Adoptive mother of Sabrina Ray, Iowa teen who starved to death, set to plead guilty

Luke Nozicka | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Sabrina Ray was drop-kicked down stairs before her death Sabrina Ray of Perry was unable to walk, talk or eat after her adoptive brother "drop-kicked" her down their basement stairs, according to law enforcement officials.

The adoptive mother of Sabrina Ray, a central Iowa teenager who starved to death in May 2017, has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, court records show.

Misty Jo Bousman Ray, 41, will plead guilty Wednesday afternoon at the Dallas County Courthouse, according to court documents. It was not immediately clear what charges she would plead to.

Ray and her husband, Marc Ray, 43, were initially charged with first-degree murder in the death of the 16-year-old Perry girl. Sabrina weighed 56 pounds and was severely malnourished at the time of her death, authorities said.

Before the plea hearing was set, Misty Ray was set to go to trial in February.

Marc Ray agreed with prosecutors to plead guilty in December to child endangerment resulting in death and three counts of third-degree kidnapping — one for each of the three children he cared for and illegally confined, prosecutors said.

During his plea hearing, Marc Ray became emotional as he admitted to not obtaining medical treatment for his adopted daughter. He admitted to locking three of his adoptive children in a room and covering the windows, making it impossible for them to get out.

Marc Ray was set to be sentenced, likely to decades in prison, on Friday. The court has since ordered a new sentencing date, records show.

Several family members were accused of assisting in the abuse of Sabrina Ray, who officials said had a disability.

Sabrina's brother, Justin Ray, 22, pleaded guilty in February to two counts of willful injury and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors said Justin drop-kicked Sabrina down a basement staircase, leaving her unable to walk, talk, eat or drink normally.

Sabrina's adoptive grandmother, Carla Bousman, 63, was sentenced in April to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to neglect of a dependent person and two counts of child endangerment, among other charges. Prosecutors initially accused her of assisting in Sabrina's kidnapping and torturing before helping cover up her death.

Josie Raye Bousman, Sabrina's 21-year-old cousin, was charged with three counts of kidnapping, child endangerment causing death and obstructing prosecution. She helped keep Sabrina confined and denied her food and water, authorities have said.

Her trial was scheduled for March but the court has since ordered it to be set for a new date, records show.

Marc and Misty Ray, who ran a day care center they called Rays of Sunshine Daycare at 1708 First Ave. in Perry, took in Sabrina as a foster child in 2011 and adopted her in 2013. The shy and small girl with dimples and dark brown hair was separated from her older half-sister and four brothers before the age of 10.

On the day police found Sabrina dead, Justin Ray was home while his parents were out of the state, prosecutors have said.

In a police report briefly unsealed last month, an officer who arrived at the residence called the home "the most horrific scene in my entire career and life."

"It is hard to put into words the feelings that come over me — the smells, the pain, the anguish, the fear and the evil," Officer Josh Sienkiewicz wrote.

Two girls who were adopted by the Rays, ages 10 and 12, were in the room with Sabrina's body when officers arrived that evening, officials said. A third child, a boy, was also removed from the home. The children were home-schooled.

The day care was visited by state inspectors and social workers each year from 2013 to 2016 after at least two complaints were lodged against the home, alleging inadequate nutrition for children and corporal punishment. Workers who visited reported they found no evidence of abuse at the time.

The details about Sabrina Ray's death were made public months after similarly alarming abuse allegations involving 16-year-old Natalie Finn, who starved to death in October 2016 in West Des Moines, and then 17-year-old Malayia Knapp, who fled an abusive home in 2015 in Urbandale.

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Additional coverage of Sabrina Ray's death