Police: Brother 'drop-kicked' starved Iowa girl, grandmother helped in torture

LEE ROOD   | The Des Moines Register

Sixteen-year-old Sabrina Ray of Perry was "drop-kicked" by her adoptive brother down their basement stairs and tortured and held captive by other family members before her death, according to law enforcement officials who announced three more arrests Wednesday in the case.

Justin Dale Ray, 21, and Sabrina's adoptive grandmother Carla Bousman, 62, of Perry were named Wednesday by authorities as accomplices in one of the worst child abuse cases in Iowa in decades.

Bousman is accused of assisting in kidnapping and torturing Sabrina, who was disabled, as well as two other adopted girls in the home and helping cover up Sabrina's May 12 death and the girls' injuries, court records filed in Dallas County show.

Bousman was charged with first-degree kidnapping, child endangerment causing death and obstructing prosecution or defense for allegedly altering evidence at the crime scene and providing false evidence.

A niece, Josie Raye Bousman, 20, has been charged after she allegedly admitted she helped injure Sabrina, and that she also helped keep her confined and denied her food and water, according to the complaint.

She faces one count of child endangerment resulting in death and three counts of first-degree kidnapping, two of which stem from her treatment of two other girls in the home.

Sabrina's adoptive parents, Marc and Misty Ray, who ran a daycare out of their Perry home, already face multiple felony charges in her death and the alleged abuse of two teenage girls in their care.

Court filings allege that three girls adopted out of foster care and living in the Rays' home were deprived of food and water, and that abuse, cruelty and torture were perpetrated by the family.

Sabrina and the two other girls were “secretly confined and had suffered unreasonable force, torture and cruelty for an extended period of time,” according to the complaint.

"Sabrina Lynn Ray's physical condition indicated that she had suffered unreasonable force, torture and cruelty for an extended period of time, resulting in bodily injury and that was intended to cause serious injury," an affidavit by Perry Chief Eric Vaughn states.

Sabrina was dependent on others to meet basic needs until she died, he said.

Vaughn said Ray and Carla Bousman were taken into custody early Wednesday morning near Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines but declined to answer what the two were doing near the hospital.

Josie Bousman was arrested in Boone, he said. 

Justin Ray was charged with child endangerment and willful injury, after "drop-kicking" Sabrina down a basement staircase sometime between April 15 and May 1. 

Sabrina was not able to walk, talk, eat or drink normally after that, the complaint said.

Ray also kicked Sabrina in the chin between March 1 and May 12 causing a bleeding cut and bruising, according to the complaint.

Vaughn declined to say whether anybody sought medical treatment for the teenager's injuries and what circumstances led to the alleged violence.  

Sabrina was dead when authorities arrived at the home of Marc and Misty Ray on May 12, the complaint states. Justin Ray was home, while Marc and Misty Ray were on a trip to Disney World.

Sabrina weighed 56 pounds when she was found.

The Ray case and the Oct. 24 death of another adopted 16-year-old, Natalie Finn of West Des Moines, have raised questions about whether Iowa is doing enough to monitor the roughly 4,260 children in foster care in the state and the people paid to take care of them.

The cases of Sabrina and Natalie have prompted rising scrutiny of the Iowa Department of Human Services and its handling of child abuse reports. Agency chief Charles Palmer announced his retirement Wednesday.