Thank you, Laurel in Yellowstone County, Montana, is a place described as scenic and rural on the outskirts, with gorgeous hiking routes, camping spots, and lakes, and busy, bustling, and vibrant at the center with something always going on: parades and small festivals, great shops and restaurants, and a big sense of community spirit. Just over 7,000 people live there, and in 2019, one of those people was 57-year-old Laurie Bray.
Laurie works as a runner in one of the local casinos and by all accounts lived a peaceful and quiet life, keeping to herself and just enjoying being at home with her two rescue dogs, Mac and Nikki. She was from a big and close family. She had a son called Justin, who she never went a day without talking to, five grandchildren, lots of brothers and sisters, and eight nieces and nephews. Laurie was an animal lover, especially dogs, and as well as Mac and Nikki, she would donate to rescue centers and charities and would often look after other dogs before they found permanent homes. Her boss and former roommate, Kathy, said Laurie was probably the sweetest, kindest, and most gentle person. She said she was softly spoken with a beautiful spirit and a welcoming smile, happy to help anyone and always someone people could turn to. Her son Justin said this could sometimes be a double-edged sword, and she could be too trusting of people, never seeing the bad in anyone even when they gave her a reason to question them.
Thank you. September 30th, 2019, was a fairly typical day. Laurie had been working the closing shift at the Cedar Ridge casino, and just before midnight, she clocked off, locked up, and left, heading straight back home as she was back in early the next day.
October 1st, 8:30 a.m. Employees at the casino noticed that Laurie was unusually a no-show, but she hadn’t phoned in to say why. Around the same time, her boss, Kathy, was driving into work herself down an empty and secluded road with nothing to see but fields for miles. She spotted what she thought looked like Laurie’s car. It was parked at an odd angle on an intersection, and it didn’t look like anyone was inside. Laurie didn’t even live close to this area, and with no shops or other houses around, it made no sense for her or her car to be there. Kathy pulled over but kept her distance and didn’t get much closer to the car, instead deciding to call Justin. She asked him to go to his mother’s house, wondering if she was just panicking unnecessarily. But little did she know, independently from her call, Justin also thought something felt odd about that morning. He hadn’t received his usual morning call from his mother, which was strange.
Justin headed to her house, ringing her phone as he did so, but the silence was deafening. When he got there, he noticed her car was not parked outside, making the knot in his stomach tighten further. He let himself in and was alarmed to find her two dogs, Mac and Nikki, unattended with no signs of being fed, which he knew his mother would never let happen. A look around her house turned up nothing. Her bed was neatly made, there was no indication that breakfast had been eaten that morning, and everything just felt eerily quiet. Whereas it was possible Laurie had made the bed and washed everything up before leaving, it felt more like she hadn’t actually made it home from the previous night.
He called Kathy back, and they both agreed to go and check out the car together. Justin confirmed right away that it was his mother’s 2003 Chrysler sedan. The sunroof was open, a handling indicator were broken, and inside the floor on the back, he could see her purse and takakis. Her iPhone was also on the floor, lighting up as it was receiving calls. Although Justin wanted to open the car and start properly looking, he knew in his guts that this was a job for the police and no one else. They called 9-1-1. When authorities started inspecting Laurie’s car, they found blood stains covering more than half of the seat in the back, and there was a muddy shoe impression on the passenger’s side door. They also found Laurie’s clothes scattered about too, including her underwear, which appeared damaged, as if they had been forcefully removed. The hooks on her bra were bent, and some of the clothing had blood on it as well. It was all pointing towards a violent and troubling scene having taken place.
