‘That was my baby’: As Cowboys CB Kelvin Joseph is questioned, slain man’s loved ones seek justice

The ultimate textual content message Emily Chavez acquired from Cameron Ray, her boyfriend of greater than two years and roommate since December, got here at 1:54 a.m. on March 18. It was three phrases lengthy.

I miss you.

Chavez and Ray have been renting a home in Palestine, a couple of two-hour drive southeast of Dallas. Ray is extra of a homebody, she stated. He doesn’t exit usually. When he does — like he did that night time to rejoice his finest pal’s birthday in Previous East Dallas — they textual content intermittently all through the night. She doesn’t go to sleep till she is aware of he’s secure.

Ray texted Chavez at 1:54 a.m. His finest pal referred to as at 2:18.

“He’s like, ‘The place are you at, Emily? The place are you at?’” Chavez stated. “‘Cam simply received shot, Emily. Cam simply received shot.’”

Ray, 20, suffered a deadly gunshot wound to the top shortly after a skirmish between some members of his group of buddies and one other group outdoors a bar on the 3600 block of Greenville Avenue. His family members need justice and are dedicated to bringing it. Since Ray’s dying on March 18, they’ve tracked the social media exercise of individuals whom they consider are accountable.

Cowboys cornerback Kelvin Joseph is certainly one of them.

Joseph was a passenger within the black SUV from which photographs have been fired at Ray and his buddies shortly after the teams’ confrontation, Joseph’s lawyer, Barry Sorrels, stated Friday. The lawyer informed The Dallas Morning Information that Joseph was not the shooter. Dallas police investigators interviewed Joseph for just a few hours Friday afternoon, and no prices in opposition to him have been filed right now.

Joseph turned linked to the murder investigation after police on Wednesday launched surveillance footage of him and 5 others earlier than the taking pictures, asking the general public for assist figuring out them.

“It makes me very indignant, the truth that he’s attempting to clear his identify,” Chavez stated of Joseph. “I perceive you’re a celebrity. You play soccer. You’ve gotten a profession. You’ve gotten your life fairly set out. However if you happen to’re so harmless, why did it take the police to place out the video and on your followers to establish you so that you can admit?”

Mourning and looking out

Most individuals referred to as him Cam.

A few of those that knew him from basketball — he was a standout at Athens Excessive College — affectionately referred to as him “Growth.”

Ray was the firstborn to Christi Ray, and he was her solely son. She stated he was respectful and loving, somebody who made some extent to name his mom day by day.

“That was my child,” Christi Ray stated. “I’m simply attempting to remain sturdy, nevertheless it’s arduous.”

She described him as a protecting older brother to his three sisters. When certainly one of them received a boyfriend, he needed to know. And Ray at all times tried to make folks snort. He was gifted with a humorousness from each mother and father, Christi Ray stated, and wasn’t afraid of appearing goofy or dancing to elicit laughter from these round him.

”He saved everyone laughing,” she stated.

This Monday will mark a month since Ray’s dying. Between mourning and funeral planning, a lot of these closest to Ray have devoted a lot of the remaining vitality into attempting to assist clear up the thriller surrounding his dying. They observed breadcrumbs on social media that started to floor the day he died, whereas the household was nonetheless on the hospital.

Chavez stated that she observed an Instagram publish of hers about Ray was “favored” by an account she didn’t acknowledge.

Chavez clicked on the profile and located a lately posted music video that included a “You Know Da Vibe” group rapper standing subsequent to a black SUV. Possibly it was a coincidence, however as a result of the SUV matched the outline of the suspect’s automobile, she stated that she despatched the picture to Dallas police.

“Our ideas are with the sufferer’s household and family members, at first,” a Dallas police spokesperson stated Friday. “I can’t touch upon particulars of the continued investigation, however I can affirm our detectives are working across the clock following up on leads and conducting interviews, working to search out the particular person or individuals chargeable for Cameron’s homicide.”

Video of a black SUV was solely the beginning.

Different posts from Chavez and Ray’s household have been favored by YKDV-affiliated accounts. They documented what they observed, preserving photographs and movies earlier than the social media accounts have been scrubbed.

Joseph has a rapper pseudonym, YKDV Bossman Fats, that predates his time within the NFL. YKDV stands for “You Know Da Vibe.”

For the reason that police launched surveillance footage, which included Joseph sporting a YKDV medallion on his necklace, the household believes they’ve recognized an Instagram account for 5 of the six folks linked to Ray’s dying. Krista Wigfall, Ray’s stepmom, referred to as the Cowboys on Thursday morning and reached a high-ranking Cowboys official, notifying him of her perception Joseph was among the many males within the surveillance movies.

One YKDV account favored a Chavez publish, she stated, as lately as Friday afternoon. She despatched a screengrab to The Dallas Morning Information that corroborated.

Justice, they hope, is close to.

‘My love’

Shortly earlier than he was shot, Ray informed his girlfriend he missed her.

She misses him, too.

Following that frantic 2:24 a.m. telephone name together with his pal, Chavez instantly packed a suitcase with all the things from her pants and shirts to toiletries like shampoo earlier than driving two hours to the hospital the place Ray was transported. She ready for an extended restoration. Cops comforted her in the course of the panic assault that came across arriving to search out Ray on life help.

Nonetheless, she texted him from the hospital foyer. She texted him from beside his mattress.

She knew he couldn’t reply, however there was a lot she needed to inform him.

In these weeks since March 18, Chavez stated that she’s prevented the rental home they referred to as residence, as a substitute staying in Athens with Ray’s father and stepmother. She has begun plans to maneuver from Palestine. Some folks have informed her, she stated, to cease taking a look at pictures of them, to cease listening to unhappy songs.

She isn’t able to cease. Sometimes, her telephone sends her notifications to name or textual content message Ray, whose contact identify on her telephone is “My Love.”

The latest textual content that Chavez despatched him got here at 2:24 a.m. Wednesday. Written in capital letters, it was three phrases lengthy.

I LOVE YOU.