21/04/2023
The Shooting of Michael Ray
Installment IV
By: Larry J. Griffin
Special Investigative Reporter
The Wilkes Record
"There are two ways to be fooled: One is to believe what isnât true, the other is to refuse to believe what is true." âSoren Kierkegaard
The death certificate appears definitive. Michael Allen Ray, the son of Charles H. and Shirley Ann Blevins Ray, died at 5:00 PM on Friday December 18, 1984âat Valdese General Hospitalâfrom a gunshot wound to the left-side of the chest, lacerating the left pulmonary artery. The immediate cause of his demise was a, âmassive internal hemorrhage.â The gunshot wound, resulting from a projectile fired by a â30-30 riffle [Sic],â was adjudged to be self-inflicted. No autopsy was performed.
Burke Medical Examiner, S. H. Yuan, MD, certified that, âOn the basis of the examination of the body and/or the investigation, in my opinion, death occurred on the date and due to the cause(s) stated.â
Born in Buncombe County on June 11, 1964, the decedent was 20-years-of-age, unemployed, never married, and officially resided in the Burke County town of Connelly Springs. Funeral arrangements were handled by Kirksey Funeral Home, Valdese, NC. Burial occurred on Friday December 21, 1984 in Davistown Cemetery, located in the McDowell County town of Old Fort.
These appear to be the irrefutable facts relative to the shooting of Michael Ray, as delineated on the death certificate filed at the Burke County office of the Register of Deeds. Other âfactsâ reported on this official document either lack specificity or are inaccurate. Interestingly, the time at which the fatal gunshot wound was inflicted is listed as, âApprox. 2:40 P[M].â
The âPlace of Injuryâ is designated as a home located at, â1605 Laurel Road,â in the Burke County town of Valdese, NC. This address is inaccurate. Notably, it would not be the only instance in which the location of the fatal shooting is misstated on an official document.
Though a relatively inconsequential misstatement, the funeral arrangementsâinclusive of the burial detailsâwere managed by Kirksey Funeral Home in Morganton in lieu of the one located in Valdese, according to records. As it happened, the Ray Family received friends on Thursday December 20, 1984 from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM. The funeral service was conducted at 2:00 PM at Calvary Freewill Baptist Church in Connelly Springs; the Reverend Mr. Leonard Lindsey officiated.
One other notable departure from the âfacts of the caseâ can be found on the Kirksey Funeral Home Obituary Information Form. The date and time of Michael Rayâs demise are recorded as, â18 December 1984 Tuesday 8 pm.â The former is correct; the latter is not. âI donât know where they came up with the time,â Donna Ray Balekdjian averred. âMy brother was pronounced dead at 5:00 PM at Valdese Hospitalâthree hours before.â
The death certificate of Michael Allen Ray was officially signed, eight days after-the-fact, on December 26, 1984 and registered at the Register of Deeds (ROD) the next day. The registrar at the time was Charles W. Buckner who did not personally sign the document. Rather, his name was typed by another member of the ROD staff in the signature rectangular block: â Charles W. Buckner/km.â
Unlike the death certificate, the official Valdese Police Department (VPD) Incident/Investigation report was not dated as to when it was generated. However, there were typed âsignaturesâ of two VPD officersâRena Benefield and Steve Hoyleâ who ostensibly compiled the report under the supervision of Chief Oscar Pascal.
According to the report, a white male, born â06/11/64,â named, âRAY, Michael Allen,â committed âSu***deâŠBy shooting himself in the chest with a 30-30 Rifle.â The âOffense Date At (Found)â is listed as, â1445 (2:45PM) on Tuesday, 12/18/84.â The temperature that clear afternoonâa week before Christmasâwas, â72 Deg.â The victimâs address is reported as a post office box in Connelly Springs, NC.
The shooting occurred in the âResidence/Yardâ of a house located at, â1601 Laural [Sic] St., Valdese. The individual who reported the incident to VPD, according to the official record, was Richard Barker, whose address is listed as, Russellâs Body Shop.â At the time, the body shop was located next door to the crime scene, on the corner of Laurel Street and Lovelady Road.
