The story of James Earl Ray is one of crime, escape, and a tragic turning point in American history. Best known as the man behind the MLK assassination, Ray’s criminal history reveals a troubled life that led to a shocking act. This is the true story of the killer who changed the course of the civil rights movement.
James Earl Ray, a man in his sixties, topped the list of most-wanted fugitives by the FBI and all security agencies in America. Even after his arrest, he managed to escape from prison twice, despite being held in a maximum-security facility under public scrutiny. This man, James Earl Ray, had his life linked to the world of theft and crime since childhood. James was the oldest of nine siblings, and his father was a con artist and thief; this was his profession. He moved them from city to city and state to state within America, and whenever he committed a scam or theft in one place, he would flee to avoid being caught by the police. This was in the 1930s and 1940s, about ninety years ago. James grew up in this fragmented family and found no path in life other than his father's, so he followed the same pattern and became a criminal and a thief. Like his father, he started moving from state to state, committing small thefts here and there.
James Earl Ray's Criminal Record and Escalating Prison Sentences
James's first arrest and conviction occurred in 1949 in California. This was the first time he entered prison, and since the theft was minor, the sentence was short, less than a year. But less than three years later, specifically in 1952, he was arrested again after attempting to rob a taxi driver in Illinois. This time the theft was armed, and for this reason, he was sentenced to two years in prison. During these two years James spent in prison, he tried to escape multiple times, but his attempts failed, and he remained in prison until his sentence ended and he was released. Just a few months after his release, he was arrested for the third time, this time in Missouri in 1955, on charges of attempting to steal checks via mail. Since mail in America is considered a federal entity, attempting to steal from them leads to a significant sentence, so this time the sentence was four years in prison. Again, James tried to escape from this prison multiple times, but his attempts failed, and he remained in prison until his sentence ended and he was released.
James Earl Ray Returns to Armed Robbery and is Sentenced to Twenty Years
Again, a few months after his release from prison, he was arrested for the fourth time in 1959. This arrest was due to an armed robbery, and the amount stolen was only $120, which is approximately $1000 in today's value. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison this time, due to his escalating criminal record. Every time he was released from prison, he immediately returned to stealing, and the problem was that the thefts were armed, making him a significant danger to society if he made a mistake or something went wrong during the theft, he could kill someone. Therefore, the judge sentenced him to 20 years.
James Earl Ray's Escape Plan from Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967
James entered Missouri State Penitentiary in 1959, which was the largest and main prison in that state, considered a maximum-security prison. All the time James spent in this prison, he only thought about how he could escape. He stayed for years and years in this prison, and after serving eight years there, he finally got the perfect plan in 1967. At that time, James was working in the prison bakery. This bakery didn't just produce bread for the prison; it produced much larger quantities that were sold outside the prison. Daily, a truck would come to the prison and pick up this bread to be sold outside.
Building Relationships Within Prison and Using the Bread Truck for Escape
During his time in prison, James improved his relationships with other inmates and became a close friend to many of them, especially his colleagues working with him in the bakery. All of this was for the future; he had foresight and hoped they would help him when the time came to execute his plan and attempt an escape. James's plan was to escape via the bread truck. After studying this plan from all angles, it was time for execution. He knew, of course, that he would need the help of his colleagues and friends working with him in the prison bakery, so he told them his plan and said he intended to escape and needed their help. Indeed, his colleagues agreed to help him, even though they weren't gaining anything, but they agreed because he had built a good relationship with them.
Execution of James Earl Ray's First Prison Escape Operation
On April 23, 1967, James hid himself in one of the boxes used to transport bread. His colleagues helped him by placing bread on top to conceal him. To perform this move, they needed to distract the guards. So, one of his colleagues apparently injured his leg while working to attract the guards' attention. At that moment, James entered the box, and his colleagues placed bread on top of him, concealing him from the guards. James remained hidden inside this box for several hours. He had made some small openings to breathe, because if he had remained without air inside the box, he would have suffocated. Nevertheless, the box was narrow, the space was stifling, and breathing was not easy, but he remained patient and steadfast until the truck finally arrived and loaded the box he was hidden inside.
