Bobby Lee Cutts

Background

Bobby Lee Cutts, Jr. was a police officer in the Canton, Ohio Police Department. He was the father of Jessie Marie Davis’s 2½-year-old son and unborn daughter, and he was Davis’s boyfriend.

Jessie Marie Davis (1981, Waco — June 14, 2007, Lake Township) was a near-term pregnant 26-year-old Ohio woman. She was first reported missing from her Lake Township home on June 13, 2007.

At the time of her disappearance, Davis was a resident of Lake Township in Stark County, Ohio.

Cutts (b. May 21, 1977 in Canton) was the son of Renee Horne and Bobby Cutts, Sr. He was married to another woman at the time, from whom he was separated. According to Cutts, the couple had discussed a divorce. His wife formally filed for divorce four days after his arrest.

Other allegations of abuse had previously been leveled against Cutts in Stark county.

For much of the period leading to the discovery of the body, local law enforcement told the news media that Cutts was not a suspect, nor even a “person of interest”.

At the time of his arrest, Cutts was a resident of Plain Township in Stark County.

Davis’s sister, Whitney Davis, and Davis’s mother, Patricia Porter, attended the funeral.

Davis’s mother described Davis as a committed God-fearing person after doing overseas missionary work, and said at some point “she took a wrong turn somewhere”. Porter said Davis realized in church a few weeks ago that she needed to reform her life.

The offence

Davis was last seen shopping at Acme Fresh Market, a local grocery store.

Investigators believed Davis was murdered on June 14, but confirmation of this as well as the precise means of death awaited the results of forensic tests.

Cutts maintained Davis’s death was the result of an accidental elbow to the neck.

During trial, prosecutors charged that Cutts buckled under the financial pressure of additional child support, killed Davis, and then created a cover story to try to get away with it.

According to testimony described during trial, Cutts rolled Davis’s body in a comforter and dumped it in a park, leaving toddler son Blake in the house alone at the crime scene in a soiled diaper.

Blake had been left in the home while Davis’s body was disposed of elsewhere.

Investigation

A search of the area involving “thousands of volunteers” including members of Texas EquuSearch was launched after Davis was reported missing.

On June 23, Davis’s body was recovered in a wooded area in neighboring Summit County, in Hampton Hills Metro Park, a park surrounded by but distinct from Cuyahoga Valley National Park, in the vicinity of Cuyahoga Falls.

The post-mortem was performed by the Summit County authorities (as this is where the body was recovered). Her body was reported to be in an “advanced state of decomposition”. The autopsy was performed the following day, confirming her identity.

Bob Budgake, director of the Stark-Summit County crime lab, indicated that the lab was “working overtime and weekends to process evidence from the Jessie Davis case, two other recent murders and other investigations.”

The post-mortem and forensic processing awaited confirmation about the precise means of death.

The first reliable website to pin down the widely reported rumor that Cutts had assisted in locating the body of Davis was that of America’s Most Wanted. The statement attributed to America’s Most Wanted was:

“AMW sources have confirmed that Bobby Cutts Jr., Jessie's boyfriend and the father of her 2-year-old son Blake, led law enforcement to the body.”

After the sentencing, prosecutors told reporters that Cutts led authorities to Davis’s body, but no deal was made in return.

Disappearance and recovery

Davis was last seen shopping at Acme Fresh Market.

Her mother reported her missing on June 13, 2007, when she found her 2-year-old grandson home alone, with bleach spilled on the floor and furniture broken and overturned.

In televised reports, Davis’s mother reported that the 2-year-old kept stating, “Mommy broke the table” and “Mommy's in the rug”.

Investigators believed Davis was murdered on June 14, and her body was recovered on June 23.

Davis’s body and that of her unborn child were found 10 days later at a state park in northeastern Ohio.

Arrest

On June 23, 2007, Bobby Lee Cutts, Jr., the father of her 2½-year-old son and unborn daughter, was charged in the case.

Cutts was arrested and charged with two counts of murder.

At the time of Cutts’s arrest, he was suspended without pay from the Canton Police Department; previously, he had been on paid administrative leave.

Cutts was arraigned on June 25.

Other person charged

Myisha Lynne Ferrell, a high-school friend of Cutts, was also later charged.

On June 23, the police raided Ferrell’s apartment, where they seized cleaning supplies and duct tape, among other things.

At the time of her arrest, Ferrell was employed part time at a local Denny’s, and she was also undergoing eviction proceedings from her apartment.

Ferrell was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice.

Court proceedings (pre-trial and plea)

Cutts and Ferrell were arraigned on June 25. Judge John Poulos set Cutts’s bond at $5,000,000, and Ferrell’s bail was set at $500,000.

Each appeared at separate court hearings on July 2, before Judge Richard J. Kubilus.

These preliminary hearings were meant for the prosecution to present sufficient probable cause to hold the accused. However, both defendants waived the preliminary hearing, and the case went to the grand jury.

Cutts was represented by Bradley Iams. Ferrell was represented by John Alexander, Jr. of Akron.

A request for bail reduction was made on behalf of Ferrell, but it was refused after the prosecutor said “Myisha Ferrell 'helped deposit the body' and lied to police officers several times throughout the investigation.”

On November 5, 2007, as her trial was about to begin, Ferrell agreed to plead guilty to charges of obstruction of justice and complicity to gross abuse of a corpse for her role in Davis’s disappearance and death.

