Unlike the common perception of a killer—a man, a loner, hidden in the shadows—the woman she became was polished, impeccably dressed, and meticulous about her appearance. She drove a nice car, had a sophisticated air, and seemed to glide through her wealthy Southern California community radiating success. Yet beneath that flawless exterior was a predator.
Her weapon wasn’t a distant gun or a hidden poison; she hunted up close, hands-on, preying on the most vulnerable: elderly women. After each violent act of strangulation, she would take their credit cards, indulging in frantic, lavish shopping sprees, using their stolen wealth to momentarily fill a cavernous void inside her.
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Her Mother Was a Former Hollywood Starlet, Setting the Stage for Drama
Born in the late 1950s in California, the woman at the center of this tragedy, Dana Sue Gray, arrived after her mother had already endured several miscarriages. Her mother, a former beauty queen and aspiring Hollywood starlet, was volatile and aggressively vain, obsessed with appearances. The family home was anything but nurturing.
Dana’s parents divorced when she was just two, and she quickly lost touch with her father. Without a stable home base, she struggled to connect with others. Even as a child, she acted out dramatically: stealing small amounts of cash for candy, throwing explosive fits of anger, and forging notes to skip school. She was searching for control and attention in all the wrong places.
An Expert Skydiver Who Wrote Her Favorite Pastime Was “Getting into Trouble”
The trajectory of Dana’s life seemed to shift when she was 14. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Watching the nurses care for her ailing mother planted a seed: the idea of becoming a nurse herself. It was a career that promised stability, purpose, and, perhaps most importantly for Dana, ultimate control.
In high school, friends remembered her as a fearless daredevil, always chasing an adrenaline rush. Her yearbook entry was telling: her favorite pastime was listed as “Getting into trouble,” and her favorite place to be was “free fall.”
Driven by ambition, she studied hard, graduating and achieving her nursing goal by the early 1980s. She became an expert skydiver, a serious windsurfer, and a skilled golfer, frequently traveling to Hawaii to pursue her passions. In October 1987, she married Tom Gray, a longtime admirer, in an elegant ceremony at a Temecula winery.
The couple brought in good money, but their spending was out of control. They quickly accumulated luxury items: three cars, an ultralight airplane, several boats, and expensive business ventures. It was only a matter of time before the money ran dry.
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Fired from the Hospital and Broke, Her Perfect Facade Crumbled
While Dana was still working as a labor and delivery nurse, a bitter dispute over an aunt’s will fractured her relationship with her family, leaving her increasingly isolated. Meanwhile, she managed several business ventures in the exclusive, gated Southern California community of Canyon Lake.
The pressure mounted. Her marriage to Tom fractured, she moved out, began a relationship with a close friend, and filed for divorce. Her financial life imploded, culminating in a bankruptcy filing to try and save their Canyon Lake home from foreclosure.
Around this time, her nursing career—the one thing she seemed to have built successfully—came to a screeching halt. She was fired from the hospital for misappropriating prescription medications. Following the divorce, she ultimately lost the Canyon Lake home to foreclosure.
In the face of this total collapse, Dana doubled down on her public image. She maintained a flawless, meticulously groomed exterior, gliding through the community exuding success and irresistible charm. Neighbors were captivated by her charisma, confidence, and polished poise. But underneath the expensive clothes and perfect smile, something dark was festering. The name that would soon terrorize that serene California community was Dana Sue Gray.
Valentine’s Day and the First Unsolved Killing
Valentine’s Day, 1994. Dana asked her ex-husband to meet her, but he didn’t show up—a decision that may have saved his life, as he later discovered she had taken out a life insurance policy on him.
Instead, Dana seemingly set her sights on a different target nearby.
It is believed that 86-year-old Norma Davis was her first victim.
Two days later, a neighbor found Norma’s lifeless body. A wood-handled utility knife was protruding from her neck, and a fillet knife was plunged into her chest. A bloodied afghan was near her feet. Investigators noted there had been no forced entry.
The crime sent a terrifying jolt through Canyon Lake.
In an unsettling twist, Norma Davis was connected to Dana’s own fractured family: she was the mother-in-law of Jeri Davis, the woman who had married Dana’s estranged father, Russell Armbrust, in 1988. Neighbors recalled that Norma always kept her door locked unless expecting a visitor—suggesting a killer who was either known to her or had charmed their way in.
Ultimately, Dana was never convicted for Norma Davis’s killing; there wasn’t enough direct evidence. But the terrifying pattern had begun.
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A Chilling Shadow Creeps Over Canyon Lake
Dana Gray continued to target elderly women in the area. One of her confirmed victims, 66-year-old June Roberts, lived in the same gated community as Norma Davis. Dana gained entry using a simple lie—the pretense of borrowing a book. Once inside, the polished facade dropped. Dana strangled Roberts with a telephone cord before taking her credit cards and launching into a lavish post-murder shopping spree.
