Two men charged with conspiracy in the killings of seven people in Virginia agreed Monday not to fight being sent to that state.
Ray Joseph Dandridge and Ricky Gray, both 28, were captured Saturday in Philadelphia on charges stemming from the killings of members of two Richmond, Va., families. Authorities said police found evidence linking Dandridge and Gray to all seven murders. The victims, including two children, were all bound with tape.
Investigators have said they also are looking into whether Dandridge and Gray were involved in similar crimes elsewhere.
At a hearing Monday, Dandridge and Gray waived their right to fight extradition to Virginia. Two Richmond police officers were in the courtroom, ready to take custody of the pair.
The bodies of Percyell Tucker, 55; his wife, Mary Tucker, 47; and her daughter, Ashley Baskerville, 21, were found in their ransacked Richmond home Friday.
The murders in the Tucker home came less than a week after the slayings of rock musician Bryan Harvey and his family. Harvey, 49; his wife, Kathryn, 39, a businesswoman; and their daughters, Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4, were found with their throats cut on New Year’s Day. Their house in Richmond was set on fire.
Police in southwestern Pennsylvania said Monday they were investigating whether the men had any connection to the death of Gray’s wife, Treva, whose body was found Nov. 5 near Washington, Pa., 10 days after Dandridge was released from a Virginia prison. Gray has always been a “person of interest” in the death of his wife, said John Haddad, police chief in Washington, Pa.
Bryan Harvey was a guitarist and singer who played in several rock bands, most notably the duo House of Freaks, which released five albums from 1987 to 1995. His wife was co-owner of a toy and novelty shop near downtown Richmond and was the half sister of actor Steven Culp, who has appeared in “Desperate Housewives,” “The West Wing” and other TV series.
Tucker was a forklift operator, and his wife worked at a nearby cleaners.