UNSOLVED: Paul Ray Jr.'s murder at Duwamish Park
SEATTLE -- Twenty-three year old Ray Paul Junior was his father’s only son. “Ray was a good guy”, explained his father, Ray Paul Senior. But being a single dad was hard, especially when Ray Jr. wasn’t ready to grow up. “At this point, he just wasn’t ready to settle down and become a man. He still figured he was young and had plenty of time,” Paul said. Ray wanted his son to get a job, but junior was enjoying being “free” as he called it, staying at friend’s homes and hanging out with his girlfriend. Paul remembers,“He started getting with her and her friends and they started going to parties and started drinking and next thing you know he’s like, ‘dad I’m living life and I’m enjoying myself.’” Ray would also camp out at Duwamish Park in Seattle, just two blocks from where his father lives. “I would get off of work and I would pass through the park and he would be there and I would just make sure that he’s okay and him and his girlfriend were right there so I let him be, I was like okay, you know where I’m at,” Paul said. But on the night of November 3rd, Ray’s life was taken at this park. Seattle police detective Timothy Devore says, “There was a witness that came into the park to have a beverage, this was about 1:30 in the morning, that individual saw a body and called 911.” Ray had been stabbed to death, possibly by someone he knew. “I do find the injuries, not that they’re unusual, but the amount of violence that was expressed in these injuries and that often, prior investigations has led us to believe that the victim knew his attacker,” Devore explained. Police have looked through dozens of surveillance videos from the area and have reason to believe that the men in this surveillance video may know something about the murder. Devore says, “We do have surveillance video from a local hospital that shows two gentlemen exiting the rear of a vehicle. These people are people we’d like to speak with who we believe have information about what happened here in the park.” While detectives work the case, Ray Paul Senior is picking up the pieces and asking for your help in catching his son’s killer. Paul says, “If he’s still out there and gets angry again than this could happen to somebody else’s kid or some parent so if anybody knows anything, please come forward. Please call and let someone know because my son is gone, but maybe we can save someone else’s life” If you know anything about the murder of Ray Paul Junior or can help police identify the men in the surveillance video, please call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. All calls are guaranteed to be anonymous.