Ray “Cowboy Ray” Hoffstatter, 45, a mentally disabled Chicago resident, has been a staple on the nationally syndicated Mancow’s Morning Madhouse for the past 10 years. His on-air antics include mischievous phone scams; calling Old Navy to enlist, and skits like singing Gloria Gaynor’s legendary disco tune, "I Will Survive" on the air with his sidekick, "Crazy Mary".
Nearly two months after the accident, the case remains unsolved as police continue to search for the hit-and-run driver who, according to witnesses, may have been a female, with several female passengers in a small, dark colored vehicle.
On his show Wednesday, Mancow reminisced about the “beloved character” that he and his crew took in and “tried to take care of.” Replaying some of “Cowboy Ray’s” radio segments, Mancow’s outrage over the incident resurfaced as he expressed his frustration in not being able to find anyone with information on “the murder of Cowboy Ray.”
Witnesses at the scene of the accident claim that the car was traveling at approximately 80 miles per hour and the impact sounded like metal hitting metal. Hofstatter was hit so hard that his clothes and shoes flew off as he flew 20 feet in the air.
Mancow, who was away on a hunting trip at the time, said, “I rushed to get there…I had heard that he was near death…he was unrecognizable. I didn’t think he would make it through the night.”
There is a $13,000.00 reward being offered, much of it Mancow’s own money, for information leading to an arrest and conviction. For more information go to www.mancow.com
Mancow’s Morning Madhouse, syndicated by TRN-FM, is now heard in over two-dozen radio markets.
- Portions From a TRN-FM Press Release
