Fort Worth man described as ‘angry at life’ sentenced for brutal 2017 attack on jogger
A Fort Worth man described by detectives as “angry at life” was sentenced on Friday to 50 years in prison for attacking a jogger in 2017 on the Trinity Trails and trying to kill her.
Justin L. Ray, 23, was naked when he attacked the woman in September 2017, police said.
Ray was sentenced to prison after pleading to four charges, according to Tarrant County criminal court records and a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.
He pleaded guilty to attempted capital murder, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated assault in retaliation in the Trinity Trials attack. He was sentenced to 50 years on those charges.
The Fort Worth homeless man also pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated sexual assault for an attack of a young woman near a Fort Worth dog park just weeks before the Trinity Trials assault. He was sentenced to 20 years on the park attack. The sentences will be served concurrently.
“This was a heinous, completely random attack,” said prosecutor Kevin Boneberg in a statement released Friday by the district attorney’s office. “Law enforcement and first responders involved in this case all share it was one of the most violent beatings they had ever seen someone survive.”
Ray told detectives in 2018 “several times that he was mad,” according to an arrest warrant released by police that year.
Ray described how he beat and strangled the victim and fully intended to kill her in the September 2017 attack but for whatever reason decided against it and fled.
Police officials have said they had identified Ray as the suspect in the violent attack after receiving a tip and said he was a suspect in another sexual assault that occurred the previous month near the Trinity Trails.
Ray was arrested in Georgia in the summer of 2018.
“This guy is dangerous,” police Capt. Deven Pitt said in a 2018 news conference after Ray’s arrest. “He’s angry at life.”
The arrest warrant gave the following brief account of the September 2017 attack:
At 5 p.m. on Sept. 16, 2017, police got a report from a female jogger at 1814 Rogers Road who said she had observed a man later identified as Ray sitting on a bench wearing a pair of black shorts. The man removed his shorts and began riding a bicycle that seemed too small for him.
Patrol officers responded but were unable to find the naked man.
At 7:12 p.m. that same day, a 31-year-old female was walking on the Trinity Trails path just west of the 4800 block of Edwards Ranch Road near the Clearfork development on the Trinity River.
She saw a naked man sitting down and turned around on the path. The man got on a bicycle, chased her down and attacked her. She tried to call 911, but he grabbed her cellphone and tossed it into the river.
Then the suspect is accused of penetrating her with his finger, according to the warrant.
The suspect also punched her a number of times in the face and head. The victim repeatedly yelled at the man, “Let me go! Let me go!” and was able to bite the suspect’s finger.
“It was evident from the sheer brutality and sadistic nature of his actions that he was Ted Bundy in the making,” said prosecutor Paul Nguyen in a statement released Friday.
The suspect slammed her head to the ground several times and choked her to the point where she could not breathe, according to the warrant.
“She was able to fight him off, which is a testament to her,” police Sgt. Chris Britt said at a 2018 news conference.
The victim ran to the subdivision nearby and rang several doorbells looking for help. A resident came to help her when she stumbled in the 4800 block of Overton Woods Drive.
This report has information from Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 2:06 PM.
