Queens murder suspect cuffed: South Carolina man booked for shooting ex-girlfriend in ambush at her home

Detectives arrested on Thursday the man they say allegedly followed his estranged girlfriend from South Carolina to Queens and shot her dead at her home last summer.

According to police sources, 23-year-old Deovryion Ray was extradited to New York after previously being cuffed in his home state on an assault charge. He was subsequently brought to the 115th Precinct stationhouse in Jackson Heights, where he was ultimately charged with the murder of 21-year-old Dashanna Donovan.

On Thursday afternoon, detectives escorted Ray out of the 115th Precinct stationhouse. He did not answer any reporters’ questions about the homicide, remaining silent as he was loaded into a police vehicle heading for Queens County Criminal Court House for arraignment.

“This was a calculated, cold-blooded murder of a young woman who was running for her life when she was gunned down,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said about the case on Jan. 15. “Our thoughts are with the victim’s loved ones as we seek justice. My office worked hand-in-hand with South Carolina officials to ensure that the defendant was extradited to New York to face the indictment charges.”

Police sources said Donovan had fled her Simpsonville, SC, home after allegedly suffering domestic abuse at the hands of Ray. She came to New York and took up residence at a home on the 2600 block of 96th Street in East Elmhurst.

But police sources allege that Ray tracked Donovan down and paid her a deadly visit on the night of Sept. 12, 2025. He allegedly confronted her as she sat in the residence’s backyard in an incident caught on surveillance camera, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said last year.

“She’s sitting back there, just hanging out, and suddenly she looks up. She sees our perpetrator running toward her. It seems, just from her reaction, she knows who the perpetrator is. The perpetrator has his left arm extended, holding a gun. She tries to run so frantically away from the scene, she actually runs out of her own shoes,” Kenny said. “She tries to get into the basement, where the perpetrator catches up to her and shoots her multiple times in the head, causing her demise.”

23-year-old Deovryion Ray has been charged with murder for killing his ex-girlfriend.Photo by Ramy Mahmoud

Officers from the 115th Precinct arrived at the 96th Street home at about 9:20 p.m. on Sept. 12 and found Donovan lying face down in a basement hallway in a pool of her own blood. She had suffered multiple gunshot wounds to her hand and upper body. Responding EMS units pronounced her dead at the scene.

According to Kenny, an extensive video canvas allegedly placed Ray in the area as early as 7 p.m. that night. He was seen walking around the area in a blue hoodie until he launched the attack.

At the time, Ray was wanted in his home state for domestic violence, police sources said.

Both the victim and the alleged perpetrator once worked together at Walmart, but she fled the relationship about six months before the murder and settled with her grandmother, according to sources. She was working an overnight shift at McDonald’s while in New York.

Police sources believe that Ray was angry that she had fled and sought revenge.

He is charged with murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. During his arraignment, Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant ordered Ray held without bail and to ruetrun to court on March 6. The suspect faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.