Court Watching: Ray Bailey bound over to circuit court for four Sumpter Twp. murders

The night before he shot four people to death in a house on Martinsville Road in Sumpter Township Aug. 15, Raymond Lee Bailey sent a text to his girlfriend, “Feeling like clearing the scumbags out of my house, vigilante-style.”
This was one piece of the evidence brought forth at Bailey’s April 26, live, day-long preliminary exam before 34th District Court Judge Lisa Martin. Since it was being cablecast via YouTube, she asked all witnesses that may be called not to watch or listen to the exam. She also had Sumpter Township Captain Patrick Gannon removed from the waiting room.
More than 569 people watched the exam on YouTube.
After all the evidence was presented, Judge Martin bound Bailey over to circuit court at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice to face four, first-degree, premediated murder charges and four felony firearm charges. Conviction on just one murder charge could bring life in prison.
His arraignment on the information was set for May 3, at circuit court and then reset at circuit court for May 4. At that time he was referred to pre-trial services for a bond review and a calendar conference set for May 7 before Judge Kelly Ramsey. Later a final conference was set for June 9.
Bailey had been in the Wayne County Jail without bond since his arraignment on Aug. 19.
A preliminary examination at district court is held to see if there is probable cause that a crime was committed and, if so, that Bailey, 37, of Wyandotte, was involved.
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Tara Math Hindelang’s first witness was Christine Shepherd, who is an emergency dispatcher for Huron and Sumpter townships and was on duty at the time of the shootings. She recalled a “unique” 911 call with yelling, a loud noise, and then silence. She called back and there was no answer and she also handled an unrelated 911 hang up.
Shepherd said she got the location of the call and whether there had been contact there before and the name of the phone owner. Then she dispatched officers to 24914 Martinsville Rd.
Next witness was Sumpter Police Officer Sean Hudson and Assistant Prosecutor Carley Koks took over the questioning. Officer Hudson said he was dispatched to the single-family residence and a black Ford Taurus registered to Raymond Bailey was in the driveway. The officer parked on the roadway. He knocked twice at the front door with no response.
Hudson said he walked to the back of the house and found a single female laying on the back deck, with blood around her from her head and arm. There were empty shell casings and an empty clip nearby. He testified he went back to his patrol car to get his rifle. He held the property until help came.
He testified Sgt. Beth Egerer arrived and they waited for the third officer, K-9 Officer Hickman from Huron Township. He said they approached the house and Hudson called out, “Sumpter Police. Make yourself known.” Hickman also called out and there was no reply.
Hudson testified they entered the house and found a second female with two gunshots to the head and in the living room there was a male slumped over to the right with a gunshot would. Then, they found a second male who had been shot. He testified he did not touch the bodies and he found no weapons or guns. Hickman cleared the shed on the property. Paramedics came and checked all four bodies with no pulse on any subject and then they left the scene.
Hudson said he had been to the location before when there was a domestic violence call concerning Raymond Bailey and Laura Tanner, one of the deceased. He said it was Oct. 30, 2019 and a small caliber firearm was involved. On that date he went to a location on Willow Road and Bailey was there. Bailey turned over the firearm police after retrieving it from beneath a trailer at the back of the property.
Hudson said on Aug. 15 he was directed to go door to door for a surveillance camera and he found none. He then was directed to search for the cell phone that had been used to call 911. It was Neil Sampson’s phone, another of the deceased, and Hudson and two other officers from Huron Township searched couldn’t find it. It was thought to be somewhere in a half-mile range in the dense brush area between the church on Sumpter Road and the house on Martinsville.
Next witness was Sumpter Police Sgt. Elizabeth Egerer who was in charge of road patrol during that shift and was dispatched to the address. She, too, retrieved her patrol rifle from the scout car because Hudson had seen empty shells outside. She testified the K-9 team from Huron Township arrived and assisted Hudson with the search of the home.
Sgt. Egerer testified that the first female was lying in a pool of blood and there was a bloody footprint. She said another female was halfway between the laundry room and the kitchen and she had a bullet in her face and earlobe. A white male was lying on the couch with no pulse either and a dog over him. She said victim four had no pulse. She testified she took photos and texted them to Detective John Toth.
