On New Year’s Day 2006, Bryan Harvey, 49, was found murdered in his Richmond, Virginia, home alongside his wife Kathryn and their daughters Stella, age nine, and Ruby, age four. The family had been preparing to host a chili dinner for friends when a family friend arrived to find the house burning and called for help.

Investigators located the bodies in the basement. Bryan and Kathryn suffered blunt-force trauma to the head; Stella died from smoke inhalation and blunt-force trauma; Ruby died from stab wounds. The victims had been bound and beaten with a hammer, their throats slashed, and the house was set on fire. A few of the family’s belongings, including a computer, a wedding ring, and a basket of cookies, were taken.

Police identified suspects Ricky Javon Gray and his nephew Ray Joseph Dandridge; both were arrested in Philadelphia six days after the killings and later confessed. Ashley Baskerville was reported to have acted as a lookout. Gray faced capital murder charges and Dandridge pleaded guilty and received life without parole.