On Thursday, January 6, 1983, 37-year-old Raymond Elwood Helsley reported that his oldest daughter, 12-year-old Raylene Susan Helsley, was missing. Raymond said that she had run away with about $60 and a blue suitcase. He told police that after he returned from picking up his youngest daughter, 8-year-old Candice—everyone called her Candy—from school on Wednesday January 5, he noticed Raylene was gone. Raylene was last seen at their mobile home, which was located on Union Parish Road 66 near Marion, Louisiana, about seven miles from Conway. Police searched the area around the house, as well as water wells, vacant houses, and buildings in the area but found no trace of Raylene.
Then, Raymond’s story started to unravel. Candy told police that on January 4, Raymond had physically beaten Raylene because she refused to do jumping jacks for him. According to Candy, Raymond held Raylene by her hair and beat her with a piece of PVC pipe until it broke. Then he got a pipe wrench from his toolbox and beat her over the head with it until it broke. Candy said she last saw her sister lying on a couch in the family living room, face inward, and not moving.
Chief Deputy Larry Gray told reporters, “Right now, we don’t know what has happened. We’re investigating it as a runaway or something more serious.”
On Sunday, January 9, police searched the home and found bloody sheets, blood stains on their couch, and a the main part of a broken 14” pipe wrench. The wench’s clamp and adjustment screw were never found. They also found other questionable items which I’ll explain in just a moment. They arrested Raymond on a child abuse charge. Raymond refused to discuss his altercation with Raylene other than to say that it was necessary to discipline Raylene because she would not do as he said. He denied hitting Raylene with the wrench.
The trial was held, not in Union Parish, but in the city of Ruston in Lincoln Parish. District Judge Joe Bleich issued a gag order which prohibited witnesses, police, and court officials from discussing the case with news media. Raymond ultimately plead not guilty by reason of insanity to the charge of child abuse. During the trial, 8-year-old Candy testified that Raymond, these are her words, “He whipped her. He used a white plastic pipe and a pipe wrench. He hit her on the bootie and the head. She was trying to get away from him. He was holding her hair so she couldn’t run away.” She said Raylene begged “quit, daddy!” during the whipping. Raymond told Candy to go to bed. The last sounds she ever heard from her older sister were her screams of pain. On June 7, 1983, after more than four hours of deliberation, the jury found Raymond guilty of cruelty of a juvenile. Raymond was ultimately sentenced to the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison at hard labor and a $1,000 fine.
In his report, Judge Bleich noted that Raymond had taken two polygraph examinations and two psychological stress evaluations. He recorded, “The results of at least four trained operators indicated the following: that the defendant knows where Raylene Helsley is located; that the defendant took her life; that the body was disposed of on the Wednesday prior to the date that the defendant reported Raylene missing; and that her body is approximately 1½ miles from the trailer. Raymond Helsley brutally, viciously, and unjustifiably inflicted severe pain and suffering upon Raylene Helsley. He cruelly beat her numerous times with a piece of PVC pipe, and then even more brutally with a heavy metal wrench over the head. The pipe, although plastic, gas virtually unbreakable and would have of and by itself have and did cause tremendous pain and suffering to this innocent little girl.”
Raymond had a history of violence toward Raylene. In April 1982, Raymond was convicted of child abuse against Raylene in Adams County, Mississippi. In that case, he received a six-month suspended sentence for beating Raylene.
Earlier, I said police found other questionable items when they searched Raymond’s trailer? Police found components used to make explosives such as blasting caps, cords, fuses, and other various items. In July, while awaiting sentencing, the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office filed new charges against Raymond: transportation of explosives without a license, storage of explosives and possession of explosives without a valid permit.
Raymond’s attorney, Robert Sharp, said, “he has indicated to me that he knows of no deceased body because he knows she ran away. Ray has told me they’ll never find a body because there is no body.”
Raylene was 12 years old at the time of her disappearance. She was slim and stood about five feet tall. Raylene was last seen wearing Levi jeans, a western shirt, a green and black plaid hooded coat, and cowboy boots.
If you have any information at all about Raylene Susan Helsley’s disappearance, please contact the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office at 318-368-3124.
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