out that he and his family had murdered his father. growing up we didn t have what you d say a normal life. i don t know what normal would be though, so i mean i would characterize it as dysfunctional. my dad was an alcoholic. he would rant and rave from the time he got up. on a number of occasions, at least a dozen occasions, my mom would call the hammond police department. he was violent? oh, yeah. mom would have maybe a black eye, bloody nose, bloody lip. he told us his mother wasn t the only target of his father s violence. he was, too. but it wasn t his idea to kill him. i was doing some algebra homework, sitting in my room. my sister walked in, made a comment about dad was really screwing her life up, and we had to do something and all this. and i didn t really think she was serious or anything like this, you know. his sister, who was nine years older, and her husband, presented a plan. the murder would take place after his father went to bed. it was decided, well,
that part out. yeah. i kind of glossed over that. okay, well, go back. all right. well, after the stabbing had occurred, you know, my brother-in-law asked, he said, do we have an ax, and i said no. we used to have one in the garage. so we went out there, and he picked out a crosscut saw and a pruning saw. he said, those will do. i m like, i have no idea what s going on at this time. and so we go back in there, and he dismembers the body. where? head, arm, arm, torso, leg, leg. where? in the bedroom. on the bed? on the floor of the bedroom. on the floor of the bedroom. wasn t that messy? yeah, it was pretty messy. it was a bizarre family situation behind paul s father s murder. the brother-in-law is convicted and given the electric chair. he s the last man to die in the electric chair. everything went wrong about that
with you and your brother when ray gets out? sitting down and going for a nice little walk with him. being able to look at him eyeball to eyeball and talk to him, you know. various things, you know. family. he s got a little girl. he s a grandpa now. i don t have no kids where he does. i d like to see him be able to be a good father to his daughter and a good grandpa. sure, that would be nice. obviously i ll get choked up as soon as i see him, no doubt. are you going to make it this time staying out? yeah, i believe i m going to make it, no doubt. coming up, ray slagle approaches his release date. i have no doubt in my mind. you know, i m going to do it. [ bleep ]. this is dead. but his final hours are consumed by doubt. i started i m practically having a panic attack. i m like, man, am i going to make it?
priorities when he was last a free man. that was me just a few months before i got locked up. wow. yeah, i was in my senior year of high school when i got locked up. are you ready for your picture? yeah. all right. when we met him at indiana state prison, he was 43, had served 26 years of a 55-year sentence and was working as the visiting room photographer. all right, look at me. we went digital about three months ago. still kind of learning it. there s a lot of things with the 35 millimeter, you know, i was accustomed to. when i first met paul he came up to me because i had a little digital camera and paul had taken photographs of people on family days and whatnot. he had a million questions about photography and, you know, telling me everything he did. so for me he was like one of the most harmless people at the prison. have a good one. thanks, paul. all right. with his very simple, sweet demeanor, i was shocked to find
know, from my experience of talking to other guys that have gotten out, the ones that have the most trouble don t have family to go to or anything. i have family. my mom, but she s locked up herself. so i m on my own. i need to do whatever i can because nothing is free anymore. once he arrived at the work release facility, he met with sergeant david gowan for an orientation. he soon discovered his new life wouldn t start as quickly as he had hoped. right back here in the visiting room. now, the first two weeks you need to calm down, take it easy, okay, get acclimated to the facility, learn what s going on, get used to the schedules, the routines, and things of that nature. after the two weeks, they re going to go ahead and they re going to give you a counselor orientation. you cannot go out job seeking until that counselor orientation is done.