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Revision as of 04:14, 16 January 2019
Raymond "Ray" Speltzer is a Character on Showtime's series DEXTER.
Ray is a dangerously unstable serial killer, who has a bizarre killing ritual. He chases women through a self-constructed maze, while wearing a horned helmet. He then brutally beats them to death, and rips off their earrings to keep as trophies.
Description
Ray is a tall Caucasian male with a fit, muscular build. His body is fairly ripped, as he exercises daily at a local gym and injects steroids. He normally allows his hair to grow to a moderate length, although he shaves it off when he's ready to kill again.
His casual clothing consists of short-sleeved shirts and jeans, aside from workout clothes. For his job as a gravedigger in a cemetery, he wears a uniform.
During his kill ritual, he wears a black bull-horned helmet that covers a portion of his head around his skull. While his eyes and mouth can be seen clearly through the helmet, his nose is not. In addition to this helmet, he has a bull-horned mask (with the top revealing his cranium) designed in a similar fashion. He also wears a dark outfit, similar to a worker's jumpsuit.
Strength
Speltzer is a very muscular, rather brutish guy who has notable strength. He can normally overpower his adversaries, and does not rely on martial arts or close-quarters combat. During his fight with Dexter Morgan, it is shown that Dexter is more skilled in combat than Speltzer. Although Dexter is forcefully attacked by Speltzer, he is able to elbow Speltzer in the back, slam him around the camper, and pin him to the floor. It ends when Speltzer uses his strength to grab a nearby object and knock Dexter unconscious.
Personality
Ray is a smug, high-strung man, who has a fascination in stalking and murdering women. According to Debra Morgan, he selects his victims based on how they appear in comparison to his own mother (who she felt he wanted to sleep with). He uses his strength effectively in hunting down and brutally beating his victims to death.
He takes joy in the hunt, often grinning behind the mask he wears to make himself resemble a Minotaur in his handmade mazes. He enjoys a challenge and states that he, "likes it when they're strong." This does not work with Dexter, however, who escapes from his master-maze, and takes out Speltzer soon afterwards.
In regards to his victims, he has no respect for them, as he is seen at Melanie Garrett's funeral, smirking and taunting Lieutenant Debra Morgan.
Summary
Ray appears around the time Debra Morgan discovers the truth about her brother, Dexter - that he's a Serial killer. The two are at odds, with Dexter trying to work his way past the growing gap between them while Deb refuses to accept what Dexter does. In an attempt to win her favor (and satisfy his need with a worthy kill, as the pressure she's placed on him is causing delusional imagery), he brings out a file on a potential killer named Ray Speltzer.
Dexter views Ray as a perfect kill and for once in his life, brings Debra in on his methods of tracking his victims while trying to locate evidence to be certain. Debra is still opposed to the idea of what he does, however this changes when she becomes more and more suspicious about Ray with her brother's common tinkering with her "lizard brain".
Ray lures Melanie Garrett to his home, making it seem like he intends to sleep with her but soon turns the tables by bringing her into his maze. He proceeds to stalk her slowly, while wearing his helmet...following her around his construction. Debra decided earlier that night to swing by his house to keep an eye on Ray, following her hunch. As she's about to leave she takes one last look at the house seeing rapidly flashing lights within the windows, sparking her curiosity. She approaches the house and knocks on the door, before kicking it when she hears loud screams, in search for Ray and his potential victim. She eventually encounters Ray, who knocks her down along with her gun (which slides under some barbed wire, which she injures her arm under). Ray stands above her, ready to take her life, only for Dexter to arrive from behind and seemingly knock him out with a plank. Debra tells him to search for Melanie and they find her dead, a victim brutally beaten by Speltzer. Ray uses this time to escape and quickly takes off in his car...
- "Run"
Debra and Miami Metro Homicide are informed that Speltzer was arrested after it took several officers to take him down. Sergeant Angel Batista initially speaks with Ray in the interrogation room, trying to ease him up before Debra comes in to turn the tables. Once she arrives, she exploits Ray by accurately reading his reason for the murders - his mother. After she hints at a possible sexual infatuation from Ray towards his mother, he stands up, confessing to the murder of Melanie, while also wishing that he killed Debra when he had the chance. Debra smirks as she leaves, feeling that they've won.
A DVD later shows however (recorded via a police officer's dashcam), that the officers who made the arrest on Speltzer brutally beat him before forcing him to "accept his rights", which based on the evidence in the video tape, he did not do verbally (though Detective Joey Quinn claims that he nodded in acceptance). With that said, the confession was thrown out the window and the judge let him walk. Debra's pure frustration from this moment builds, forcing her to walk out.
