Misty Ray pleads guilty to kidnapping in her daughter Sabrina's starvation death

STEPHEN GRUBER-MILLER   | The Des Moines Register

ADEL, Ia. — The adoptive mother of an Iowa teen who died of starvation pleaded guilty to three kidnapping charges Wednesday, ensuring she will spend the rest of her life in prison when she is sentenced later this month.

The plea hearing, held Wednesday afternoon at the Dallas County Courthouse in Adel, means 41-year-old Misty Jo Bousman Ray will avoid a trial in the death of her daughter, Sabrina Ray. Prosecutors on Wednesday also dismissed several other charges against her, including first-degree murder.

But Ray will still be required to spend the rest of her life in prison for the crime of first-degree kidnapping, a class A felony that carries a mandatory sentence with no possibility of parole. She also pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree kidnapping for her confinement of two other adopted children. Those charges carry sentences of up to 10 years in prison.

Ray admitted to covering Sabrina's bedroom windows, placing a lock on the door and locking her inside the room, where she died of starvation in May 2017. Sabrina weighed 56 pounds and was severely malnourished at the time of her death at age 16, authorities said. She also admitted to confining the two other adopted children.

"I intentionally acted to secretly and unreasonably confine Sabrina Ray without her consent," she said.

Nicole Bond, Sabrina's biological aunt, said she's glad the case didn't go to trial and that Misty Ray will receive a life sentence, but she's disappointed prosecutors dropped the murder charge.

"That's what she did,"  Bond said. "That's what they all did. So I don't think that should have been taken off at all."

Misty Ray's plea comes after her husband, Marc Ray, 43, pleaded guilty last month to child endangerment causing death and three counts of third-degree kidnapping. The couple will be jointly sentenced on Jan. 18 in Dallas County.

Several other family members have been charged in connection to Sabrina's death and some are serving prison time.

Bond said Sabrina's biological family still doesn't understand how Sabrina's adoptive family could have abused and tortured her. She said the biggest step toward closure was when Sabrina's body was returned to her biological family and they held a funeral service for her over a year after her death.

"She was just so loving," Bond said. "And that’s what makes it so much harder is how somebody could do something to somebody so loving. Because that’s all she wanted to do is love on anybody she could love on."

Marc and Misty Ray, who ran a day care center they called Rays of Sunshine Daycare 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.

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.

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."

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.

A court order prohibits Misty Ray from contacting any of the surviving adopted children for five years. After that time period expires, the children have the ability to extend the no-contact order.

Here are the family members charged in Sabrina Ray's death:

• Justin Ray: Sabrina's 22-year-old brother pleaded guilty in February to two counts of willful injury and was 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.
• Carla Bousman: Sabrina's adoptive grandmother, 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 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 Ray: Sabrina's adoptive father, 43, pleaded guilty in December to child endangerment resulting in death and three counts of third-degree kidnapping. He admitted to not obtaining medical treatment for his adopted daughter and to locking three of his adoptive children in a room and covering the windows, making it impossible for them to get out.
• Misty Jo Bousman Ray: Sabrina's adoptive mother, 41, pleaded guilty Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019, to first-degree kidnapping and two counts of third-degree kidnapping. The first charge carries a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole.