On this day, June 8, in 1968, escaped convict James Earl Ray was arrested in London for the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
A year earlier, Ray had escaped a Missouri prison by hiding in a box loaded with bread that was transferred from the prison bakery.
In April 1968, Ray rented a room near King’s hotel. King was shot by a sniper as he stood on the balcony outside his room. Two months later, Ray was captured at Heathrow Airport while trying to leave for South Africa. Ray pleaded guilty to King’s murder and was sentenced to 99 years. He died in 1998. – Scott McCabe