Not long after, 87-year-old Dora Beebe, a resident of nearby Sun City, was attacked with a similar deception. Dana showed up at her home asking for directions and was invited inside. She attacked Beebe, who was later found by her long-time partner. Gray used the victim’s checkbook and credit card for more extravagant purchases.
The fear that a serial killer was moving among them cast a terrifying shadow over Canyon Lake. Elderly residents moved in with family members, too terrified to sleep in their own homes. To feel safe, elderly widows began sleeping in groups, taking refuge in selected, safer homes throughout the neighborhood—an almost unimaginable reality in a quiet suburban haven.
During this period, Dana lived in a modest mobile home in Wildomar, her flawless public image completely masking the monster within. Detectives initially struggled to find a suspect; no one could imagine the impeccably dressed and charismatic Dana Gray was their killer.
“The thought of her being able to take someone’s life is just totally unbelievable to me,” a coworker and close friend of Dana later told The Californian in 1994. “She helped me numerous times by just being my buddy and listening to when I had problem.”
“Relax. Just Relax.” The Slip-Up That Finally Exposed Her
At one point, the investigation was so cold that the lead supervisor actually considered consulting a psychic. Rumors of a secretive cult performing dark rituals raced through the shaken community. The truth, as always, was less sensational, but far more personal and terrifying.
Dana finally made a crucial mistake that allowed law enforcement to catch on. While she primarily targeted the elderly, her last victim was significantly younger. Dorinda Hawkins survived an attack at her workplace.
The last chilling thing Hawkins remembered before losing consciousness was her attacker’s soft, cold whisper: “Relax. Just relax.”
Dana had attempted the same method—strangling Hawkins with a telephone cord—before taking a small amount of cash and, true to her pattern, using one of her other victims’ credit cards for a large shopping spree.
Hawkins’ detailed description of her attacker became the critical piece of the puzzle, helping investigators finally connect the terrifying crimes. Dana’s downfall truly began when police traced the use of June Roberts’ credit cards in nearby Temecula, California.
Following the Money Trail to the Killer
Dana had spent so extravagantly and erratically that the credit card company alerted Roberts’ family to the unusual activity. Detectives then visited the stores where the cards had been used, interviewing cashiers and gathering physical descriptions of the suspect. They learned she had recently dyed her hair and, crucially, that she had a young boy named Jason—details that would finally lead them to Dana.
It became abundantly clear that Dana Gray had murdered three elderly women simply to get hold of their credit cards.
Initially, Dana admitted to the thefts but fiercely denied the killings. She first entered an insanity plea, a move that opened the door to the very real possibility of a death sentence.
In 1998, however, she reversed course. Facing overwhelming circumstantial evidence and the looming threat of capital punishment, Dana pleaded guilty to the murders of Dora Beebe and June Roberts and the attempted murder of Dorinda Hawkins. She accepted a deal: life in prison without the possibility of parole. She made only one demand—the state would not prosecute her for the killing of Norma Davis.
When asked the staggering question of why three women had to die for her to buy things, Dana’s reply offered a chilling glimpse into her true motivation: “I got desperate to buy things. Shopping puts me at rest.”
Investigators reviewed the bizarre list of her post-murder purchases: receipts for swimsuits, cowboy boots, a ski mask, vodka, a luxurious spa massage, Opium perfume, fancy shoes, and sneakers for both men and women—a chaotic assortment that painted a picture of a woman desperately trying to buy herself peace.
Dana Sue Gray Today: Behind the Prison Walls
On October 16, 1998, Dana Sue Gray was sentenced to life without parole and sent to the California Women’s Prison in Chowchilla, where she remains incarcerated today. While not the most famous female serial killer, her story is a horrifying case study in the true-crime genre, even featuring in an episode of the TV series Very Scary People titled “The Angel of Death.”
Behind bars, Dana has shifted her focus to advocating for the rights of female inmates. She argues that women serving life without the possibility of parole, known as “LWOPs,” are consistently marginalized when it comes to opportunities for rehabilitation and meaningful change.
“Most women are taught to just sit down, shut up, do what you’re told,” she told The Independent in a recent interview. “That’s why we don’t fight back. That’s why we’re an easy population to manipulate. But it’s time that changed.”
When asked to discuss the heinous crimes that landed her there, Dana was evasive.
“I don’t want to talk about my crimes, because this isn’t the Dana show,” she explained, claiming that she doesn’t want anyone connected to the victims to be re-traumatized by hearing the details of what she did.
An Apology Thirty Years Too Late
Today, the 67-year-old convicted murderer claims to be a changed woman. She has never spoken to the families of her victims but says that if they ever wished to meet her, she would welcome them without hesitation.
“If they want to come and cuss me out and tell me I’m a horrible person for what I did and for what they think I am, I invite them to, because it’s cathartic for them,” she stated. “I want them to know that I have changed. People change.”
More than anything, she says she wants them to know she is truly sorry.
“I want them to know I feel it,” Gray said, her voice shaking as she fought back tears. “Thirty years later, I feel it. And I’m so sorry.”
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