James Earl Ray Successfully Escapes and Moves Between Canada and Mexico
After the truck drove off, James jumped out and quickly looked for the nearest place to hide, finding a junkyard where he could hide until dark. The police and security forces formed search teams and looked for him but couldn't find him anywhere; the search area was very large and difficult for them to locate him, especially since they didn't discover his escape until later. After James emerged from the junkyard where he was hiding, he managed to escape through the forests. Being amidst trees in an isolated and remote area made finding him almost impossible, even though aerial searches were active and helicopters were looking for him, they couldn't see him from above due to the dense forest and trees. After that, James kept moving and traveling from place to place and city to city, fleeing from police pursuit. He first went to Chicago, and a short time later, he managed to leave all of America and go to Canada. He first went to Toronto and stayed there for a while, and then he went to Montreal. After several months in Canada, when he felt that the pursuit and search for him in America had calmed down, he decided to return to America again, and this time he went south, specifically to Alabama. A short time later, he continued further south and left America for Mexico.
Purchasing the Weapon and the Assassination of Martin Luther King
In Mexico, James tried to get involved in strange ventures, then in March 1968, he returned to America and settled this time in Georgia. During that period, James bought a Remington rifle and a magnifying scope with seven-power magnification. James told the gun store owner from whom he bought the rifle that he intended to use it for hunting. After James bought this rifle, he went to Memphis, Tennessee, and there he stayed in a small hotel located across from another small hotel called the Lorraine. On the evening of April 4, 1968, James entered the room's bathroom, opened the bathroom window, aimed his rifle at a man standing on the balcony of the opposite hotel, the Lorraine Hotel, and fired a single shot that killed him. The murdered man was Martin Luther King, one of the most important figures in modern American history and the foremost advocate for Black rights in America, and one of the most prominent social activists and civil rights fighters.
Investigations and the Revelation of the Primary Suspect, James Earl Ray
Following the assassination, the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began their investigations into the crime, and the FBI quickly announced that James Earl Ray was the primary suspect in the crime. According to the FBI, after searching his room, they found a map with a circle drawn around Martin Luther King's residence and another circle around the church he attended. They also found the rifle from which the shot was fired, a Remington rifle, and next to it, they found a magnifying scope in addition to the one already on the rifle, and all of them bore James Earl Ray's fingerprints. The reason that drove James to commit this assassination was not clear, but in any case, the FBI announced him as one of the most wanted individuals in America, placing him at the top of their list of most important fugitives, and deployed a large number of security forces to search for and locate him.
International Pursuit and the Arrest of James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray was placed on the FBI's main wanted list. He left America for Canada, where he managed to obtain a fake Canadian passport. Using this passport, he traveled to London, then to Portugal, attempting to work as a mercenary in Africa. Ultimately, he returned to Heathrow Airport in London, where he was arrested on June 8, 1968, two months after his assassination of Martin Luther King, and then handed over to the FBI.
James's Trial and Conviction, Followed by a Retraction of His Confession
During the trial, James initially confessed guilt, but a few days later, he retracted his confession, claiming he did so out of fear of the death penalty. He alleged that an organization was behind Martin Luther King's assassination and that he was used as a scapegoat without his knowledge. Although there were conspiracy theories supporting his claims, all evidence clearly pointed to him, and there was no evidence to support his narrative of another person named "Raoul." Ultimately, he was found guilty and sentenced to 99 years in prison, to be incarcerated at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison in Tennessee.
