He was a West Oakland church deacon who allegedly had a secret life. Now the murders have come to light, police say

OAKLAND — A West Oakland church leader had a sinister, secret past, authorities say.

For years, the gruesome deaths of two women — Latrelle Lindsay in Union City and Winifred Douglas in Vallejo — remained unsolved. They were killed 16 years apart and nearly 50 miles away from each other, but the deaths had at least one thing in common: the killer’s DNA, investigators say.

It took decades for detectives to piece together their case. When a break finally came in 2022, it led investigators to a quaint, steepled church painted white on Market Street in West Oakland, according to court records.

Their suspect was none other than the church’s deacon — James Ray Gary, who was then serving as the head of the Olive Branch Missionary Baptist Church, which he helped his father build in the late 196