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How He Looks. Ray is 40, stands 5 ft. 10 in. tall, weighs about 175 Ibs., has blue eyes and brown hair. There is a small scar in the center of his forehead and another on the palm of his right hand. His left ear sticks out farther from his head than does his right. He habitually tugs at the left lobe. Sometimes he wears his hair in an unkempt burr; at other times it is longer and looks darker. His prison record was unremarkable except for his penchant for escape attempts. The Missouri warden, Harold Swenson, called Ray "extremely dangerous, cold-blooded and ruthless. There is no doubt in my mind that Ray could be a paid assassin." The FBI warns that Ray must be considered armed and dangerous. At week's end—somewhat redundantly —his name was added to the list of the nation's ten most-wanted men.
After Ray escaped from prison, the name Eric Gait first appeared in late summer 1967 in Birmingham, where he rented a room from Boarding-House Operator Peter Cherpes. On Aug. 30, Gait bought the used white Mustang found abandoned in an Atlanta parking lot after King's death. The man who sold him the car, Lumber Company Official William Paisley, was surprised to get his $2,000 initial asking price—and in cash. Early in September, Cherpes drove Gait to get an Alabama driver's license, and then Gait began to put the first of 19,000 miles on his car.
Shyness & Lies. Gait kept the room in Birmingham until Oct. 7, living so quietly that he built a reputation as a shy introvert, an uncommunicative loner who talked little, drank nothing and mixed not at all. His few references to himself were apparently lies. He said he had worked in a Louisiana shipyard and that he had been a merchant seaman, but union records do not show the name of Eric Gait.
By December, Gait was in Los Angeles, where he presented two distinctly different personalities. From here he also took at least one trip to New Orleans, coming back with enough money to spread it around. He bought 50 hours of dancing lessons, plunking down $465 in big bills. And he took a short course in bartending, paying $250 in advance. Dance Studio Manager Rod Arvidson remembers Gait's alligator shoes, lack of "coordination, and quiet disposition. Others add that he loved hillbilly music and spoke in Southern-accented, ungrammatical speech. Instructor Andreas Jorgensen said: "Every time the conversation got personal, he became quiet. He was a clam." Gait refused a bartending job upon his graduation from the course. Manager Tomas Reyes Lau recalls Gait's saying, "I have to see my brother. I'd better wait until I return to town."
The day before the course ended, Alabama's license bureau issued a duplicate driver's permit to Eric Gait, mailing it to a Birmingham address after a telephone request from Gait. It was not forwarded; the agency got its 250 fee March 6.