Brushy Mountain Penitentiary: An Impregnable Fortress and Continuous Escape Attempts
Brushy Mountain Penitentiary resembled a fortress, and all the inmates there were charged with violent crimes, meaning the prison was filled with the most violent criminals imaginable. If you entered this place, you had to be extremely careful, because if you made a wrong move or gave a wrong look to the wrong person, you could suddenly find yourself in trouble. This prison is literally located at the base of a mountain. When you walk on the road leading to this prison, the prison is the last stop on the road; there's nothing after it, and behind it is a mountain, as if it's a closed area. This prison, although considered small, is one of the most dangerous prisons you could enter. At any moment, you could be robbed, stabbed, or something else could happen to you by the violent inmates there. Of course, since the prison is maximum-security, it's very difficult to escape from it. But when you're sentenced to life in a place like this, you'll spend all your time just thinking about how to escape, especially when we're talking about someone like James Earl Ray, who spent his life moving from prison to prison, and all the time he was trying to escape from these prisons, and indeed, as we saw, he succeeded last time and escaped from the prison he was in via a bread truck. So if he did it once, why not do it again? Of course, anything is possible, but this time it will be much harder. In addition to the strict procedures in this prison, the prison is surrounded by a wall five meters high and two and a half meters thick. The wall is fortified from above with barbed wire, and these wires carry a very strong electric current, meaning if an inmate touched them while trying to escape, he would be electrocuted and immediately fall to the ground. The current wouldn't kill him, but it would knock him down and perhaps even render him unconscious. And even if by some magic the inmate managed to overcome all these obstacles, there are nine watchtowers surrounding the prison from every direction, and the guards in these watchtowers are armed with all types of weapons; they have shotguns, pistols, and rifles, and they are allowed to open fire on any inmate who tries to escape or crosses the prison walls.
James Earl Ray's Second Escape Attempt from Brushy Mountain Penitentiary
James spent a long time thinking about how to escape from Brushy Mountain Penitentiary. He noticed a weakness in his cell: a small ventilation opening. He began to dig around it with a spoon for several months, concealing the digging using a mixture of toothpaste and dirt. He also lost weight to be able to pass through the opening after widening it. The opening led to a pipe corridor under the prison, which led to a large exhaust fan he believed would take him outside the prison building.
Meticulous Preparations for the Grand Escape Operation and James's Planning with His Friends
The goal was to reach a ground opening in the yard, believed to lead to the power station outside the prison. This opening had iron bars, necessitating their cutting. James didn't have a saw, so he asked his brother Jerry to smuggle a small saw blade into the prison via a coded message. Jerry managed to hide the saw inside his shoe and smuggle it during his visit to James. James and Jake managed to subtly switch shoes under the guards' observation without anyone noticing. James began cutting the fan bars at night over four months. But the fan was stronger than expected, so he needed a pipe wrench. He obtained a pipe wrench with the help of inmate Jake Morlock, who worked as a plumber in the prison. Jake Morlock was serving a life sentence, so he had nothing to lose.
Uncovering the Guards' Routine and the Weak Point of the Electrified Prison Wall
The relief guards were fewer in number and lacked sufficient experience with the inmates. James crept into the office room where the inmate list was kept and wrote Jake's name next to his in the same cell. When it was time for the inmates to return to their cells, the relief guards called out names and assigned inmates according to the list, so James's plan succeeded, and Jake entered his cell under the guards' eyes. The two friends waited until 2 AM, which was the last time the guards would be checking on the inmates before the morning count. They placed dummy heads on their pillows to deceive any passing guard. James and Jake passed through the ventilation opening, and despite Jake's size, he managed to pass with difficulty. Using the pipe wrench, they bent the fan blades. But the opening they created was very narrow. James managed to pass with difficulty, but it was impossible for Jake to pass due to his large size. The two friends tried to find a solution, but it was clear that it was impossible. Jake returned to his cell, while James continued on his own.