Laurie Bray was now a missing person. Everyone sprung into action, many in the community knowing her well and wanting to help. Friends started posting on social media, with one person typing, “She would never leave her dogs; they are her world. Someone has to know something. No lead is too small, and I ask that everyone please pray that she is found safe.” People started organizing their own search parties as well, and everyone was out and looking for Laurie. It was instantly a case that captured the media as well as the public, as it was just so unusual for something like this to happen in this area. The place where her car had been found was grassy, muddy, and the fields seemed to go on forever, so looking for clues in a location like this was a big undertaking. Dozens of friends, volunteers, and authorities scouring open land north of Laurel in an effort to find something that will lead them to 57-year-old Laurie Bray. An active investigation now underway. Bray was last seen leaving her Laurel workplace early Tuesday morning, her car found hours later and miles away. And that’s where searchers gathered today. Q2’s David Jay was at the scene, has the very latest from the sheriff.
“David, we’re out here at the intersection of Buffalo Trail Road and Laurel Airport Road, close to the cemetery. Family and friends that came out at 10 o’clock in the morning to search for about 60 to 70 according to Sheriff Mike Linder. We’re also standing fairly close to where her car was found, and we had a chance to talk with the sheriff about the disappearance and what he knows so far.”
“We’re out here right now searching because this is where her car was. We don’t have any evidence or any other indicators that she might be out here. It’s just out of an abundance of caution that we want to make sure she’s not out here in serious need of help, and so that’s why we’ve got all these volunteers. We got information that this female was last seen probably between right around 12:30 in the morning, seen leaving work at the casino. We had a deputy that actually drove by here just on routine patrol and saw the vehicle and stopped and checked on it as well, but the way the car vehicle is registered, we had no idea who it belonged to, so that took a little bit of work. Right now, we’ve got detectives writing search warrants and working on some of the technology aspect, phone tracking and that type of stuff.”
Sheriff Linder expects the search to go into the evening, until about dark. They’ve been searching all around here, the fields over there, and he says that they’ll wait for more information to come in and maybe change that up just a little bit. In Laurel, David Jay reporting for Montana’s news station. Given the terrain, the searches were difficult anyway, but as the darkness started to creep in, things became impossible. Authorities told the volunteers to stop and wait until morning, which people reluctantly did.
Police asked Kathy for the camera footage from inside the casino. She was not only able to give it to them, she was also able to say who most of the people were and give them their details so they could start interviewing them. On the night she had last been seen, Laurie had been closing down as usual, restocking, cleaning, and the likes. Two women briefly started talking to her at the bar, and Kathy said she knew them; they were regulars. Another person then popped up who worked with one of the women. Kathy said his name was Diego Hernandez. Diego ordered a drink, and Laurie asked to check his ID before serving him. A few minutes later, Laurie could be seen pointing out the clock to him, indicating the casino was closing and he needed to leave. There was a very brief conversation before Laurie carried on with the close-down duties. At 11:20 p.m., Laurie grabbed her bag, locked the door, and headed out. The casino was now closed, and her car was parked just in view of one of the doors. She briefly walks back for a second, seemingly to talk to somebody, before getting into her vehicle with someone.
Police quickly established it was 22-year-old Diego in the car, and at the time he got into the passenger side, he was the only person apart from Laurie still on the premises. Not a single other soul was around. Detectives needed to know why he had left with her and if he had seen or heard anything that night, perhaps another customer that may have been lingering or acting oddly. Just before midnight on October 1st, Diego Hernandez was found at his address. He confirmed it was him on the cameras and that Laurie had very kindly offered to give him a lift home after they got chatting in the casino. He said he only went to the casino on a whim because he could get free drinks there. He arrived at about 9 p.m. and stayed for a couple of hours, using a few machines and chatting to people.
Thank you. Diego said Laurie drove him to his house. He said thank you and goodbye, and then he went to meet up with a friend ready to carry on the party. He said he hadn’t seen Laurie since he watched her drive away, and it was simply a passing encounter and a kind gesture from a stranger. But there was something that was standing out to police that they couldn’t ignore. Diego’s face, hands, and torso were covered with fresh scratches. One officer asked about this, saying it looked like someone had fought him off and that it was a little concerning. But Diego said the scratches had happened two days before when he got into a fight with a friend called Nick after going to a local strip club. He said Nick had a ring on and it had cut his face. He was very matter-of-fact and calm, confident in what he was saying, and showed no signs of being dishonest.
