Jacqueline Ray, also known as Jackie Ray, was a Gig Harbor, Washington, mother and grandmother who had her son-in-law Leon Baucham murdered in July 2012 to protect her daughter. Jackie Ray’s story will air on TV One’s Fatal Attraction this Monday night. Authorities say that Jacqueline Ray wanted Leon Baucham out of her daughter’s life so much that she hired hitman Luis Barker to do the killing. Jackie Ray was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Luis Barker is currently serving a 34-year sentence, according to the Daily Mail.
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The Fatal Attraction episode airing the case is called, “Death Trap,” which will follow police as they try to determine how the dead body of Leon Baucham ended up in a remote field in Gig Harbor. The answer becomes clear as they peel back the layers of the case and find that a doting mother’s obsession with controlling her daughter’s life might be a motive for murder.
Her Beauty Would Cost Him
The day that Leon Baucham met Umeko Roberts he would have had no way of knowing that her mother would prove to be a dangerous force in their relationship. Friends say Leon was on cloud nine after meeting the gorgeous Umeko, a tall, statuesque beauty with model good looks. After meeting, they quickly became lovers and eventually Umeko became pregnant with their child, TV One’s Fatal Attraction will show.
From the start, Jackie Ray, a former Sunday school teacher, was not impressed with Leon Baucham. He was nice looking and had a well-paying job, but his background was less than stellar. He grew up with a single mom and often had problems with the law. But Leon Baucham wanted to do better, so he changed his life. He began working at Boeing, where he earned more than $60,000. It was more than enough to buy a beautiful home in a nice subdivision in Puyallup, where he could make a life for Umeko and the kids. Working at night gave him the opportunity to be there for his child after school, which was important to him.
But this wasn’t enough for Jacqueline Ray. There was just something about Leon that she didn’t like. Umeko and Jacqueline were almost like sisters with a relationship so close that they often confided in each other. Jacqueline Ray had struggled to make something of her life, and she didn’t want Umeko to suffer as she had at the hands of any man.
It was only reasonable that Jackie Ray would feel some resentment for Leon Baucham, after Umeko told her that he had hit her in the past, which included a bloody nose and a chipped tooth. And Jackie hit the roof when she found out that Leon Baucham had broken her daughter’s eye socket in a fight after he found out that his wife was cheating on him.
But instead of handling the situation like any normal mother, Jackie decided to go a step further by exacting her justice. Using Leon’s desperation to get Umeko and the kids back, Jacqueline Ray lured him to her Gig Harbor home under the guise of seeing Umeko.
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Leon was excited and eager to see Umeko but was apprehensive about meeting her at his mother-in-law’s house. Investigators say that Leon had a right to be fearful. When he arrived, he was shot and killed by Luis Barker, an ex-con who Jackie Ray hired to murder him. The Los Angeles Times lays out the death trap this way.
“Ray and the other man allegedly confronted him. Ray told police she could hear a scuffle, some shouting, and a gunshot, after which Bauchman could be heard moaning and begging as he was apparently being bound with duct tape. The gunshot was not immediately fatal — most likely, Bauchman suffered before he died. The noises continued, and Barker eventually came inside the house and told Ray he was taking her minivan, and needed a bag to contain the blood. Ray gave him her keys and a tarp. She proceeded to clean a bloodstain on the dining room carpet and more blood outside on the walkway, as Barker and his accomplice dumped the body off a road less than a mile away.”
Leon Baucham’s body was found a day later by two people walking their dogs. A phone call from Leon’s friend helped police zero in on Jackie Ray.
According to the friend, Leon Baucham received a phone call from Jackie Ray telling him to come to the house. He also told detectives that Leon was suspicious of his mother-in-law and insisted that he stay on the phone with him until he pulled into Jackie’s driveway. Leon’s last message was that if he didn’t hear back from him, it meant that something had happened.
Something did happen, and it was all part of Jacqueline Ray’s plan to extract Leon Baucham from her daughter’s life forever. Jackie Ray and Luis Barker were eventually arrested for the murder. There was never enough evidence to indict the third accomplice.
- A side note: Part of Jackie’s obsession with protecting Umeko was that Jackie’s first husband murdered his second wife and killed himself in front of their children. She was terrified that the same thing would happen with Umeko.
- Leon Baucham’s Facebook Memorial Page is found here .
However, family and friends of Leon Baucham say Jackie Ray had no right to take justice into her own hands. Now, they wish that Umeko had never come into Leon’s life at all.
The Leon Baucham (Jacqueline Ray) story also aired on the documentary Deadly Sins on Investigation Discovery. Find out how police finally nailed Jacqueline Ray and Luis Barker for the murder. Tune in Monday, October 3, at 9/8 p.m. Central to watch Fatal Attraction on TV One. The last two episodes to air on Fatal Attraction were the stories of Nailah Franklin and Shikhira Dunson.
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