In April on 1993, in the snowy Upper Peninsula town of Iron Mountain, Michigan, a woman leaves the local Econo Foods supermarket with fresh donuts for the continental breakfast provided to the guests of the SuperEight Motel, where she is employed.
The parking lot is nearly deserted, cold, still, with the vapor lights cutting through the mist. She is intent on getting into her car, which will still be warm (it is the Upper Peninsula in April, so there is not a hint of spring in the air yet).
Getting into her car, she is intent on keeping the donuts upright and maybe thinking about her five kids and how taking this job that starts so early in the morning keeps her from seeing them first thing in the morning when they wake up. Iron Mountain is not an especially prosperous town, though, and her job is steady.
Suddenly, an urban legend comes true.
She is attacked by a man who has hidden in the backseat of her car.
He waves a knife around, perhaps pressing it against her throat, and instructs her to drive to a remote spot outside of town down a long dirt road, where he makes her climb into the back seat with him.
The Monster forces her to undress, then demands she kisses him on the lips and forces her to perform oral sex.
A police car drives nearby which alarms the abductor Monster, so he makes her put her shirt back on, get back into the front seat and directs her to drive away from this well-known parking area.
The Monster makes the woman drive around for a while, them instructs her to park on a residential street in Iron Mountain and once again get into the back seat with him.
This time, he requests not only more oral sex but also intercourse and yanks her on top of his rather stout figure.
After he is done with the assault, The Monster directs her to a gas station, and exits the car.
The woman goes to the SuperEight, her place of employment, which is nearby, shaking, trying not to vomit, on autopilot. Get somewhere safe, get somewhere safe.
The police are called. She describes the Monster as best she can. She had a fair look at him in the supermarket parking lot and a better one when she is on top of him, being raped.
She remembers he smelled very badly, not just body odor but also a strong smell of alcohol. He's unshaven, with a darker complexion, dirty hair that might be dark blonde, too dirty to tell and smoked dark cigarettes. His lower lip looked strange, like he had a fat lip.
The Monster is found and she identifies him, first tentatively in a lineup then positively after seeing a clear Polaroid of him a few days later, after her shock and trauma wear off, when she is in her own home, among familiar surroundings, not in the cold glare of a police station.
The Monster is Allen Leroy Gray, who is not a nice dude.
When the case goes to court, The Monster pleads Nolo Contendere, which means while he is not pleading guilty, he acknowledges that there is enough evidence that he would likely be found guilty.
He is sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and sexual assaults.
He unsuccessfully appeals.
The most astonishing aspect of the whole case of this Very Bad Dude is that he has done this before.
In 1975, Allen Leroy Gray abducted a fifteen year old girl. He was found guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree and sentenced to 20 to 30 years. He was discharged in 1986. Perhaps my math is bad but from 1975 until 1986 is more like eleven years, isn't it?
He didn't even serve the minimum sentence and was free to offend again. Which he did. And that is only what he's been charged with, not whatever else he might have done that he either was not apprehended or there was not enough evidence to charge The Monster.
We shall soon hear about the events leading to his first incarceration from a victim's point of view and then, those of us who are Michigan residents, can mull the meanings of a minimum 20 year sentence that was actually eleven.
I have a daughter. I am a woman, a sister, a wife.
This man is a monster.
I hope he's not getting out any time soon!
Posted by: vero | August 09, 2006 at 11:15 PM
I had never heard of him before, what an horrific ordeal for both of his (known) victims. And to think that he should have still been in prison just disgusts me to know end.
Posted by: Darr | August 10, 2006 at 11:10 PM
Eleven years was no more than a slap on the wrist for what he did the first time around.
I hope his current life sentence really does mean LIFE.
Posted by: Nadine | August 11, 2006 at 12:28 AM
I had never heard of him before either, and ditto your comment, Darr---disgusting, indeed!
Posted by: Michelle | August 11, 2006 at 11:34 AM
I just hope that my mother won't let this ruin what a wonderful person she is today, monsters like this should receive life, to sit in a cell and rot!
Posted by: Tara | August 18, 2006 at 01:53 AM
Tara, I am guessing your mom may be the lady in Iron Mountain? I'm glad she's come through it okay and if he comes up for parole, just say the word and I'm sure we could flood the parole board with letters as to why he shouldn't be released. I was agasht when I found out not only was he released early, but he committed practically an identical crime.
God bless you and your mom.
Posted by: Lisa | August 20, 2006 at 04:08 PM