How Dana Gray became one of the most feared women in America

But even as her personal and financial world crumbled, she maintained a flawless, meticulously groomed exterior. She glided through the community exuding success and charm, captivating neighbors with her charisma and polish.

Yet behind the elegance, confidence, and seemingly perfect poise, a darker truth simmered. The name that would come to haunt Canyon Lake was Dana Sue Gray.

First victim

On, Valentine’s Day in 1994, Dana asked her ex-husband to meet with her but he never showed up. He found out later that she’d taken out a life insurance policy on him.

Instead, it is believed that Dana set her sights on another target that lived nearby.

Norma Davis, 86, is thought to have been her first victim.

A neighbor discovered Norma’s lifeless body two days later. A wood-handled utility knife protruded from her neck, and a fillet knife was lodged in her chest. Aside from a broken fingernail, there were no other visible marks. At her feet lay a bloodied afghan, a silent witness to the violence that had unfolded. Investigators quickly noted that there had been no forced entry into the home.

The crime sent ripples of fear through the normally quiet, gated community of Canyon Lake.

Norma was tied to Dana’s own family in an unsettling twist of fate: she was the mother-in-law of Jeri Davis, who in 1988 had married Dana’s father, Russell Armbrust. Neighbors later revealed that Norma always kept her door locked unless expecting a visitor — making the intrusion all the more chilling.

But Dana was never convicted for the killing, there wasn’t much evidence.

A chilling shadow over Canyon Lake

But what we known is that Dana Gray targeted several women in the Canyon Lake area. One of her victims, 66-year-old June Roberts, lived in the same gated community as Norma Davis. Dana gained entry under the pretense of borrowing a book, and once inside, she strangled Roberts with a telephone cord before rifling through her credit cards, later going on a lavish shopping spree.

Not long after, 87-year-old Dora Beebe, an resident of nearby Sun City, fell prey to a similar ruse. Dana arrived at her home, asked for directions, and was invited inside. Once inside, she attacked Beebe, who was later found by her longtime partner. Gray again used the victim’s credit card and checkbook for extravagant purchases.

The knowledge that a serial killer was at large cast a long, chilling shadow over Canyon Lake. Many residents moved in with other family members, too afraid to remain in their own homes. To feel secure, elderly widows began sleeping in groups, taking refuge in selected homes throughout the neighborhood.

During the period of the killings, Dana resided in a modest mobile home on Mission Trail in Wildomar.

Detectives struggled to identify any suspects in the early stages. No one could have imagined that the impeccably dressed and polished Dana Gray could be a 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 said.

”She helped me numerous times by just being my buddy and listening to when I had problem,” the woman told The Californian in 1994.

A chilling whisper to her victim

At one point, the investigation hit such a dead end that the lead supervisor even suggested consulting a psychic. Some rumors raced through the community — some speculated that the killings were the work of a secretive cult performing dark rituals. But it wasn’t quite as sensational as it might have seemed.

And it wasn’t until Dana slipped up in a crucial way that law enforcement started to catch on. Although Dana had primarily targeted elderly women, her reach eventually extended to younger victims. Dorinda Hawkins, significantly younger than her other targets, survived an attack at her workplace.

The last thing Hawkins remembered before everything went black was her attacker’s chilling whisper: “Relax. Just relax.”

Dana had attempted the same method — strangling Hawkins with a telephone cord and taking a small amount of cash — before using another victim’s credit card for a lavish shopping spree.

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