Kriti Mehrotra
When Tray Phelps was found dead in the driveway of his Swan Lake Drive home in Hayti, Missouri, on September 24, 2015, it honestly left the whole town shaken to the core. That’s because, as explored in Investigation Discovery’s ‘Murder in the Heartland: Branches of Evil,’ the 26-year-old father of one had been killed in a way that made it clear it was personal. However, since he didn’t seem to have any outright enemies, it took officials a little while to unravel a tangled web of personal relationships that ultimately enabled them to secure justice for him.
Tray Phelps Was Bludgeoned to Death Right Outside His Home
Born on February 22, 1989, in Kennett, Missouri, to Kathy Leeann Tinnin Skelton and David Lee Phelps Jr., David “Tray” Lee Phelps III was the light of his parents’ lives. According to their accounts, he was a kind, loving soul who never hesitated to help others and had changed their lives for the better in ways no one can imagine. Even though his parents sadly parted ways when he was quite young, he still maintained a good relationship with both, resulting in him essentially growing up with two families. After all, both his parents had eventually remarried.
Tray was a proud graduate of Caruthersville High School (class of 2007), following which he chose to enroll in the local police academy in the hopes of evolving into a public service officer. However, although he graduated in 2010, by the time 2015 rolled around, he was working for his grandfather at the Wepfer Marine of Caruthersville, all the while pursuing his passion for music. The 26-year-old loved playing his guitar and singing, so whenever he wasn’t working, he was dabbling in music and even posting videos of the same on his social media platforms. Tray was thus leading a very fulfilled life, even from a personal standpoint, considering he was happily engaged to a woman named Madison Elyse Stegal.
Tray and Madison were planning their life together, which also included the 5-year-old son he had from a previous relationship, Noah Blake Phelps. He loved these two individuals with all his heart. But alas, everything turned upside down on September 24, when he failed to show up at work without prior notice, which was very unlike him. His grandfather hence decided to go check on him, only to find him lying dead right near his car in the driveway. Little did he know that a neighbor had seen Tray like this mere minutes prior and had already contacted emergency services, so first responders showed up at the scene mere moments later. It was soon ascertained that the 26-year-old had been severaly beaten, with his cause of death being blunt force trauma from a very heavy object, almost like an aluminum baseball bat.
The Investigation Into Tray Phelps’ Killing Initially Led Nowhere
Since Tray’s autopsy detailed his injuries while also placing the time of death between 5 and 6 am on the fateful day, officials were certain he had been attacked by someone who knew his routine. Moreover, it was determined early on that the murder weapon was a very heavy object, so officials decided to look at nearby bins to see if maybe something had been disposed of. Little did they know it was garbage pick-up day, so deputies spent the first few hours of the investigation talking to those close to him and sifting through a garbage truck. Thankfully, since their response had been rather quick, they were able to flag down the truck that was assigned to his neighborhood before it ever made it to the massive city landfill.
While officials were not able to find the murder weapon, they were able to gather a lot of insight from Tray’s loved ones. They did think of Madison as a suspect at first since she was in the house at the time of the incident, but she told the police she was a heavy sleeper. She even asserted that while her fiancé had woken her up to say goodbye on the fateful morning before leaving for work, she was back asleep before he had even made it to the door. Tray’s grandfather backed this since he had rushed to the front door and pounded on it after finding him dead, worried about Madison, only for her to open the door half asleep.
That’s when officials cleared Madison and began asking if she knew of her fiancé having any enemies, resulting in her asserting that they had recently been having problems with a stranger. She said a man had raked the leaves of her garden and had been lurking in the area recently, which had made her feel very uncomfortable, so she had told Tray about it. This stranger, with the help of her description, which matched the ones given by neighbors, was identified as a local man named Billy. However, when questioned, he quickly denied having any hand in the matter while also providing an alibi, which was corroborated.
Tray Phelps’ Murder Was Motivated By Personal Reasons
Although detectives were leaving no stones unturned, there was a point within the first day itself where it appeared as if they were close to exhausting all possible leads. However, they got a big breakthrough via social media when they found the Facebook account of Bert Allen Ellison, who happened to be the current boyfriend of Tray’s ex-wife and the mother of his son, Heather Cummings. Not only did they find several images of different kinds of weapons, but the captions of them also read in a threatening manner, as a result of which they picked him up for questioning the very next day.
Bert claimed he didn’t harm Tray in any manner, but a quick search of his phone had made it clear he was definitely involved because it still contained pictures of the latter’s house. They hypthesized he had killed the young man in a jealous rage, considering they had the common connection of Heather, which he denied, even after the victim’s parent sent in a video urging him to reveal the truth. They believed it would work since the 46-year-old was close friends with Tray’s father, David Jr., but to no avail. They still continued investigating the case, though, which is when they realized more people could have been involved. Detectives had questioned Heather as well as her parents, Ronda and Chester Cummings, with them also maintaining innocence.
While Heather claimed she was asleep at the time of the incident, Chester stated that morning was usual for him as he had woken up at 6-6:30 before his wife drove him to work. Surveillance footage showed that although Chester had arrived at work at his usual time, Ronda’s car was on the road at around 5:30 am. Chester was arrested on October 7, 2015, following which he allegedly claimed he had driven Bert to Tray’s house under the assumption that the plan was to scare the latter. According to records, Tray was planning on filing for sole custody of Noah, so the men hoped to scare him, but it evolved into murder. As if that’s not enough, it then came to light that Ronda had driven Chester to meet a man named Michael Jay Hemingway after the incident, who helped them dispose of a bag that seemingly contained evidence of the crime, including the murder weapon.
Heather Cummings and Chester Cummings Are Still Serving Their Sentence in State Prison
Michael Hemmingway was also arrested for his role in the crime on October 7, 2015, but it wasn’t until November that Heather Cummings and her mother, Ronda Cummings, were arrested too. The former was charged with tampering with physical evidence, whereas the mother was charged with hindering prosecution and tampering with physical evidence. On the other hand, Heather was indicted on one count of first-degree murder, whereas Bert and Chester were each indicted for first-degree murder and armed criminal action. However, the case of Tray’s homicide never went to trial as almost everyone accused ended up entering into plea deals.
Ronda eventually pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, for which she was sentenced to 4 years in prison. On the other hand, Bert pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, for which he received 5 years in state prison. Heather ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murde,r too, but she was given 15 years in prison. As for Chester, who later tried asserting he alone was responsible for the entire ordeal, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and second-degree murder, so he was given life in prison. It’s unclear what Michael’s sentence was, or if the charges against him were dismissed owing to his confession and cooperation. So, today, while Ronda and Bert have been granted release after serving out their prison terms, Heather is incarcerated at the Chillicothe Correctional Center. As for Chester, he is detained at the Potosi Correctional Center, where he is expected to remain for the rest of his natural life.
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