an elderly couple who were behind a cattle scheme in Nebraska that led to the murder of five drifters.
They were found later in farms where Mr. Copeland had worked doing odd jobs and farm work on other farmers' places. They face the death penalty if convicted. Ray and Faye Copeland lived in self-imposed rural isolation near here for decades, a quiet farm couple scratching out a living on 40 acres of hard soil in northwest Missouri. Sheriff Leland O'Dell of Livingston County said the Copelands hired young drifters at a mission for homeless men in Springfield, Mo., on the promise of $50 a day in cash. In 1989, Ray Copeland was charged with five murders, as was Faye. The Con Man and the Church Lady. Because of this, he picked up hobos off the road and had them go into town to buy the cattle for him using bad checks.
Sheriff O'Dell said the transients would then act as small-scale cattle buyers, traveling to a rural cattle sale and buying, with a check, about $1,000 to $1,500 worth of cattle. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Photographer unknown. At 69 and 76 years old, they were the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in American history. Self - Livingston County Sheriff's Office. Ready to give up the search, they stumble across human remains on a neighboring property.
No questions asked, no problems, no prying. Authorities search their farm for days only to find little evidence. Aged 76 and 69, the two were convicted of committing five murders on their Missouri ranch in 1989. Police in a small farming community in Missouri receive an anonymous call about some bones found in the barn of an elderly couple. As the body count rises, they unearth a deadly cattle scheme ending in murder. The scam worked for a bit longer, until a former farmhand, Jack McCormick, called Crime Stoppers to report Ray. Anonymous. Crazy to think all of this happened somewhat recently on a farm in Missouri. Two of the five have still not been indentified. This FAQ is empty. Investigators searching for the men who wrote the checks would find nothing.