Bailey turns himself in to face four murder charges

At about 10 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 16, following an intensive manhunt, Raymond Lee Bailey walked into the Bay County Sheriff’s office and turned himself in to face charges of murdering four people in Sumpter Township on Saturday morning.
Sumpter Township Police Chief Eric Luke said his officers were already on the way to the Bay City area, 130 miles north of Sumpter, as part of the search for Bailey, 37. Sumpter police took Bailey into custody and brought him back to Sumpter.
He currently is lodged in the Huron Township Police lockup pending determination of charges by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office. Huron Township handles emergency dispatch and lockup for Sumpter.
“We want to acknowledge and thank the local, state, and federal agencies who’ve assisted us in the investigation and apprehension,” Chief Luke said in a Monday morning news release.
On Saturday at about 12:37 p.m., Aug. 15, Sumpter police responded to a 911 call in the 24000 block of Martinsville Road and found the bodies of two males and two females, all in their 30s, apparently dead from gunshot wounds.
One neighbor told reporters that she had heard a half-dozen gunshots earlier, which she believed to be coming from the woods. She said she thought someone was target practicing.
Chief Luke said a Crime Scene Response Team from the Michigan State Police Forensic Division was requested and arrived shortly after to assist.
Detectives identified 37-year-old Raymond Lee Bailey of Sumpter Township, the ex-boyfriend of one of the females, as a suspect and obtained information that he had fled north, possibly heading to the Upper Peninsula.
A short time later, detectives were made aware that he had allegedly confessed to the killings to several people via telephone and texts, Chief Luke wrote in an early news release.
Detectives were able to begin tracking him via his cell phone as he fled north and located his vehicle abandoned at an Applebee’s in Bangor Charter Township near Bay City. Police impounded the vehicle but couldn’t find Bailey.
Sumpter Police had worked through the night with authorities in that area to attempt to find him, and a statewide BOL was active.
Bay County Sheriff Troy Cunningham told The Detroit News that about 4 a.m. Sunday, a woman reported seeing a six-foot-tall male walking the streets and then ducking into the brush when he saw traffic coming.
Escorted by a friend to the sheriff’s office, Bailey spotted a deputy sheriff heading into work to start his shift, The Detroit News reported. The friend honked to get the deputy’s attention, and Bailey turned himself in, telling the deputy he had some legal troubles in Wayne County.
The murder victims were identified by family members on Facebook as Bailey’s former fiancee Laura Tanner, her sister Sarah Tanner, and their two cousins, brothers, Neil and Forrest Sampson.
A neighbor told reporters that just Bailey and Laura Tanner lived in the house that was the murder scene.
An Oct. 29 charge in 34th District Court against Bailey was assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder in Sumpter Township, along with a domestic violence charge. Laura Tanner was the victim and Bailey’s bond required him to stay away from her.
On Nov. 20, the assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Larry King told Judge Brian Oakley that he had some issues with the gun and would like to dismiss the felony charge of assault. They proceeded with the domestic violence misdemeanor, but the victim was not at the courthouse. King said they wanted to contact the victim before the next court session. Judge Oakley said the victim must attend the next court session, which was set for Dec. 11 and then adjourned until Jan. 2.
On Jan. 2 the pre-trial was held and the victim did not appear so the charge was dismissed without prejudice, which means it could be refiled in the future.
Bailey’s address at the time of last fall’s charges was the same address as Saturday’s murders. After the charges were brought and was ordered to stay away from the victim, he moved to Wyandotte.
After both charges were dropped, he no longer had to stay away from her.