With this, the police left. They found Nick, and he admitted they had had a scuffle in his car. He said that Diego had suddenly started freaking out and was agitated. Nick said that at one point he had put Diego in a headlock before pushing him out of the vehicle, but he said there was no scratching involved and he was shocked to see the state of his face. He had no reason to lie. He had already admitted to pushing him about and kicking him out of the vehicle. But the scratches were simply not linked to this incident, despite what Nick had said, which did match parts of Diego’s story. The fact was police had no other leads apart from him. Diego was still the last known person to have been with Laurie and, by his own admission, was in her car. The CCTV from Cedars Casino couldn’t confirm whether the scratches were there at the time, but more footage from another bar just hours before showed that he had absolutely no marks on his face at all.
Early on the 2nd of October, the search party started back up and continued throughout the day. But at 7:30 p.m., detectives received the call that they had been dreading. A man had been out riding his ATV in a wooded area when he made an awful discovery. He had found the body of a woman lying naked on the ground. He didn’t have to get close to tell that she was badly beaten and already dead. Police felt strongly they knew exactly who it would be but made no announcements. For a woman missing, a body found, and a lot of questions tonight surrounding what Yellowstone County authorities are now calling a homicide. Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder not confirming the female victim found east of Laurel last night is that of 57-year-old Laurie Bray. But the search for the missing Laurel woman has been called off.
However, just as word had traveled about Laurie being missing, it was now traveling that an area was swarming with police and forensics, and soon it was confirmed. Mike Linder says the medical examiner determined the body found east of Laurel Wednesday night is that of missing woman, 57-year-old Laurie Bray. Although another step forward, that information and no one in custody is not easing the minds of some Laurel residents. They had found the body of Laurie Bray just under two miles from where her car had been dumped. She was at the bottom of a ditch, completely naked and in the fetal position. She was covered in abrasions and bruising. There was blood in her nose and in her hair, swelling around both of her eyes. She had a swollen lip and several broken ribs. Her cause of death was later confirmed as strangulation, but the examiner noted she had also suffered blunt force trauma to the face. A sexual assault kit was used, and although blood was found, no semen was. Some of the marks on her body indicated she had either been dragged down the hill or pushed down it, not that she had been killed there. They now knew that she had probably been killed inside her own car and then transported there. Near to her body was her little necklace with a cross on it, and close to this was a fairly good imprint of a shoe. This print appeared to match the print found inside Laurie’s car.
Laurie’s death and the state she had been found in was shocking. Officers said the level of violence and brutality was astonishing, commenting that whoever had done this was, put simply, a monster. Colleagues and friends were at a loss as to who would want to do this. They said Laurie was loved by the regulars, had a great reputation in the community, and had never spoken about having any issues with anybody. Police did get a couple more potential leads when it came to light that she had been involved in some abusive and controlling relationships in the past and maybe these men needed to be looked into. But Laurie’s exes, for various reasons, were completely ruled out. From several people in the community concerned there could be a killer walking the streets of Laurel, well, Sheriff Linder tells me if detectives had enough evidence, they would have someone in custody. But regardless, that doesn’t mean you can ever let your guard down.
The once so tight community was now broken and scared, fearing that this might not be an isolated incident and maybe something could happen to someone else. One of the residents described Laurie’s death as profound and detrimental to the community as a whole. Nevertheless, everybody put their worry aside to come together for Laurie’s family and friends, raising money to help look after her dogs, support Justin, and donate towards the funeral costs. The police were able to find several locations where Laurie’s phone had pinged between midnight and 3 a.m. The casino was one, where her car was found, and where her body was found, and one near to Diego’s house. Diego’s house and that surrounding area had pings just before the location where she was found at, by which point she would have already been killed, and this was pretty damning evidence. More interesting still, while he was in the other bar in the hours before he was at the casino, he spent the evening pressuring random women to drive him home, including the lady working behind the bar. She refused several times and said she felt very uncomfortable with his harassing behavior.