Egerer said she backed out of the home and the medic unit came to make sure there were no signs of life. She also made arrangements to have the Michigan State Police crime scene unit come out and they retrieved one of the dogs out of the home to make sure nothing was disturbed. On the dog tags were an address and phone number, a website, and multiple people listed in Detroit.
The car in the driveway was registered to Ray Bailey and since Bailey had been arrested for domestic violence at this location, he became a suspect in the investigation of the murders.
Egerer testified she talked to the neighbor across the street and the woman mentioned that she had heard multiple gunshots around noon that day and she looked out the window and didn’t see anything.
Egerer said they received information Bailey was driving a truck. His phone and the truck were registered to Laura Tanner.
Prosecutor Hindelang entered into evidence the post-mortem reports for the four victims, listing multiple gunshot wounds as the cause of death for three, with a shot to the chin listed for Forrest Sampson, and all were deemed homicides.
The fourth witness was Joseph Socia, who testified he had been friends with Bailey since grade school and they were very close. She said Laura Tanner was Bailey’s girlfriend about 12 to 13 years and that ended about two years ago and he started dating someone else. There were bad relations between him and his ex, Socia testified.
He said on Aug. 15 he got a phone call at about 5 p.m. from Craig Blankenship who told him about what happened. Socia said he lives in the Upper Peninsula and he was building a barn. He said he drove to the Flint area to look for Bailey.
Socia testified that Bailey drove a four-door, white Chevy Silverado and it was financed through Laura. He said Bailey gave her money for the payments which were made in her name.
Socia said he called Bailey and he was confused and upset. He said he asked Bailey what he did and he said he is lost and doesn’t know where he is. “I told him I’d bring him in to the police,” he testified. It was a five-minute phone call and then Socia got on the road and started driving south.
Socia said he called his cousin who is a detective and he advised him to call Det. Toth, which he did, and told him he is Ray’s friend, he’s made contact and he’s going to bring him in so nobody gets hurt.
Socia said Bailey was driving and trying to find a landmark because he was lost and they wanted to get together. Socia testified Bailey said he made a mistake and something bad happened.
Socia said the following day he mentioned what he did and Socia said he told him to stop and not tell him about it. He said Bailey told him he ended up pulling the trigger and killing four people.
Then, Socia became unable to contact Bailey because the phone was dead, lost or gone. Socia said Bailey had told him he would park his truck at Applebee’s in Bay City and would meet him at Speedway. Socia said he was aware Bailey carried guns, a small one on him and a .45, usually carried in his Bugout Bag in the back of his locked truck.
While Socia was looking for Bailey, Socia said he was picked up by police in Bay City and Sumpter Township police came in and talked to him from midnight to 1 a.m. and then he went back to the Speedway and didn’t find Bailey.
Socia testified that Bailey told him they were harassing him, threatening to take the house and take the truck. He said the house was financed by him but was in her name (because she had better credit). Their agreement had been to give the car and $10,000 to her and the house would go to him.
“There was a lot of contention over the property,” Socia said.
He said after he couldn’t find Bailey he left Bay City and went home. He got a call from Bailey from an unknown number and Bailey said he had gone to a hotel and passed out. He said he was ready for Socia to bring him in to the police.
Socia said he picked him up north of Bay City and took him to the police department. He said he saw an officer walking into the police building and he told the officer he was bringing someone in. That officer said OK, went in and got two more officers, and then spoke to Bailey, grabbed him and arrested him.
He said he waited for two to three hours for the U.S. Marshals to arrive to transport Bailey to Sumpter. He said he’s been in communication with Bailey since then.
Socia testified that on the evening before the shooting he had received a phone call from Bailey who said he was upset because, “they were threatening him, would take his house and bike.”
Socia said he told Bailey to come upstate, “and I’d give him one of my vehicles. I told him to calm down, come up north. He was a little stressed, but didn’t sound that angry. He was overall calm for the most part.”
Socia said Bailey told him Laura was at it again and acting stupid and he was tired of it.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Sharon Woodside, Socia said Bailey and Laura had a number of breakups and then went back together. Socia said now, they were backing out of a deal and Bailey never made threats to harm anybody. After 5 p.m., Aug. 15, Bailey was lost, upset and was crying. Socia said he was concerned Bailey would harm himself.
