Palm Coast man murdered: Wife, sons on trial accused of tampering with evidence
Who fatally stabbed Palm Coast resident David Rainey and dumped his body in a canal while he was vacationing with family in Dixie County three years ago?
That question remains unanswered. And no one has been charged in the 54-year-old's murder.
But Rainey’s widow, Cindy Sue Rainey, 49, and their two sons, Bailey Rainey, 22, and Jack Rainey, 20, went on trial Monday in Dixie County charged with tampering with evidence described as blood, DNA, towels or a knife, according to court records.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed in Flagler County Circuit Court on behalf of the victim claimed he met a violent end after learning of a love triangle. The lawsuit claimed Cindy Rainey was having an affair with her boss, real estate broker Jeff Sawyer of Better Buy Realty in Palm Coast.
Sawyer was also staying in the vacation home at the time of David Rainey's death. The lawsuit accused Rainey's wife, two sons, Sawyer, and one other guest of killing him while they were vacationing in Dixie County.
They deny the allegation. And Sawyer filed a counter-claim accusing David Rainey of trying to kill him.
Sawyer said little when reached by phone Friday.
“Everything is allegation and I have nothing to comment,” Sawyer said.
The wrongful death lawsuit and a second lawsuit were dismissed this summer and did not go to trial.
Suzanne Rainey, David Rainey's sister, said in a phone interview that a separate probate case was settled with the split of just under $1.2 million in life insurance proceeds.
“We decided to settle it because we were hoping that Cindy would use the money that she got from the proceeds to bail the boys out of jail which she never did,” Suzanne Rainey said.
She added that they did not tell her to bail them out.
Cindy Sue Rainey was booked into the Dixie County jail on Nov. 2, 2023, and released on Dec. 5, 2023, after posting $250,000 bond.
But her two sons remain held on $250,000 bond each in the Dixie County jail since November 2. Bailey Rainey, of Palm Coast, was arrested Oct. 25 and transferred to Dixie County. Jack Rainey was arrested the same day in Orlando.
David Rainey goes missing
On Sunday morning, July 25, 2021, Cindy Rainey reported her husband missing. She told deputies that he walked away from the rental house Saturday evening after the couple had an argument. She said her husband left behind his glasses, wallet and cellphone.
After an extensive search, deputies found him Sunday evening in a canal.
In the hours before his death, David Rainey learned Sawyer and Cindy Rainey “had been for some period of time, engaged in an extramarital affair" and a “bloody altercation ensued” according to the wrongful death lawsuit.
Eleanor Coker, Bailey Rainey's girlfriend, called 911 “seeking emergency medical services for Sawyer, who had been injured and was bleeding,” the suit continues. It alleges that Rainey's wife, two sons, and Sawyer and Coker disposed of Rainey’s body in the canal behind the vacation rental.
“During the altercation, defendant Cindy Rainey unlawfully and intentionally killed David W. Rainey, resulting in his wrongful death,” according to the lawsuit which repeats the line for the couple’s two sons, for Sawyer and for Coker. The claims against Coker were dismissed in February.
In the counterclaim, Sawyer alleges that David Rainey “flew into a homicidal rage and willfully broke through a closed bathroom door and maliciously assaulted and stabbed the indisposed and unarmed Mr. Sawyer with a knife.”
Sawyer suffered “severe and life-threatening defensive wounds to both arms” requiring emergency surgery, the counterclaim states.
Dixie County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sgt. Amy Evans declined to comment on the murder case Friday, saying the investigation remained open.
Suzanne Rainey said her brother was a welder who traveled all around the world for his job repairing powerplants.
"It’s a very specific skill. There’s not a lot of people that do it and he was very good at it," she said.
She, along with some other family members, will be attending the trial in Dixie County.
She said: “I think it’s going to be very emotional … . And difficult.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Slain Palm Coast man's wife, sons on trial in evidence-tampering case