The reportâs narrative reads:
"On 12/18/84 at 1445 Hrs. Officer R.O. Benfield received a call from Richard Barker at Russellâ [Sic] Body Shop on Laural [Sic] Str., reporting a shooting (boy shot himself). Caller advised that Todd Robertson had ask [Sic] him to call. Officers Hoyle, Brendle, Lambert and Chief Pascal were dispatched and an Ambluence [Sic] was send [Sic] to the scene. Officers arrived on the scene at 1448 Hrs. 12/18/84 and ask [Sic] that EMS be advised this was emergency traffic. EMS was radioed and there [Sic] location was Laural [Sic] Rd. in route to the location. Michael Allen Ray was transported to Valdese General Hospital for treatment of his wounds."
According to the one-page report, the case status indicates that âfurther investigationâ was to be conducted. It also stipulates that âevidence was found.â Two âwitness namesâ appear on the form: âROBERTSON, Cindy and ROBERTSON, Todd,â both of whom resided at the location of the shooting. Born on Saturday April 6, 1968, Cynthia Lynn âCindyâ Robertson was 16-years-of-age at the time of the incident; Brother Ritchie Todd Robertson, born Monday February 24, 1969, was 15-years-of-age.
A perusal of the official VPD incident report reveals a number of inaccuracies. Aside from the obvious grammatical lapses, the address at which the shooting transpired is incorrect. The fatal incident actually occurred at the Ben Robertson residence, situated at 1603 Laurel Street in Valdese.
While exploring the possibility that the locationâs address had been altered or re-numbered across the ensuing 38-years, this writer contacted Larry Johnson, Director of Planning and Zoning for the Town of Valdeseâa position that he has held for nine-years. According to Director Johnsonâa long-term resident of the areaâthe address has never been changed. âYes, I know Ben Robertson; and he has always lived at that address.â Mr. Johnson explained during a telephone interview. âNo renumbering has occurred to my knowledge.â
Moreover, the report stipulates that evidence was found, none of which is referenced in the narrative. Additionally, the âcase status,â checked within a rectangular box located near the end of the official one-page document, indicates that additional investigation was to be conducted, without referencing a single detail garnered during that inquiry.
âFor instance, I asked Valdese PD Chief [Jack] Moss if any gunshot residue testing (GSR) was conducted on my brother to see if he had even fired a weapon that day,â Donna Balekdjian averred during a recent interview with this writer.
Gunshot residue (GSR) testing has been employed by law enforcement for decades. It is utilized to ascertain the presence of chemical and particulate residue that tend to adhere to a shooterâs hand, arm, face, hair, and/or clothing subsequent to the discharging of a weapon.
âAnd when I asked him, he [Chief Moss] simply replied there was no testing done,â Ms. Balekdjian explained. âWouldnât they want to know that before concluding that my brother definitely shot himself?â
For the Ray Family, the official VPD report, acquired during a face-to-face conversation with the current chief of police, Jack Moss, raised more substantive questions than it answered. Further, none of the police officers on the current force were involved in the initial investigation relative to the shooting of Michael Ray. And out of all the officers who were dispatched to the Robertson residence that afternoon and whose names were referenced in the narrative of the report, only one remains; the others are deceased.
Interestingly, on Monday September 26, 2022 during the late evening, a former VPD officer, whose name appears on the incident document, engaged in a social media conversation with Michaelâs sister, Donna Ray Balekdjian, offering to answer questions and provide clarification. However, the purported details of the case, proffered during the exchange of media messages, obfuscated more than it illuminated.
[Editorâs Note: The 1985 photo depicts officers on the Valdese Police Department. Of the nine officers photographed, five of them are mentioned in the official investigative report of the shooting of Michael Ray. Credit: The News Herald, Morganton, NC with the original camerawork.]