On October 29, 1972, Ezra Cray and his  52-year-old blind wife, Annie Mae, were in bed.  There was a knock at the door of their home at 4 Henry Street, Rochester, NY.  Annie Mae went to the door, spoke with the person and went back to bed.  Although blind, Annie was excellent at recognizing voices and Ezra believes she knew the caller or would not have spoken with him.  Shortly after the knock at the door, Ezra heard a cracking sound and felt pain in his head.  He awakened to a man standing over Annie Mae, beating her.  He was once again knocked unconscious.  A bloodied piece of wood about the size of a small log was found in the bedroom.  Later, Ezra identified a person whom he believed was in the room that night.  That person was James Kimble, a friend of son Tommie Cray.  However, Kimble had an alibi which checked out and was dismissed as a suspect. That is until lab technicians recently matched his DNA to DNA on a blanket at the scene.

Kimble, now 76, currently resides in Sarasota, Florida. For the last three decades he has spent time in and out of jail for various offenses, including rape. He is also a Level 3 Sex Offender in the state of New York. Kimble was convicted of attempted rape in an assault on a 6-year-old girl in 1973 and spent seven years in prison and in 1983, he was convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl and spent 10 years in prison. Now he will probably die in prison after being arrested and charged with murder in the second degree.  He is being held in Florida on $100,000 bail awaiting extradition to Rochester.

Unfortunately, Ezra did not live to see his wife’s murder solved.  Ezra and Annie Mae each had three sons, one of each of their sons survive.  Tommie Cray said, “I never thought it would be solved.”  The case is the oldest cold case to be solved in Monroe County through DNA.  Interesting side note:  One of the key officers in solving this case, C.J. Dominic, follows in his family’s footsteps  - his father and uncle were the original investigating officers.

Source w/Kimble photo:

http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/DNA-Leads-to-Arrest-in-Murder-of-Blind-Mother-of-6/F1lY0ESedke19VFyJJOwow.cspx

http://rocnow.com/article/local-news/20101130381

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