“I told him there’s no forgiveness for this and he had to turn himself in,” Socia said.
Fifth witness was Briana Allen, Bailey’s current girlfriend who has lived with him in Wyandotte for about a year. She said Bailey also had property in Kinross in the Upper Peninsula. She said Bailey’s relationship with Laura was “unwell” and he was trying to get Laura to sell the house, where she was living.
He also was trying to get the white truck out of Laura’s name, and an RV also was in her name. They had a dog in common and the dog was with her now. She said on Aug. 14, they were living together and she was going to his sister’s house in New Boston. She said Bailey went to the doctor with her and then she went to her sister’s house in New Boston. That’s the last time she has seen him in person, she testified.
She said she turned her phone over to the Sumpter PD and they kept the records of text messages from the evening of Aug. 14 including one that said he wanted to “get the scumbag out of my home, vigilante-like.”
She said she spent the night at her sister’s and then went to her other sister in Milan. She said she got a message from Bailey’s best friend Socia that told her to stay at her sister’s place.
She said she got a communication from Bailey at 7 p.m. Aug. 15 and she asked what was going on. She testified that Bailey said, “I shot them. Laura and whoever was in the house.” He said he was going to meet Socia and turn himself in. He told her to go get the dog and her stuff from the Wyandotte home where he paid the rent. He left money for her in the top drawer. She said the police came and she spoke with them.
She testified Bailey had told her that some guys were calling and threatening to take the truck and motorcycle. “He hated her and didn’t want to deal with her any more,” Allen said. She said he wanted to sell the house but had to get her out of the house first.
Sixth witness was Sumpter Det. George Salajan, who had been with the department for eight years. He said he was the co-officer in charge of the case and was on the day shift the day of the homicides. He said he was called to the scene and spoke with Alexander Sampson, who showed up at the house. He had a dating relationship with Laura Tanner, Det. Salajan said. He also talked to Ms. Demetrio Bronaugh, who had downloaded videos from their Ring cameras about a mile down Martinsville Road from the murder site. The videos showed a white Silverado pickup with a cap first going northbound on Martinsville and then two minutes later going southbound quickly.
Det. Salajan said he had traveled to Bay City and the MSP in Bridgeport examined the pickup. They found a small handgun in an area of the driver’s seat and a .45 caliber handgun in the locked truck. Det. Salajan also described what Bailey said during a one-hour-and-seven-minute interview by Det. Toth in Toth’s office.
Salajan said Bailey said he and Tanner had been arguing the night before about the house and selling of the house and Bailey believed Tanner was stringing him along.
He said on the next morning, Aug. 15, he called Tanner. She was supposed to be signing papers and the Realtor said he hadn’t heard from Tanner. Salajan reported Bailey said he just lost it when he found out Tanner wasn’t responding to the Realtor. He drove over to the house.
He said he had been walking around in circles for the last two days. He said on the day of the murders he said he went to the house and he began arguing with Tanner and her sister, Sarah Grupa, when he was attacked by “two big bastards,” Neil and Forrest Sampson, who were cousins of the two females. He said he remembered fighting with one in the hallway. Bailey said the two males said the house was theirs and not Bailey’s and the girls laughed. “Shit got violent,” he told Toth.
Salajan said in November 2020, MSP found clothing, a destroyed cell phone, and concealed pistol license in the area of the Applebee’s in Bay City where the truck Bailey was driving had been parked.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Woodside, Salajan said Bailey talked about getting a lawyer twice, maybe once more. He said Toth continued to talk to Bailey after the first time a lawyer was mentioned and the second time, Toth said Bailey had invoked his right to talk to an attorney and he stopped asking questions. He said the third mention of an attorney was when Toth asked who his attorney was.
After this information was discussed the prosecutor and defense attorney met at the bench with Judge Martin and when they were done the video of the complete interview was run in the courtroom, but the YouTube video to the public was turned off.
After the courtroom was reopened to the public, Prosecutor Hindelang made a motion to bind Bailey over to circuit court for the four murders and he was bound over.