Dexter decides it's time to take down Speltzer, first examining his RV (which had been impounded but was released following the confession being thrown out) to turn it into a suitable (and portable) kill room, then finding Speltzer's trophies. However, what he did not expect to find was Speltzer returning to his camper early. Before Dexter could react, Speltzer tackled him, overpowering him rather quickly, i.e. throwing him around the camper (even into the ceiling). Although Dexter was able to use his Jiu-Jitsu techniques to throw Speltzer down twice, the latter knocked Dexter out with a nearby object, while down.
Dexter awakens in an abandoned building, with it being elaborately constructed into a maze. Dexter questioned if this maze was his masterpiece like his own house was before. Dexter notices an envelope tied to the grating with a letter that simply says "Run", before a light pops on that catches Dexter by surprise. He moves down the hallway a bit, turning to see Speltzer calmly walk out with his bullhorned helmet on while carrying an ax. Dexter realizes that pitted against a psychopath with an ax, his chances of survival are better if he runs, so he moves swiftly through the maze...remaining a step ahead of his pursuer.
After displaying some of his athletic abilities by climbing down some elevator cables, Dexter comes across an obscure room filled with mannequins and strobe lights to impair the senses. He moves slowly through the lifeless bodies, finding a nearby pole to use as a weapon when he spots what he believes to be Ray standing in the distance. He approaches slowly with weapon in hand ready to strike what is only a mannequin wearing the bullhorned helmet, and instinctively dodges out of the way before being nearly struck from behind with the ax. Dexter knocks down Speltzer and pins him, saying that he could really use a shower, before Ray smirks and tosses him off (seemingly enjoying the hunt). Before Dexter can locate him, Ray runs off again and Dexter moves deeper into the maze.
When Dexter ends up on another stairwell, he looks to see the next floor down and figures that Ray is trying to get him deeper and deeper into the maze. Rather than risk his life falling for this trap, Dexter decides to go up instead (breaking free some pallets used to block off the top of the stairwell). He makes it out onto the roof, with Ray following close behind and then jumps down to a roof below, escaping on a truck as he makes his way to the street.
At Melanie Garrett's funeral, Debra Morgan can be seen attending, along with Angel Batista. As she's about to leave, she notices Speltzer standing calmly with a smug look on his face in the distance, and charges in his direction. Her rage takes the better of her as he insults her and taunts her. Debra later talks to her brother, becoming more and more distraught over the failure in the system, capturing this cold-blooded murderer and him disgracing Melanie by appearing at her funeral, smiling as her coffin is driven away. She says that in her rage, she wanted to kill him, only to think about what her brother is and feels that he's trying to make a point here about all of this that everyone wants someone dead. She sits there, thinking to herself...asking if it will ever get easier. After the two share some final words, she leaves the door open for him to leave.
Dexter later arrives at the Cemetery that night, exposing himself to lure Ray closer into a trap. At an open grave, he leaves a note that says "Stay" which while reading distracts him long enough for Dexter to sneak up behind and strike him in the back of the head with a shovel (which breaks into the form of a stake, which is later used to kill Speltzer), forcing him to fall into the pit. He drags Ray into the Morgue, tying him down to a table (that leads directly into the cremation vault). As Ray wakes up, he struggles violently to escape, while Dexter explains his situation with Deb and how Ray was important in trying to bring them closer together after splitting so far apart.
After turning the fires of the cremation vault on, as if ready to kill him with the flames, Ray screams over and over about how he's going to kill Dexter. He jokingly mocks Ray, eventually using the stake he had in hand to pierce his heart and kill him. With his Dark Passenger pleased, Dexter turns to something else. Due to his concern about being discovered, combined with the problems with his sister, Dexter chooses not to take a blood slide of Speltzer. Feeling that he needs to move on from them, Dexter places his blood slide box on Speltzer's body, sending it to the cremation vault with his latest victim, where both are burned to ash.
Outside, Dexter meets with his sister, whom he reveals the truth to - that he just killed Speltzer. She asks if he did it for her and he says no, to where she watches the smoke with a look of awe. He asks how that made her feel and she says that she is glad, before asking what that makes her. Dexter simply says "human".
Victims
- Ann Faig
- Nina Fleischer
- Melanie Garrett
Attempted Victims
Trivia
- Speltzer shares a theme used by The Trinity Killer. The music is played in "Buck the System" as Dexter realizes that Debra is heading into Speltzer's house and is in danger.
- Perhaps Speltzer's inspiration for his killing ritual was connected to the Greek story of "Theseus and the Minotaur" because of the bullhorn, maze, and sacrifices.
- In late 1800, serial killer Henry Holmes built his own maze with the worst part at the bottom. Similarly, Speltzer wanted to lead Dexter down to the floors below. Instead, Dexter does the opposite and goes up and out, thus escaping the maze. It's unknown what traps Speltzer had laying in wait in the floors below.
Related Pages
Gallery
