Man Ordered to Stand Trial in Torture Case

A judge ruled Friday that David Parker Ray must stand trial in the abduction of two women who said they were held in bondage and sexually tortured in a trailer.

District Judge Neil Mertz said the evidence was sufficient to show Ray may have committed the crimes outlined in the 25 counts against him. The charges include kidnapping, criminal sexual penetration and aggravated battery.

Bond was continued at $1 million cash. No trial date was set.

Charges against Ray’s co-defendant, Cynthia Lea Hendy, were reduced from 25 to five counts of conspiracy and being an accessory. A proposed plea agreement would put her in prison for at least 12 years but still must be signed by a judge. Until then, the other charges could be reinstated. Hendy had waived a preliminary hearing.

“She is also a victim,” her attorney, Xavier Acosta, said Friday.

Another defendant, Dennis Roy Yancy, is charged with killing a 22-year-old woman who vanished from an Elephant Butte bar two years ago.

Investigators have not ruled out other homicides or arrests in a three-week investigation that generated more than 1,000 pieces of evidence and more than 100 leads and involves as many as 10 states.

The two-day preliminary hearing offered the first glimpse of the evidence and a more complete account of the two women’s captivity. They testified to being abducted, chained, tortured sexually with objects and given electric shocks. One woman escaped and reported the attack last month, and the other came forward at that time.