ELEPHANT BUTTE, N.M. (KRQE) – Investigators say she helped one of New Mexico’s most notorious predators with his crimes. Now, a KRQE News 13 Special Assignment reveals the girlfriend of suspected serial killer David Parker Ray is about to get out of prison next week, after serving only about half her sentence.
For a lot of people, Cindy Hendy wasn’t just an accomplice. Some believe she was just as cruel as her boyfriend, taking pleasure in torturing women in the infamous ‘Toy Box.’
People in Elephant Butte will never forget the scene.
“Unbelievable. It was just crazy,” Sheila Walker, who lives in Elephant Butte, told KRQE News 13.
“We were shocked,” said Larry Fisher, who also lives near the crime scene.
After one of his victims escaped in a steel collar and chains in 1999, David Parker Ray’s tales of kidnapping and torturing women went national, along with the secrets of what he called his “Toy Box.”
Investigators found a trailer full of torture equipment, including surgical tools and video cameras.
Ray talked about burying bodies, but he wasn’t a convicted killer. He died of a heart attack in 2002 while doing time for kidnapping and sexually torturing women. His girlfriend, Hendy, was convicted of those same crimes.
“Were you involved in any way?” A reporter asked Hendy when she was arrested. “No…kind of,” she replied.
She later pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and criminal sexual penetration.
On Tuesday, KRQE News 13 confirmed 59-year-old Hendy is scheduled to be released from prison on Monday, July 15, 2019, about 20 years into her 36-year sentence.
“I wish she would spend the rest of her life in prison,” Darren White, former Department of Public Safety Secretary, told KRQE News 13 in a September 2017 interview.
White was the DPS Secretary when the crimes were exposed. News 13 spoke with him on Special Assignment two years ago, after learning Hendy was eligible to be released on parole.
“She was just as much responsible for what took place in Elephant Butte than David Parker Ray,” White said.
Now, KRQE News 13 has learned that instead of getting out on parole, Hendy served her two years of parole in prison. So, the Department of Corrections says when she’s released next week, she won’t have to tell the State where she’s living or what she’ll be doing. She will have no more State supervision.
Hendy’s plea deal came three months before a new law required violent criminals to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence. That’s why, with good time, she only had to serve about half of her sentence.
According to the Corrections Department, Hendy was caught with stolen property in prison in Grants, then accused of having drugs at the facility in Springer. But clearly, those violations didn’t cost her too much good time.
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