12/24/05:

McCray pleads to 20 years

Man guilty of manslaughter

By JANELLE RUCKER

Gazette Staff Writer

The murder, the chase, the capture and now the guilty plea.

Thomas James McCray, 24, accused of the April 2001 killing of Stephanie Evans, pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, rape, kidnapping and child endangerment Thursday, receiving a total of 20 years in prison, to run consecutively, said County Prosecutor Scott Nusbaum.

Evans' body was found along the Scioto River near her Richmond Dale home, with her 23-month-old son sitting in a car seat nearby. McCray fled the country before being found 18 months later in a Canadian prison under the alias Jason Williams.

His girlfriend, reportedly called the police after seeing the case on TV's "America's Most Wanted."

McCray originally was charged with aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping, gross abuse of a corpse and child endangerment. The aggravated murder charge alone would have gotten McCray 20 years to life, Nusbaum said.

There were many reasons the prosecutor's office agreed to a plea on lesser charges, Nusbaum said.

"The nature of this case is there were no eyewitnesses. No one saw him with the victim at any time around the time she was killed," he said. "The case was based primarily upon circumstantial evidence. We took that into consideration during plea negotiations."

Negotiations started recently, Nusbaum said, within the last 30 days.

"We met with family and discussed this possibility," Nusbaum said. "Most of the family members didn't want to go through the trauma of a trial."

McCray was scheduled to go on trial Jan. 9 and had been in court numerous times over the past two weeks in preparation.

"I'm glad T.J. admitted to what he did," said Ross County Sheriff Ron Nichols said. "It's been a long time. I'm glad for the family that it's over and they can move on. It doesn't bring back Stephanie, but it does bring closure."

The Akron Beacon Journal: December 26th, 2005:

CHILLICOTHE:

A man has pleaded guilty in the death of a woman whose body was thrown off a cliff in rural Ross County in April 2001.

Thomas James McCray was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of involuntary manslaughter, rape, kidnapping and child endangerment in the slaying of Stephanie Evans, 21, of Richmond Dale.

Evans was killed by a blow to the head near her home and thrown down a steep drop-off along the Scioto River about 55 miles south of Columbus.

Found about 150 feet away was her 2-year-old son, Justin Green, who survived the 40-degree night strapped in a car seat.

McCray was later found in Canada, going by the name Jason Williams, after his case aired on America's Most Wanted and his girlfriend called the show.

Bonnie M. Wells