The quiet, rolling hills of Emmerdale rarely stay peaceful for long, and this week the village was rocked by a grisly murder that’s left viewers and residents alike hunting for answers. On January 5, 2026, the long-running ITV soap unleashed a jaw-dropping twist: the death of Ray Walters, a villain whose dark deeds had haunted the Dales since his arrival last year. The episode, available early on ITVX and YouTube and later airing on ITV1, plunged fans straight into the heart of a classic whodunnit, with the body of Ray being dragged away by an unseen assailant as the sun rose over the village.
Ray Walters, portrayed by Joe Absolom, burst onto Emmerdale’s scene in 2025 as a seemingly innocuous farm machinery salesman. But as viewers soon discovered, he was anything but. According to Radio Times and The Mirror, Ray quickly revealed his true colors as a manipulative drug dealer, ensnaring local teenagers Dylan and April Windsor into his criminal enterprise. Under the guise of repaying a fictitious debt, Ray forced the teens into increasingly dangerous situations, even coercing April into meeting with men like Callum—one of whom attempted to assault her when she refused to go through with his demands.
The mastermind behind Ray’s operation was none other than his adoptive mother, Celia Daniels. As reported by ITV and The Mirror, Celia ran a modern slavery scheme on her farm, where missing villager Bear Wolf was discovered working in harrowing conditions. Celia’s ruthless ambition knew no limits: when Dylan balked at her plan to make him "the new Ray," she revealed the full extent of their criminal operation, forcing both Dylan and April to the brink.
April’s eventual confession to her parents, Marlon Dingle and Rhona Goskirk, set off a chain of events that would spell doom for both Celia and Ray. But before Marlon and Rhona could involve the police, Celia intervened—prompting Ray to run Dylan over in a chilling attempt to silence him. The plot thickened further when Celia, desperate to escape mounting scrutiny, ordered Ray to kill April while she herself targeted Bear. Instead, Ray turned on Celia, stabbing her to death in their kitchen in a final, desperate bid for freedom.
Hoping to start anew, Ray rushed to Laurel Thomas, his romantic interest, only to find that the truth of his actions had already reached her. Laurel, sickened by the revelations, rejected Ray, telling him their relationship was over. According to The Sun and Radio Times, Ray’s last hope vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and his list of enemies grew longer by the minute.
Monday’s episode wasted no time in setting the stage for high drama. As villagers went about their morning routines, the camera cut to the outskirts of the village, where Ray’s lifeless body was dragged across the floor, half-wrapped in a bag. His eyes, wide open in shock and terror, hinted at a violent and unexpected end. The identity of his killer remained a mystery, but the suspects were plentiful—and each had their own reasons for wanting Ray gone.
Suspicion quickly fell on several key figures. Rhona Goskirk was seen making a furtive phone call, asking, "Have you done it?"—a line that sent social media into a frenzy, as quoted by The Mirror. Marlon Dingle, her husband, acted shifty and hid his phone, later claiming he’d spent the morning searching for April, who had vanished after a confrontation with Ray in the woods. April herself returned home, visibly shaken and secretive, having been dropped off by Ross Barton, who warned her not to mention their meeting to anyone. Meanwhile, Laurel Thomas was caught cleaning a pair of scissors, her hands trembling, while Ross was seen with a gun in his car.
April’s trauma was laid bare as she tearfully admitted to Rhona and Marlon that she struggled with the knowledge of having "killed a man," unaware that Callum—another of Ray’s victims—had survived. The villagers’ guilt and anxiety were palpable, fueling speculation that any one of them—or perhaps someone else entirely—could have struck the fatal blow. As The Mirror noted, fans took to social media in droves, with one viewer writing, "So... Ray is dead... at least 5 people acted shifty as hell and one of them might have killed him... also where is Dylan?... who was on the phone with Rhona? Why did Ross have a gun in his car? Ahhhh I have so many questions this was a great episode."
Theories abounded online. Some suspected Dylan, haunted by Celia’s attempt to groom him into Ray’s successor, might have snapped. Others pointed to Bear Wolf, recently freed from forced labor, or even Arthur Thomas, whose connection to the main players remained tantalizingly ambiguous. As The Sun and The Mirror both reported, the show’s writers have masterfully set up a classic soap opera whodunnit, with at least five main suspects—April Windsor, Rhona Goskirk, Marlon Dingle, Ross Barton, and Laurel Thomas—all under the microscope.
The emotional fallout was immediate. April, traumatized by her ordeal and the lies she’d been forced to tell, revealed that Ray had given her money to run away so Celia would believe she was dead. Ross Barton’s role in her return, and his insistence on secrecy, only deepened the mystery. Laurel’s heartbreak and guilt, evident as she sobbed while cleaning the scissors, suggested she was far from at peace with recent events.
For actor Joe Absolom, Ray’s shocking demise marks the end of a memorable run. According to ITV and Radio Times, Absolom filmed his final scenes in late 2025, with news of his departure leaking just days before the episode aired. Fans, meanwhile, expressed mixed emotions—some lamenting the loss of a compelling villain, others relieved to see justice, however murky, finally served. As one viewer posted online, "I’m shocked about Ray. I really thought the writers were angling for a redemption arc for him."
With the murder investigation only just beginning, Emmerdale’s writers have left fans with more questions than answers. Who killed Ray Walters? Was it a crime of passion, revenge, or self-defense? Or could the real culprit be someone no one suspects? As the village reels from this latest tragedy, one thing is certain: life in Emmerdale will never be the same.
Emmerdale continues weeknights on ITV1 and streams on ITVX, promising more twists as the hunt for Ray’s killer intensifies. For now, the Dales remain shrouded in suspicion, and viewers are left eagerly awaiting the next clue in this gripping saga.