The Final Escape Attempt and Failure to Reach Freedom
James reached the outer prison yard, his goal being to reach a ground opening he believed led to the power station outside the prison walls. When he lifted the cover, he was surprised by an unbearable blast of hot steam. He realized that these pipes carried steam that supplied the prison with heat, and entering them meant throwing himself into hell. He had no time to think, as the area was exposed. After quick consideration, he decided to take the risk and enter. James descended through the opening, and the place was full of steam, the heat unbearable. The pipes were old, and the thermal insulation was completely worn out. James immediately realized the gravity of the mistake he had made, as the steam was burning and scalding his skin alive. He quickly climbed back up the ladder to the opening and exited the spot. Unfortunately for him, the guards noticed the amount of steam rising from the opening. As soon as James poked his head out of the opening, they saw him, and the guards descended and arrested him. His entire plan was exposed, and his friend Jake was also discovered, along with the ventilation opening he had dug in his cell. Jerry, James's brother, was waiting for him outside the prison in his car, with a pistol and money, but he realized the operation had likely failed when dawn broke, and he returned home, then heard the news on the radio. The escape plan James had worked on for nearly two years was completely destroyed. As a result, he was placed in solitary confinement for two months.
James Earl Ray: Life Imprisonment and the Final Outcome
After his release from solitary confinement, James continued to think about escaping, as he had nothing to lose after the life sentence. In 1976, while working in the prison laundry, he noticed old metal pipes left by maintenance workers. He hid them behind the washing machines. In 1977, he noticed a weak point in the prison wall where the electrified barbed wire met the mountain, leaving a small gap through which he could pass without being electrocuted. He planned to use the pipes to make a ladder. He sought help from another inmate named Doug Shelton, who worked in the prison workshop and specialized in plumbing and pipes. Doug began smuggling small pipes daily. He was joined by a third inmate named Earl Hill, James's cellmate. They hid the pipes in a ditch around the prison wall under fallen leaves. They studied the guards' routine, especially Guard Floyd Hoax in Tower Four, who always read his newspaper intently. James asked his brother Jerry to send a large sum of money to bribe inmates. They set the escape date for June 10, 1977. On that day, while Guard Floyd Hoax was sleeping, James bribed several inmates to create chaos and a fight to distract the guards. James and his two companions rushed to the pipe location, and assembling the ladder took only one minute. As James tried to secure the ladder, he touched the electric wire and was severely shocked but did not die. His companion Earl Hill completed securing the ladder, and they managed to escape from prison. However, during this, another guard from Tower Three noticed David Powell, who was wearing white chef's clothes, and opened fire, injuring another inmate and causing the ladder to fall. Sirens blared, and a massive search operation began. Four of the escapees were caught, but James continued to flee in the forest for 51 hours until dogs found him. He was arrested and returned to Brushy Mountain Penitentiary. James discovered that he had taken the wrong path. James was punished by adding another year to his sentence, bringing his total sentence to 100 years. James maintained his innocence throughout his life, claiming he was a scapegoat. James Earl Ray died in 1998 due to illness. Interestingly, Martin Luther King's own family was convinced of James's innocence.
The Ongoing Debate About James Earl Ray's Innocence in the Assassination of Martin Luther King
The debate continues to this day about whether James was the real killer or if he was an innocent person used as a scapegoat, as he claimed until the last moment of his life. Perhaps the most plausible theory, at least, is that there were indeed parties, an organization, or individuals who wanted to assassinate Martin Luther King and used James to be the assassin or perpetrator, paying him in return. Some do not believe James is innocent, but they do believe he was indeed used as a scapegoat so that the other people, or this organization, or the hidden parties who planned the assassination would not be exposed. But in the end, all of this remains merely a theory.
Sources and References:
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Biography.com – James Earl Ray
A comprehensive look at Ray’s criminal history and the events leading to Martin Luther King assassination. -
Wikipedia – James Earl Ray
Detailed information on James Earl Ray’s background, criminal record, and related conspiracy theories. -
Britannica – James Earl Ray
Reliable summary of Ray’s life, with historical context and key events. -
National Archives – U.S. House Committee Report
Government findings confirming Ray's role in the assassination of Martin Luther King. -
PBS – The Manhunt for James Earl Ray
A compelling account of the FBI's pursuit of Ray after the assassination.