Is James Earl Ray Still Alive or Dead?

James Earl Ray is remembered in history as the American man convicted for the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

Ray was born on March 10, 1928. He had a wrap sheet of convictions, he was convicted for a burglary in California. Ray also served 2 years in prison for the armed robbery of a taxi driver in 1952. In 1955, he served four years in prison for mail fraud. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison for repeated offenses, but he escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967.

Ray shot the civil right leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, and a witness saw him fleeing. The rifle and binocular he used with his prints on them were found in the room he rented. He was arrested at London Heathrow Airport while attempting to flee to Angola, Rhodesia, or apartheid South Africa.

Ray was extradited to Tennessee, where he confessed to killing King, and he was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Is James Earl Ray Still Alive or Dead?

On June 10, 1977, Ray and six others escaped from prison, but they were recaptured, and another year was added to Ray’s prison sentence. James Earl Ray died on April 23, 1998, at the age of 70. He died from complications related to liver failure caused by hepatitis C.