In August of 1975, Debbie Gama had an argument with her mother, Betty. Debbie stormed out of her mother's house in Erie, and wasn't heard from for days. Betty thought maybe her daughter had run away. "We started looking for Debbie, going to her friends' house, calling people," Betty said. After days of agony, the family received some devastating news. Debbie's body had been found in Cussewago creek, in Crawford county, with wire around her hands, neck and ankles. She had been raped and strangled, according to the coroner's report. Debbie Gama was 16 years old. Months dragged by and the police found few leads in the case.
Early in 1976 Daniel Barber, a private detective that Betty hired, soon found a connection to what most people believed to be the most unlikely suspect — Debbie's favorite high school English teacher, Raymond Payne. But police still dragged their feet, says Betty. It took several months for the police to test the wire and make a connection to Payne. The wire used in the killing matched wire he had in his possession, and he was arrested.
Two years after Debbie's murder, Payne pleaded guilty to a homicide charge. Payne admitted to tying Debbie to a tree, but insisted that he didn't rape or kill her; that he didn't know how she died. A three-judge panel didn't believe Payne's story and convicted him of first-degree murder; he was sentenced to life in prison.
Payne had been previously employed in Bradford, Pennsylvania, by the city's school district, where he resigned amid allegations of misconduct. But Erie school officials insisted that they didn't know anything about Payne acting inappropriately with students in his previous employment with another district, or at that time, with the Erie School District, despite repeatedly receiving complaints about his behavior.
Raymond Payne was a predator, and a pedophile, who groomed his female students for sexual favors. Nearly everyday, during the school's lunch hour, Payne would place a sheet of paper over the window of his classroom door, and draw the blinds over the classroom's windows, and begin the molestation of his female students.
Payne was unstoppable. Coming out of the era of the 1960s, Payne was considered progressive. He was young, the next generation of teachers in a school district where the majority of the teachers were reaching retirement. The school district was not interested in the complaints made by the faculty of Roosevelt Junior High School, and parents were unaware of his activities.
Debbie Gama appeared to be a trouble girl who had problems at home. She was popular, always striving for attention. Her and Payne appeared to be close, she was one of the many girls who would visited Payne during lunch hour. At the end of the school year in 1975 Debbie and Payne appeared to have had a falling out. Debbie was very distraught about him, but wouldn't discuss it with anyone.
Raymond Payne, 39 years old at the time of the murder, lived on a farm near Cambridge Springs, in Crawford county. Cussewago creek ran near or through the property. John Laskaris, a student at Strong Vincent High School, which is in Erie, was an associate of Payne's. While in Erie, Payne and Laskaris came across Debbie. Later, Debbie was at Payne's farm. While partying — using drugs — Payne and Laskaris raped and murdered Debbie, strangling her with wire. Afterwards, they dumped her body, wire around her hands, neck and ankles, in the Cussewago creek.
On April 11, 1977, Payne pleaded guilty to a general charge of murder regarding the strangulation death of Debbie.
At the guilty plea hearing, the court advised Payne that he was being charged with the murder of Debra Lynn Gama by means of ligature strangulation. Further, he was informed of his rights attendant to a trial by jury, except for the unanimity requirement of a guilty verdict. Also, the court defined the different classifications that makes up the offense of murder in Pennsylvania's statutory scheme, and the possible penalties that accompany their violation. Finally, the court posed the question to Mr. Payne, ". . . knowing all of this and having conferred with counsel over a period of six or seven months, is it your desire here this morning to enter a plea generally to the charge of murder?" To which Mr. Payne responded, "Yes, Sir." Immediately after the rendition of the guilty plea colloquy and the court's acceptance of Payne's plea, a degree-of-guilt hearing was commenced with the testimony of a Pennsylvania State Trooper assigned to investigate the case. However, when the presiding judge heard a factual accounting from this witness, as to the manner in which the body was found (wire located around the neck, ankles and wrists of the victim as she floated in the Cussewago Creek, Crawford County), he discontinued the proceedings and directed that they begin anew before a three-judge panel because, "based upon these matters...the crime charged might rise to murder in the first degree."
Following the continuation of the degree-of-guilt hearing before the en banc court, Payne was found guilty of first degree murder and, thereafter, was sentenced to a state institution for the rest and remainder of his natural life.
An appeal was perfected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which resulted in an affirmance of the judgment of sentence on the ground that the conviction was amply supported by the evidence. Commonwealth v. Payne, 483 Pa. 256, 396 A.2d 630 (1979). No other issue, aside from the sufficiency of the evidence, was raised. Also, it was noted that throughout the adjudicatory process the appellant was represented by private counsel (Leonard G. Ambrose III and Jess S. Jiuliante Jr.).
Raymond Payne, though pleaded guilty, now maintains that he is innocent. He attempts to communicate this with a wordpress blog that he has written from prison.
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| Debbie Gama. |
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| Raymond Payne's appearance in court. |
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| Raymond Payne |
