A 40-year-old Hopkinsville, Kentucky man is being held in lieu of $5-million dollars for the first-degree murder of Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Riley on Interstate 64 near Mill Shoals on Wednesday morning.
Ray Tate made his court appearance on Thursday via a Zoom conference from the Clinton County Jail at Carlyle where he remains following the end of his two-state crime spree.
The murder charge states that Tate without lawful justification and with the intent to kill Riley shot the deputy multiple times about the head and body with a handgun causing his death.
Tate was found to qualify for the public defender and Wayne County Public Defender Heidi Hoffee was appointed to represent him.
So far no other charges have been filed against Tate who is accused of several carjackings, kidnapping, and home invasion at a rural Carlyle home where a State SWAT team took him into custody Wednesday afternoon.
The hostage situation took place at the home of Leonard Cox. Cox told St. Louis TV station KMOV that he was tracking news of the manhunt when he heard someone knock on his patio door. Cox said Tate then pointed a gun at him, forced him to stash a car he was driving, and then forced Cox and the man who was in the carjacked vehicle into the basement as police moved closer. Cox said he just tried to remain calm because Tate was all over the place and he already knew he shot a cop and someone else.
The two were released unharmed from the basement after Tate had been apprehended.