On October 4th, detectives executed a search warrant at Diego’s residence. They collected the clothes he was seen wearing that night, some of which looked like they had been bleached as well as freshly washed. This stood out immediately as his room was full of dirty laundry. They also found a pair of soaking wet Nike shoes that had also just been washed. The tread of the shoes matched the print that was found inside Laurie’s car and near to her body. Detectives started going through Diego’s phone, and it turned out that just a couple of hours after Laurie had been killed, he made some interesting searches online: “How long do investigations last? How long do FBI investigations last? Is there a limit to how many years they can investigate someone?” He went to the station and gave the authorities a DNA sample, and then after this, he changed his story. He said that he and Laurie had spent some time talking in the car and they were getting on well. They then smoked some cigarettes and ended up having sex near his home. But he swore he hadn’t seen her after that. Officers still didn’t have enough to hold him, so he was allowed to go home.
Everything was processed quickly, and before long they had everything they needed. Diego’s DNA was a match to the DNA found on Laurie’s body and under her fingernails. Diego was called back in, where he would change his story for a final time. He was now claiming that he and Laurie had actually been in a relationship for over a year and they were just keeping it a secret, and that was why he had lied so much. “She always wanted to keep it quiet, but at the same time, I don’t know how to explain it, but every time that me and her had a relationship under profile, she always told me, she said to keep it quiet like nobody needs to know about this,” he said. But detectives went back over a year on both of their phones, and there was no evidence to suggest they had ever even talked before. This was corroborated by the casino cameras that showed Laurie asking for his ID and only talking to him to tell him they were closing. Their phones had never made contact or been in the same locations until that night.
On October 8th, just a week after Laurie Bray was reported missing, Diego Hernandez was placed under arrest in connection with her death. For some breaking news, the Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder says the suspect is now in custody tied to last week’s murder of a Laurel woman. 22-year-old Diego Hernandez was taken into custody at his home in Laurel around eight o’clock tonight. He’s now booked into the Yellowstone County Detention Center facing a homicide charge. It has been one week since the 57-year-old Bray left her late-night job at the Cedar Ridge casino and never made it home. “Large impact on the community. Everybody’s fears of course are heightened, awareness is heightened. You’ve seen incidences of where things that might have been bonding before now, you know, get looked at in a whole different light. We’re large enough to have resources, but we still have that small town feel. Very safe place to live. You have crime that that’s possible in any place.”
Two days later, he was charged with deliberate homicide. This came as such a shock to everybody in the area. Diego was well known and well liked. He always seemed polite, friendly, and quite quiet. His friends said he was down-to-earth and genuine, and this had left them blindsided. The police’s theory was this: given all the CCTV that seemed to show Laurie getting into the car with him willingly and not under duress indicated that Laurie had offered to give him a lift home as he had originally said, likely feeling sorry for him given how late it was. Once near his house, Diego had attempted to initiate something sexual and Laurie refused. A struggle then broke out, and he viciously attacked, sexually assaulted, and eventually strangled her. And the reason he was leading with the claim the pair had had consensual sex was because he knew the second his DNA was taken they would make the link, so decided to change the narrative. “The level of violence and brutality suffered by Miss Bray is astonishing. This was a violent crime and her end was violent and awful.” Additional charges made before coming as additional evidence comes forward. Diego would never say what happened and what if any conversations took place, but he denied ever harming her.
As word started to spread that an arrest had been made, a vigil for Laurie was held in her favorite park to walk her dogs. Money was still being raised, and a lot of people were donating to the charities she once did so much for. [Music] Bray was described by many tonight as a kind, loving woman who would do anything to help her friends. One in the crowd carried a sign saying, “Laurie is loved,” and some wore purple t-shirts with the message, “We will always love you,” written on them. Christy Salvinson was Bray’s next-door neighbor for three years. She didn’t realize Bray had so many people that cared for her. “I’ve come to learn that everybody in this community knew her and loved her. She was the greatest person. She would give her shirt off her back to free so you wouldn’t freeze. That’s just the type of person she was. The Laurel community, I’ve learned since this has happened, is a very tight-knit community. Everybody’s just coming together to light a candle in her honor and her memory.”
