Bio 

Tracy Allen Hampton was born on November 2, 1970. At the time of the murders, Hampton was staying at a house on East Roberts Road in Phoenix, Arizona, with Charles Findley and Findley’s girlfriend, Tanya Ramsdell. Ramsdell was five months pregnant.

Court records identify Hampton as a white supremacist. Reports and trial evidence described tattoos on his body that included skulls and slogans such as “White power.” Testimony also connected him to racist beliefs and alleged Aryan Brotherhood affiliation.

The available record shows that Hampton had been homeless before Findley’s family befriended him. He later stayed in the Phoenix home where the murders occurred.

Murder Story

On May 16, 2001, two Arizona Department of Public Safety officers went to the home on East Roberts Road in Phoenix to serve a traffic ticket on Tracy Allen Hampton. Hampton was not there. Charles Findley was present and showed the officers a photograph of Hampton, making clear that he was not the man they were looking for. The officers left.

The next morning, May 17, 2001, Misty Ross and Shaun Geeslin went to the home where Hampton was staying. Hampton told Geeslin that police had come to the house and that Findley had provided information about him. Hampton said he intended to confront Findley.

During the morning, Hampton, Findley, Ross, Geeslin, Tim Wallace, and a woman identified as Stephanie smoked methamphetamine inside the home. Wallace and Stephanie later left.

At around noon, Hampton returned to the house with Geeslin. Findley was in a back room, kneeling on the floor. Hampton turned on a CD player at a loud volume, walked in front of Findley, called his name, and shot him in the forehead.

After killing Findley, Hampton went to the bedroom where Tanya Ramsdell was sleeping. He forced open the door, walked to the bed, and shot her in the head. Ramsdell and her unborn daughter died as a result.

According to testimony from jailhouse informant George Ridley, Hampton later said he killed Findley because Findley was a “rat.” Ridley also testified that Hampton said he killed Ramsdell because of racist beliefs involving the race of her unborn child’s father.

The State charged Hampton with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Charles Findley and Tanya Ramsdell, and one count of manslaughter for the death of Ramsdell’s unborn child. On May 2, 2002, a jury found Hampton guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of manslaughter.

The sentencing process was affected by the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Ring v. Arizona, which required juries, rather than judges, to find aggravating factors necessary for the death penalty. Because of that ruling, a new jury handled the aggravation and penalty phases.

The sentencing jury found that both murders were committed during the commission of another homicide. The jury also found that the murder of Tanya Ramsdell was committed in an especially heinous or depraved manner.

The jury unanimously determined that the mitigating evidence was not strong enough to call for leniency. On January 24, 2003, the superior court imposed two death sentences for the murders of Findley and Ramsdell. Hampton also received an aggravated sentence of 12.5 years for manslaughter in the death of Ramsdell’s unborn child, to run consecutively to the death sentences.

Hampton appealed his convictions and sentences. In 2006, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed his murder convictions, manslaughter conviction, and death sentences.

Hampton later pursued federal habeas relief. In 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of his federal habeas petition, leaving his convictions and death sentences in place. Tracy Allen Hampton remains on Arizona death row.