'Sex fantasy' murder caught on videotape
tiny dancer
'Sex fantasy' murder caught on videotape
Robert Hite
The Examiner
Richard D. Davis and Dena D. Riley are accused of killing one person and
apparently had plans to kill more in a spree of sexual assaults and murders.
Now they are on the run after at least twice eluding police officers.
The two are charged with the rape and murder of Marsha Spicer. Their last
known whereabouts - two days ago - are in eastern Missouri, and officials
say they are considered armed and dangerous.
"They had had designs and plans to sexually assault as well as kill women in
our community," Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Sanders said. "I
think to say that to intentionally videotape an assault and to preserve that
videotape so that it can be viewed by the defendants at a later time
involves a degree of coldness, calculation and depravity that is frankly
very shocking to us standing behind this podium."
Independence police officers spoke with Davis, 41, and Riley, 39, at his
home on May 17.
They noticed a notebook that Riley identified as belonging to Davis. It
contained references to "sexual desires," "choking" and "chasing." The word
"victim" was found several times. They also noticed a video camera set up in
the bedroom pointed toward the bed.
Davis and Riley denied knowing Spicer, 41, of Independence, and said she had
never been in the apartment.
Police did not make an arrest at the time, and Davis and Riley fled to
eastern Missouri before police returned with a warrant.
Information led the Missouri State Highway Patrol to apartment buildings in
Perryville, Mo., south of St. Louis. They spoke with Susan Summers about the
suspects.
Patrol spokesperson Al Nothum said officers interviewed her about Davis and
Riley Sunday afternoon.
"We find out (later) they were hiding in the a back room of her apartment,"
he said.
They escaped after the officers left.
Nothum said officers later arrested Summers, who is charged with two counts
of hindering a prosecution. It is unclear if Summers is the same person
Independence police were seeking as an unnamed, unknown person of interest.
The chase began early last Friday morning after Independence police
recovered evidence after serving a search warrant. Davis and Riley
videotaped at least part of the crime committed at his second-floor
apartment in the 1100 block of West Truman Road. Sanders said the tape
showed Spicer's arms bound and eyes taped shut while Davis and Riley
sexually abused, beat and suffocated her. Spicer appears to be drugged
during the assault and at times pleaded for them to stop. The date stamped
on the video tape is May 14.
Independence Police Chief Fred Mills said even the most hardened, seasoned
detectives had difficulty watching the tape.
Spicer was strangled. A fisherman found an open hole in the ground, like a
makeshift grave with a shovel and broken handle nearby, on May 14 in
Lafayette County. Police discovered Spicer's body in the grave on May 15.
Police information indicates Spicer met Davis and Riley through mutual
acquaintances. One of them is Athena Fagan, who describes herself as a good
friend of Spicer. The report says Spicer's niece told police that Spicer is
a prostitute.
Sanders said Davis and Riley face multiple life sentences if convicted.
They are both charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of
forcible sodomy, one count of forcible rape, one count of first-degree
assault and one count of kidnapping-facilitating felony; inflicting injury
and terrorizing. More charges are likely.
"We believe they should be considered armed and extremely dangerous," he
said. "These two individuals know they are wanted and continue to avoid
arrest."
Mills said some detectives worked 24 to 36 hours with little sleep in
pursuit of Davis and Riley.
"You never know how close you are, but we're looking just as hard as you
can," he said. "We're not going to stop until we have closure on this."
Sanders said interviews with other witnesses indicate that their criminal
intentions went beyond one victim.
He said officers, detectives and investigators from the Independence Police
Department, prosecutors from Jackson and Lafayette counties, Lafayette
County Sheriff's Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Rural
Missouri Case Squad are working on the case.
The prosecutors office's probable cause statement indicates Davis was
convicted of two felonies - sodomy involving physical injury/weapon and rape
with a weapon - that occurred in 1987. He has been out of jail for about 18
months.
All this came as a surprise to Carol Boydstom, who lives below Davis's
apartment on Truman Road.
"He seemed like a real nice guy," she said. "He did have a strange side to
him."
Boydstom moved into the apartment seven months ago. Davis already lived
there.
She said her opinion of him began to change when he made intimate advances
toward her and talked about the women he conquered. Boydstom said he bragged
about women 18 to 40 years old going to his apartment.
"He bragged he still had it," she said. "He was real flirtatious."
Davis's landlord said he had lived there about a year.
"He paid his rent on time," she said.
Anyone with information about Davis and Riley's whereabouts is encouraged to
call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS (8477) or 911.
http://www.examiner.net/stories/052306/new_052306002.shtml
tiny dancer
Published Tuesday, May 23, 2006
INDEPENDENCE (AP) - Authorities are searching for an Independence couple who
made a videotape of themselves beating and sexually assaulting a woman whose
body was later found in a shallow grave.
Jackson County prosecutors yesterday charged Richard D. Davis, 43, and Dena
D. Riley, 41, with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, kidnapping,
forcible rape and two counts of forcible sodomy in the death of Marsha
Spicer, 41.
A fisherman found Spicer's body last week in a shallow grave in Lafayette
County, north of Bates City.
According to court documents, investigators found a videotape in Davis'
Independence apartment showing the couple having a "graphically violent
sexual encounter" with Spicer.
On the tape, which police say is time-stamped at about 3 a.m. the day before
Spicer's body was found, Spicer is seen with her hands and eyes duct-taped,
and she appears drugged.
The court papers say she is beaten and strangled and appears to vomit as she
pleads with the couple to stop and let her go.
Police are focusing their search for the couple around Perryville in eastern
Missouri, where they are believed to have recently visited a woman they
knew. The woman has been arrested on charges of interfering with an
investigation.
The court papers said Davis and Riley looked for women to participate in
three-way sex. An acquaintance of Davis told investigators that he told her
recently that he and Riley were planning to go further and begin killing
women.
Investigators said they discovered a notebook belonging to Davis that
referred to "sexual desires" and "choking" and "chasing."
Davis was recently paroled after serving almost 18 years in state prison for
1987 convictions for felony sodomy and rape.
According to the documents, detectives believe Spicer was "choked from
behind, causing trauma to the throat. She also inhaled water into the lungs
but did not drown."
Davis and Riley told police on Wednesday that they didn't know Spicer. It
was during that interview at Davis's apartment that detectives said they
noticed a camcorder aimed at the couple's bed. The video was retrieved on
Friday through a search warrant.
Spicer's former husband, Steven Spicer, said she had struggled with drug
abuse in the past. Another family member told police she had engaged in
prostitution.
"I tried to get some help," Steven Spicer told The Kansas City Star. "...
She didn't deserve what happened to her."
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/May/20060523News026.asp