Sarah Okeson

News-Leader

Branson residents are questioning why city police arrested a 77-year-old man with health problems on an Arkansas bad check warrant from 1996 and held him in jail for five days.

Shortly after his release from Taney County Jail, Evans E. Ray was found dead in his home. It's unclear how long he was deceased in the home before he was found.

The cause of death is unclear.

Ray was released on May 29 in a matter of hours after two influential friends — Summer Winds Resorts owner Pat Joyce and former theater owner Ann Stafford — found out what happened and started making phone calls.

"We don't know why they arrested him," Stafford said. "... It's one of those things that should have never happened. He was fragile mentally. He went home and ... never came out again."

He was found dead Tuesday, 12 days after his release. The bad check he allegedly wrote was for $235.

Joyce said he talked to Branson Police Chief Kent Crutcher, who confirmed that Branson police arrested Ray. Joyce said he wants the Missouri State Highway Patrol to investigate what happened.

"He died in disgrace," Joyce said. "He was embarrassed and disgraced and humiliated."

Crutcher told the News-Leader that Ray had multiple felony warrants that he couldn't bond out on. However, a jail official said only the bad check warrant existed.

The police report, which was provided to the News-Leader on Friday afternoon, only mentions one warrant. Ray was arrested at Stockstill Park, where the city's tennis courts are located.

"While patrolling Stockstill Park I ran the plate on a white Lincoln," wrote officer Casey Fish. "I asked Dispatch to follow up on the registered owner for possible warrants. Dispatch advised the Registered owner Evans Ray had a warrant out of Carroll County AR ...with no bond. I located Ray on the tennis courts and had the warrant confirmed."

Crutcher said the officer randomly ran Ray's license plate. Again referring to multiple warrants, Crutcher said authorities confirmed the warrants before Ray was arrested.

"I don't believe there was a call to come out and investigate," Crutcher said. "I think the officer was on routine patrol and ran the plate."

Taney County Cpl. Darren Wyman, who works at the jail, said there was only one charge — the bad check charge. Out-of-state warrants don't have a bond unless a judge sets one.

"We were waiting on Arkansas," Wyman said. "If Arkansas says they don't want them, we don't take them into custody."

Ray was arrested on May 25 on the bad check charge and released May 29 after Taney County Associate Judge Tony Williams dismissed the charges because Arkansas authorities didn't want to extradite him, according to the Taney County jail.

Carroll County Prosecutor Tony Rogers said Arkansas had no interest in prosecuting Ray on the charge.

"I don't even think the business is there any more," Rogers said, referring to the place Ray allegedly wrote the bad check. "We declined to extradite ... As soon as it came to my attention, I told them that we weren't going to come get him."

Ray, who friends described as a Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, spent much of his days at Stockstill Park, smoking cigars and waiting for someone to play tennis with him.

He grew up in Wichita, Kan., where his father, also named Evans, owned a rental company, and he lived in California before moving to Missouri about 20 years ago.

Friends said he was married once, briefly, and had no children. He has a younger brother, Michael, who lives in Colorado.

"Evans was a caustic, abrasive personality," said friend John Deatherage. "I would bet my last dollar that he pissed off police and they threw him in jail."

Deatherage said he liked Ray despite his sometimes-caustic nature and enjoyed spending time with him. Deatherage said Ray warmed up to people if they treated him nicely. "If you were nice to him, he would be nice to you like you were his best friend, like you were like royalty."

Online Missouri records at Case.net show that a warrant was delivered to Greene County in August 1996 on a misdemeanor charge of writing a bad check.

It is unclear if this is the charge from Arkansas or another case.

Stafford said Ray told her that someone stole his identification and used it to write bad checks.

Stafford said her nephew took Ray to his Branson home after his release. She said friends called him and brought food over, but Ray wouldn't come to the phone or answer the door. Stafford said she went to his home on Sunday.

"I beat on the windows," Stafford said. "I beat on the door. I just begged him. I knew he was gone."

Stafford said she called Ray's brother who drove to Missouri from Colorado and discovered that Ray had apparently been dead for days.

Taney County Coroner Kevin Tweedy could not be reached for comment.

Stafford said Ray suffered from high blood pressure and diverticulitis, a digestive disease.

Joyce's stepson, an attorney, plans to file a records request with the Branson police. They hope to find out what happened.

"We live in this community," Stafford said. "We love it, but I want to be able to explain to my children what happened to Evans."