Walker Railey

Peggy Railey, the former wife of ex-Rev. Walker Railey with First United Methodist Church of Dallas (Downtown), is reported to have died a few days ago. The DMN called attention to this story in the Tyler Morning Telegraph about her death.

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Longtime neighborhood residents will recall that Ms. Railey lived with her husband in Lake Highlands in 1987, when he was accused of attempted to strangle her so that he could move on to a mistress, Lucy Papillon. Mrs. Railey never regained consciousness. Railey was tried and acquitted in 1993, and the News points out that the last time he surfaced was in 2005 in Los Angeles, when he was living near Papillon, who also had moved to California.

If you Google the name “Walker Railey”, you’ll find all kinds of information about the heinous and never-solved crime. At the time of the attack, the Raileys had two children (now about 29 and 26). Over the years, much was written about Railey, his mental state, how he might have carried out the attack and how it impacted the lives of his children and his wife’s parents, who cared for their daughter and the children for years.

All in all, it’s a sad story all the way around.