Earlier this month, Kansas police arrested a suspect in connection with two cold-case murders in the 1990s.
The Kansas City Star reported that Gary Davis Sr., 52, remained at large despite the FBI notifying Kansas City police of a DNA match in 2003. Davis, a long-haul trucker, has since been charged with the 1996 death of Pearl Barnes and the beating death of Christina King, 26, which occurred two years later.
The Kansas City Star reported that in 2003, the FBI informed Kansas City police that Davis’ DNA matched evidence recovered from King’s crime scene. King was found fatally beaten behind an abandoned building in 1998.
In 2001, Davis was convicted of domestic aggravated battery and burglary — resulting in his DNA being entered into the national Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS.
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Davis was questioned 14 months after his DNA was linked to King’s death, though it is unclear why he remained free for 20 years. Decades earlier, an officer pointed out how Davis was convicted of pummeling a woman in a manner similar to King’s beating death, according to The Kansas City Star.
The police’s cold case unit, which was created in 2022, led to cops revisiting the case and linking Davis to Barnes’ murder. Fox News reported that Barnes was found fatally stabbed in a vacant home in 1996.
Police do not believe Davis had any connection to the two women. They also suspect Davis is responsible for more slayings.
Davis, who was arrested on September 15, is charged with second-degree murder. Police told The Kansas City Star they have sent his DNA for testing in two more unsolved homicides.
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