Diego Hernandez pleaded not guilty, and the now 24-year-old’s trial began in March of 2021. He was maintaining his innocence and still claiming the pair were in a secret relationship, something which angered her family and friends as they said this was simply not true. In opening statements, Diego’s defense attorney suggested that Laurie’s abandoned car may have been disturbed or contaminated before being searched by law enforcement, which meant the evidence in it had to be questioned. And she mentioned the methadone that was found in her system, something she did not have a prescription for. They put forward this to suggest if she was using methadone and not telling anyone, she could easily have been hiding a relationship with Diego—a theory the prosecution found ridiculous and nonsensical. The prosecution had a strong case and asked for DNA and forensic experts to testify. The jury walked through the crime scene and brutal murder of 57-year-old Laurie Bray with dozens of photos and testimony tying a 24-year-old Laurel man to her death.
Yellowstone County Sheriff’s detectives collected evidence from Bray’s car, including the leather from the back seat, along with fingernail clippings that came from Bray’s body. DNA supervisor for the State Crime Lab, Joseph Pasternak, ran the DNA tests and found traces of Hernandez’s DNA inside Bray’s fingernail clippings. Hernandez’s attorneys tried to poke holes in the DNA evidence by questioning the crime lab’s peer review process. The defense noted that the peer review given to the crime lab’s reports doesn’t rerun the tests; rather, the peer review is only a second look of the report done by other crime lab staff. “This to me almost looks like they’ve been bleached. The discoloration that was part of photographs I was still there. Some of the marks down below, and then to that side again, the same discoloration for each possible.” Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office detective Troy Shabinaw utilized Verizon Wireless RTT data to determine where Bray’s phone was on the night of October 1st. RTT stands for Range to Tower, which is what Verizon uses to connect cell towers with cell phones and determine their location. Shabinaw was also able to pinpoint where Bray’s car was found and the general area where her body was located. Cell phone geolocation analysis expert Michael Fegley also took the stand, concluding similar findings. He created a video representation using Google Earth to also show where Bray’s phone was the morning of October 1st. The data that was collected from Hernandez’s phone did not offer any useful information for detectives. Shabinaw suspects that Hernandez’s cell service had been ended prior to being picked up with Bray. A list of Bray’s phone records were obtained, determining that from a year prior to Bray’s murder, Bray and Hernandez had no contact via messaging or phone calls.
A side-by-side picture of Hernandez’s scratches and Bray’s beaten body shown to the jury that too horrific for television. Tiny Laurie did not stand a chance that night. They said the DNA found in Laurie‘s car, on her clothes, and under her fingernails had a 1 in 60 octillion chance of matching someone other than Diego. An octillion is one followed by 27 zeros. They also confirmed that the trousers found in his home had been bleached just a few hours after Laurie had died. They presented the phone data too, which also gave a clear timeline of which Diego was at the center. After several days, both sides rested their cases, and just two hours into their deliberations, the jury returned their verdict to the charge of deliberate homicide: guilty.
Diego Hernandez was found guilty. Before he was sentenced, he asked to take the stand himself. Things then took a sharp turn that nobody was expecting. The man who had been denying anything violent had happened for well over a year sat down and said, “I did it. I killed Laurie.” The room was stunned. The judge said he had never seen this happen in his four decades in a courtroom. That day, Diego Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 35 years to serve before he could be considered for parole. There is no indication whether or not he has made plans to appeal.
Laurie Bray’s case deeply affected many people, those that knew her well and those that had never met her before. The community felt a collective sense of loss, and one resident said it really changed a lot about the closeness and safeness everybody had always felt. They had all lost a really special person. Kathy said of Laurie, “There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for anybody, even if it caused a hardship on her. She was just a very tender, loving soul. No matter what anybody did, she saw the good in everybody.” [Music]
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