Dana Sue Gray : The Shopping Spree Killer I Bizarre Buffet Podcast
A shopping addiction that lead to murder! Dana Sue Gray , the shopping spree killer. A woman who was so obsessed with shopping that she would literally murder for a purple boogie board !
Dana Sue Gray born December 6, 1957, murdered three elderly women in 1994. She was caught after a fourth intended victim survived and identified her. Gray says she committed the murders to support her spending habits. Wow, talk about a terrible day at the mall!
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Episode Credits
Hosted By Mark Tauriello , Jen Wilson , & Marc Bluestein
Original Episode Art By Mark Tauriello
Original Story Concept & Episode Production By Marc Bluestein
Episode Show Notes
Dana Sue Gray I Synopsis
Is it possible to be so addicted to shopping that someone would be willing to kill to keep that retail high alive ? Dana Sue Gray sure thought so, and thats exactly what she did !
Dana Sue Gray (born December 6, 1957) is an American serial killer who murdered three elderly women in 1994. She was caught after her fourth victim survived and identified her. Gray says she committed these murders to support her spending habits.
Growing Up / Early Years
Danas parents split up when she was about two years old, but it is said that in regards to her mother,, she was described as the following :
“Beverly was an aggressive, vain woman who frequently maxed out her husband’s credit cards; they finally divorced when her husband found her grappling with an older woman who had angered her.”
It’s after the divorce that Dana began acting out to get attention. Whenever Beverly would discipline her, Dana would retaliate by stealing money to buy candy and would occasionally fly into fits of violence.
NOTE: Now I’m just gonna add my own thought to this, but it sounds like our girl Dana was picking up on a lot of her mommas characteristics…I’m just sayin.
Now let’s move Dana’s timeline a long a little bit
Dana Sue Gray I Timeline
Dana graduated from Newport Harbor High School in 1976. She lived with her sky-diving instructor, Rob, for the next several years and he helped her with nursing school.
In 1981 she graduated from nursing school, and for the next few years had an on-again, off-again relationship with a windsurfer.
In October 1987, Gray married a man named William at an upscale winery in the Temecula area. He was a fellow sports enthusiast who had known and admired her since high school. The marriage quickly got into trouble, however, when Dana dug them deeply into debt. At this point, she was also estranged from her two half-brothers, having burned many bridges, in a dispute over an aunt’s will.
Dana kept it moving and was working as a labor and delivery nurse at Inland Valley Regional Medical Center. Dana and her husband lived in the gated community of Canyon Lake.
Dana Sue Gray I The Divorce
In early 1993, Dana left her husband and moved in with their friend and her lover, Jim Wilkins, and his young son Jason.
In June, 1993, she filed for divorce from her husband William, though this was not finalized until after Dana had been in jail for quite some time. That same year, she and her husband William filed for bankruptcy, while the house they owned together had increased in value, they owed way more than it was worth.
Dana Sue Gray Loses Her Nursing Job
On November 24, 1993, she was fired from the hospital where she worked for misappropriating Demerol and other opiate painkillers.
n February 14, 1994, Dana sent word through her husbands parents (Gray kept his phone number and address hidden from her) that she wanted to meet with her estranged husband. Gray initially agreed but did not show up.
The Murder Of Norma Davis
Later that day, Dana murdered Norma Davis, an elderly lady whose home
Dana had shared for a time. Gray later found out that Dana had taken out an insurance policy on him. The policy would have paid off the Canyon Lake house in the event of Gray’s death.
By the time Riverside County Police caught up with Dana Sue Gray, she had garroted and bludgeoned to death a number of elderly women, then gone on binges with their credit cards
“I had this overwhelming need to shop.” But others saw only an overwhelming need to kill” Dana would later comment.
June Roberts I Victim
Lets start with June Roberts, a victim of Dana’s.
In 1994, a Cadillac belonging to one of Roberts’s former neighbors (Nurse Dana) nosed through the development’s gates where she had previously lived and stopped in front other olive and white house on Big Tee Drive. What immediately transpired when she opened her door isn’t known, but Roberts, 66, was ultimately strapped to a chair, strangled with cord ripped from her telephone and hammered savagely on the face with a wine bottle.
Less than an hour later; the Cadillac was parked in front of Bally’s Wine Country Cafe in Temecula, where Roberts’s killer puffed cigarettes and frowned at the small boy running around the tables.She charged the crab cake and scampi to Roberts’s credit card. It was too much to eat, so the waiter packed the rest to go.
Dana Sue Gray I Let’s Go Shopping!
The next stop was an eyebrow wax and a perm for herself and a fashionable cut for the boy. Signing the $164.76 charge “June Roberts,” she told the stylist she was on a “shopping spree.”
NOTE: What a fucking troll, she better have at least tipped well!!!!
She spent $511 on a black suede jacket and several pairs of cowboy boots, $161 on a pair of diamond drop earrings—all charged to Roberts. Heading home, she swung by a drugstore and picked up dog treats and two bottles of Smirnoff. On the way to the checkout counter, she paused in the toy aisle and tossed a $5.99 toy police helicopter into her basket
Dorina Hawkins I Victim
Ten days later, Dorinda Hawkins, 57, was strangled while working at an antiques store in Lake Elsinore and left for dead. But she survived and gave officers a description of a blonde, wavy-haired female attacker.
Dora Beebe I Victim
Within the week, 87-year-old Dora Beebe in nearby Sun City, another golf mecca for retirees, was strangled and beaten to death with a household iron.
When Dana Sue Gray was arrested later that day, police found Beebe’s credit cards in her lingerie drawer; a closetful of new clothes, tags still attached; boxes of Nike Air athletic shoes; a purple boogie board; a $1,000 Trek mountain bike; and unopened bottles of Opium perfume.
I DONT THINK THIS WOMAN UNDERSTANDS THE CONCEPT OF “TREAT YOSELF” AT ALLLL!!!!
Gray was handcuffed and put into a police cruiser, still wearing the diamond earrings purchased with Roberts’s credit card. She talked about her new boogie board all the way to the station.
IS THIS MANIAC FOR REAL !?
Dana Sue Gray : A Well Groomed Murderer
Gray’s fastidious grooming and fashion sense were barely ruffled by the killings. She dressed well, had regular manicures and pedicures and was meticulously clean. She was so neat that Riverside County deputy district attorney Richard Bentley still marvels at how she emerged from disturbingly messy crime scenes with nary a drop of blood on her or, apparently, a hair out of place. Clerks, waitresses and salespeople who waited on Gray after she killed say she might have seemed somewhat nervous but was always well groomed. Indeed, the day after strangling and bludgeoning Roberts, Gray loaded up on suntan lotion, got a massage at Murrieta Hot Springs Resort and spent the afternoon power shopping, all courtesy of her victim.
During Dana’s confessions to the crimes she had committed, she made the following statement :
“I got desperate to buy things. Shopping puts me at rest. I’m lost without it.” She claimed the reason she kept the cards was she had an overwhelming need to shop.
Dana Sue Gray I The Conclusion
On October 16, 1998, four and a half years after the murders, Dana Sue Gray was finally sentenced. She chose this opportunity to address the court for the first time. As reported in the Press Enterprise, she said the following
“My life and my career have been focused on healing. It has strayed so far from that goal it was so out of character. I’m sorry and I know that these words will never be enough. I will live with this the rest of my life.” She expressed her regret to the judge and said she accepted her responsibility, despite the fact that she believed her judgment had been clouded at the time of the offenses. She repeated her belief that her acts could be attributed to a doctor’s failure to monitor her medication after prescribing antidepressants.
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