CO CO - Ray Collins, 57, Salida, July 1987

Rle7

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New information in a 20-year-old Colorado homicide case involving three Polk County men could have detectives closer to an arrest.

Friends Dave Caffey, Richard Birth and Ray Collins quit their jobs and set out on a three-month mining expedition to Salida, Colo., in July 1987, with hopes of finding gold and rare gems.

Three weeks into the trip, a family emergency called Birth back to Lake Wales. A few days later, Caffey said he dropped off Collins, who wanted to see the Grand Canyon, at a bus station in Colorado Springs.

Later that month, Caffey returned to Florida driving Collins' Toyota pickup, which also held Collins' clothes and mining equipment.

Collins, who was 57 at the time, was never heard from again.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20080126/NEWS/801260429/1039
 
Ray Collins was murdered, and it was planned because life insurance was taken out on him by Caffey. Caffey also got $5000.00 cash from Ray for a "lease" to mine the Mt. Antero area. There was no lease. It was public lands. Caffey returned to Florida with Ray's truck, clothes and camping equipment. There are many suspicious circumstances. The police, 20 years ago, thought Ray just wanted to stay gone. The police on the case now are 100% sure he was murdered.
Ray was my step-father. He was a good man. He taught me to drive. He showed me how to plant a garden. He was my daughter's "Papa" as she rarely saw her real grand daddy.
I'm so thankful for the top notch police agents on this case now. I expect an arrest soon.
 
Ray was from Winter Haven, Polk County, Florida. He was visiting the Buena Vista, Chaffee County Colorado area.
 
Hi: I'm a TV photjournalist here in Chaffee County, Colorado. I've been working on this story all week. It will run on KUSA Channel 9 in Denver sometime this weekend (perhaps Saturday). It will run on KRDO Channel 13 in Colorado Springs, Sunday evening. Both stations, I think, will have it on their Websites. Our emphasis is going to be to try to get people who might remember these men to speak out, or we hope someone will come forward who remembers exactly where their mining claim was.

I'm sorry for your loss, Paragon.

Charles Newcomb
mtntvguy@q.com
 
Thank you! Thank you so much for putting this story on the air. The evidence is building.
 
I knew about the life insurance, but he didn't collect that for years.

It's terrible that anyone kills a person over something as common as money. They make more money every day. But people are irreplaceable.
 
I hope something comes from your hard work Mtntvguy! Is Unsolved Mysteries still in production? I know it is syndicated but I don't think it is being produced any longer...too bad if true.
 
It doesn't look much of a mystery anymore, hopefully witnesses will step forward following KRDO and 9news stories otherwise the prosecution is left with only circumstantial evidence to work on. No matter how compelling this evidence is, decades-old cases based on such evidence are notoriously challenging to prosecute. Even a very average defense attorney can usually manage to convince a jury that reasonable doubt should apply, and this is further driven in by the judge's address to the jury regarding the definition of reasonable doubt just before they start deliberating, and juries tend to err on the side of caution. When such a verdict is issued appeals are rarely granted -unless new evidence surfaces- because appellate courts cannot blame a lower court judge for explaining the fine points of the law to a jury.

Then there is the issue of habeas corpus of which this case is so far a textbook example, which could mean that the case may never get any further than a Grand Jury hearing. I find this quite frustrating :(
 
I hope something comes from your hard work Mtntvguy! Is Unsolved Mysteries still in production? I know it is syndicated but I don't think it is being produced any longer...too bad if true.

My entertainment attorney did the contacting, so I'm assuming they're still in production. I'd be very surprised if she gave me bad info. Maybe they're just not doing 13 shows per season, anymore. I guess I'll find out, soon.
 
...unless new evidence surfaces- because appellate courts cannot blame a lower court judge for explaining the fine points of the law to a jury.

Then there is the issue of habeas corpus of which this case is so far a textbook example, which could mean that the case may never get any further than a Grand Jury hearing. I find this quite frustrating :(

There is currently some physical evidence being examined by the FBI. If it turns out to be what detectives say it is, Mr. Caffey's got a problem.
 
There is currently some physical evidence being examined by the FBI.

That's good news!

But still without a body it won't be an easy avenue to a conviction, Caffey's attorney will demand that the prosecution prove that Collins is indeed dead and having one legally declared dead by civil authorities -like Collins was for legal purposes- has no weigh in a criminal trial. The way I see it the prosecution is handicapped by the fact that LE did not consider any wrongdoing until it was much too late to gather solid evidence. Can't really blame LE for considering that prospectors are adventurous -and thus, unpredictable in their movements- by nature and that because of this there was originally no real cause for concern from their point of view. They weren't aware that the three men were not career prospectors and they certainly weren't aware that Caffey had planned the whole thing as a set-up for murder and fraud.
 
Who said they don't have his remains?!

Well no one, but they didn't say that they had the remains either and usually the discovery of a body is not something that is kept from the media. In most cases it's made public so that as many people as possible can assist in identifying it.
 
After twenty years, and in a wilderness area like the one he was said to have disappeared from, there may not be any remains left to find. Under certain conditions, a body left unburied can disappear completely within a month.
 
After twenty years, and in a wilderness area like the one he was said to have disappeared from, there may not be any remains left to find. Under certain conditions, a body left unburied can disappear completely within a month.
So true
 
This case is still open and active and building. Please help put Ray's killer behind bars.
 

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