An Interview With Ray Godman

OCEAN CITY - With the charges dropped against accused murderer Christy Freeman last week, the local business owner and mother has not been shy about returning to her normal life in the community although she isn't saying much about the case on the advice of her attorneys.

However, her long-time boyfriend Ray Godman talked candidly with The Dispatch this week on a variety of subjects.

On plans for lawsuits •€¦

'I would like to do as many as eight. We did retain somebody from Baltimore and we're going to file in federal court. Right now, he doesn't know exactly what direction this will go. I think one suit should be filed against the town of Ocean City. They should have pulled the reins in on [OCPD Chief Bernadette] DiPino instead of sitting back and doing nothing.

'No lawyer in town wanted to handle this case, but they all could refer us to an attorney elsewhere. They have to work with the state's attorney and the police department everyday. You don't [expletive deleted] where you eat.

'It's better to get this in federal court anyway. The people on federal juries come from all over the country.'

On the death of the first fetus •€¦

'The medical examiner cited numerous medical factors to the death of that fetus including a history of stillborn death and an infection in the placenta. This one died several days before she miscarried. Fetal laws protect women who physically cause an abortion, but that doesn't apply here. That baby died several days before she miscarried that night. We keep hearing this should have been a test case, but it wouldn't have been a test case.

'They were looking for a 36-week-old fetus and it turned out to be 25 weeks old. That's when they realized they were wrong, but they tried to save face by trying her again. That's not how it works. You have to build a case, then make an arrest, not make an arrest and see if the pieces fit. They had eight separate search warrants. What did they miss the first seven times? The last warrant literally said •€˜looking for stuff.' What judge would issue a warrant to look for stuff?'

On the saving of fetal remains in bags in and around the house •€¦

'A lot of people, when they have miscarriages, they have a private place to keep the remains. Some put them in backyard graves and some get the remains cremated and save them in urns on their dresser. What's the real difference here? I know a lot of people don't do it this way, but it's not that different when you think about it. [State's Attorney Joel] Todd said it was medical waste and there should be a law against it. Well, if there was a law, everybody that has an Aunt Mary sitting on their mantle would be in trouble. That's why there is no law against it.'

On Freeman's confession •€¦

'After 12 hours of interrogation, Christy told them •€˜I'll say anything you want to hear as long as you leave Ray and the kids alone. If you want me to say it died in the toilet, then I'll say it died in the toilet.' But everybody took that out of context. All they heard was •€˜it died in the toilet.'

'Another thing, they told her the autopsy would be back in three days and you'll be out. She told them whatever they wanted to hear because she believed she would be cleared and out in three days.'

On the reaction in the community •€¦

'We've had the full gamut of reaction from the very positive to the very negative. I've had a lot of people, including some local cops, apologizing and saying how sorry they were for everything we've been through.

'On the other side, we've had some really negative reactions and most of that is coming from people who haven't been following the case or don't know the facts of the case. They're forming their opinion based on a quick sound bite on Bill O'Reilly or Nancy Grace. In fact, I had a death threat on the phone the other night after the segment on Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox.'

On the impact on their business •€¦

'We lost a whole lot of business, probably permanently. We were increasing the business by about $50,000 per year, but now we're back to year one. There is just so much misinformation out there.

'I solely blame DiPino for ruining our business. She knew full well when she jumped the gun with that first warrant for murder and manslaughter how it would devastate this business. She should have waited until she had all the facts before rushing to judgment. She is responsible for the decision to ruin our business. We worked five years to build this business and now it's knocked down to what it was when we started or worse.'