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Cindy Campbell Ray and her former boyfriend, David West, were convicted of the murder of Cindy's wealthy parents while they were asleep in their Houston home. While the investigators suspected that Cindy had something to do with the murders, there was no evidence to prove it.
It all came to light when a private investigator became involved and discovered that Cindy and her then-boyfriend were the perpetrators. The case of Cindy Campbell Ray, her trial, and her conviction for orchestrating her parents' murders is explored in season 27, episode 24 of Oxygen's Snapped.
The episode was originally aired on August 16, 2020, and it was re-aired on Oxygen on Thursday, July 17, 2025.
What did Cindy Campbell Ray do?
An attorney from Texas named James Campbell and his wife, Virginia, were found murdered in their Houston house on June 19, 1982, while they were asleep. This triggered a police investigation at the center of which was their daughter, Cindy Campbell Ray, and her then-boyfriend, David West.
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The Campbells had four daughters, and of the four sisters, Cindy Campbell Ray was reportedly the one who always seemed to get into trouble. She even allegedly ran away from home with a man named Michael Charles Ray and got married.
While they had two boys together, their marriage did not last, and they got divorced, which was settled by her father. As per Oxygen, following this, Cindy moved back to Houston and enrolled at the local college, where she met David Duval West and began a relationship with him. However, they were struggling financially to make ends meet.
In the 1980s, Cindy's father, James Campbell, decided to retire and have a more relaxed life with his wife and grandsons. However, his dreams were shattered on June 19, 1982, when he and his wife were murdered. According to Oxygen, it was the Campbells’ maid, Maria Gonzales, who called 911 after she heard gunshots. The police arrived to discover James and his wife dead.
James and Virginia Campbell were shot three times in their sleep, and their grandchildren were in their room at that time, as per the LA Times. They were camping out in sleeping bags at the foot of their grandparents' bed. However, the two boys did not see anything.
As reported by Oxygen, .45 caliber shell casings and a plastic glove were recovered from the crime scene, and it appeared that the killer had entered through a window on the first floor. However, nothing was missing from their home.
At the couple's funeral, the strained relationship between Cindy and the other Campbell sisters came to light, and investigators theorized that she had her parents murdered after they threatened to cut her off financially. But there was no concrete evidence to follow this lead.
What led to Cindy Campbell Ray and David West's arrest?
It was only in late 1984 that some headway into the case could be made when Cindy's sisters hired Houston private investigator Clyde Wilson to work on the case. As per ABC 13, Wilson assigned his co-worker, Kim Paris, a 23-year-old Navy flight controller, to go undercover and strike up a friendship with David West, after learning that he and Cindy had broken up.
As they grew close, Paris discovered that West wanted to open a bar, and he said his ex-girlfriend, who was Cindy Campbell Ray, had agreed to be his partner as she was going to inherit a fair amount of money. After spending a considerable period of time together, West finally divulged to Paris that he had killed her parents, as per the LA Times.
At the time of his confession, Paris was wearing a wire, and two homicide detectives were listening to the conversation in a nearby car. Moreover, West also admitted that she helped facilitate the murder by leaving the first-floor window unlocked, as reported by Oxygen. He even said that he had thought about killing Cindy, too, because he felt she would confess to the murders.
West was soon arrested for capital murder following his confession, and detectives later arrested Cindy at her apartment. She was also charged with capital murder. David West received a life sentence, and Cindy Campbell Ray was also sentenced to life in prison. Her conviction and life sentence were affirmed by the Texas Court of Appeals on December 22, 1988.
Catch the episode on Peacock for more about the case.