Under the terms of her plea agreement, Ferrell was sentenced to two years in prison—a sentence that may be lengthened unless Ferrell testifies honestly at the trial of Cutts.

The judge said he would consider releasing Ferrell on probation after one year.

Statements attributed to a source close to Cutts were reported by The Repository:

“Cutts said he asked a female friend help him remove Davis’ body from her home. Cutts reportedly said Davis’ death was not his doing, but he thought no one would believe him and decided to hide the body.”

The impression that Ferrell was involved in moving the body was reinforced by statements made at the court hearing of July 2.

Trial

Cutts’s trial began on February 4, 2008.

Cutts took the stand on February 11 and described Davis’s death. He said that he struggled with her in her house and struck her in the throat with his elbow.

Cutts testified that he tried to resuscitate Davis after she became unconscious.

He also said that he did not call 911 because Davis didn’t have a telephone in her house and he didn’t know how to turn on her cell phone.

On February 15, 2008, Cutts was convicted of the murder of Davis and the aggravated murder of her unborn child.

He was also found guilty of associated charges, including aggravated burglary; gross abuse of a corpse; and child endangering.

Cutts faced the possibility of life imprisonment or a death sentence.

The jury, in its penalty phase, declined to impose the death penalty.

During the trial, prosecutors charged that Cutts left toddler son Blake alone in the house for more than a day while his mother lay dead in a field.

At sentencing, Cutts offered no statement “no statement, no testimonials to his character” at the time his time came.

Cutts asked the jury to spare his life and offered a tearful apology at his sentencing hearing Tuesday. He stated:

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm asking you to spare my life,”
“To imagine that I was responsible for the death of Jessie, the mother of my children and my unborn daughter, is beyond any words that I can express,”
“Words cannot bring them back, nor can they erase the pain I've caused, but I want to apologize,”
“But she turned the other cheek: I may not have family to go home to after this, but I pray that you make a way for him to get out of there and begin a new life, and to be able to hold his son.”

Cutts’s lawyer, Fernando Mack, urged jurors to recommend the lowest available penalty—25 years to life—to allow him to play a limited role in his other children’s lives.

Mack acknowledged that many of the jurors might still be angry with Cutts for leaving his 2½-year-old son home alone for more than a day while his mother lay dead in a field. Mack argued that sentencing Cutts to death hurts Blake even more, and said:

“That is still Blake's father, like it or not. The prosecutor here wants you to kill Blake's father, so now he'll have no parents.”

Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Dennis Barr attacked Cutts’s character and his sincerity on the stand, and argued:

“Bobby Cutts took an oath to serve and protect,”
“But on June 14, 2007, Bobby Cutts did not serve and protect. He destroyed.”

According to testimony described during trial, prosecutors also said Cutts rolled Davis’s body in a comforter and dumped it in a park, leaving Blake in the house alone at the crime scene in a soiled diaper, and Blake told police, “Mommy's in the rug”.

At sentencing, jurors recommended that his life be spared.

Sentencing

After the jury declined to impose the death penalty, Judge Charles E. Brown sentenced Cutts.

Cutts was sentenced on February 27, 2008, to life imprisonment without the eligibility of parole for 57 years.

Cutts had to serve time for each of his convicted murders consecutively, with additional minor concurrently with the murder convictions.

Cutts had been convicted of two counts of aggravated murder—terminating a pregnancy and taking her life during the commission of a felony.

The jury’s decision and the judge’s sentence made Cutts eligible for no parole for the 57 years period.

At sentencing, Judge Charles E. Brown considered other counts in addition to the murder counts after hearing victim impact statements from the parents and sisters of victim Jessie Marie Davis.

Cutts offered no statement beyond the request and apology described at his sentencing hearing.

In the televised narrative of the sentencing, the judge then sentenced him “to 57 years to life in prison.”

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Outcome

Cutts was convicted of murdering Jessie Davis and the aggravated murder of her unborn child on February 15, 2008.

The jury declined to impose the death penalty in the penalty phase.

Cutts was sentenced to life imprisonment without the eligibility of parole for 57 years.

Aftermath

A single-casket funeral was held June 30 at the House of the Lord, a regional megachurch, with subsequent interment at Greenlawn Memorial Park in the Akron area. The arrangements were handled by the Silva-Hostetler Funeral Home.

Members of the Cutts family attended, but Davis’s son, Blake, did not attend because the family felt the toddler had already been through enough.

Approximately 750 people attended the service.

Davis’s mother, Patricia Porter, said at the service that she forgave Cutts through God. Porter stated:

“There are mornings I have to cover her picture up, when I can't get out of bed.”

Porter continued:

“I serve an amazing God, Bobby. A God that forgives and heals and restores people. And all I know today is that I do forgive you, and I know it is only through him that I am able to do that.”

Porter also said:

“I may not have family to go home to after this, but I pray that you make a way for him to get out of there and begin a new life, and to be able to hold his son.”

Porter, who was raising Blake, told Cutts the child “knows what you did. You would not believe the stories he has told us.”

Davis’s sister, Whitney Davis, directed her anger and grief at Cutts and said:

“You got rid of someone that was an inconvenience. I hate you.”

Whitney Davis continued:

“You used and manipulated her over and over and still you sit there and you are not crying. I don't believe that you are sorry for what you did. I believe that you are sorry that you got caught up in all your lies. I don't know that you would know the truth.”

Davis’s father, Ned Davis, addressed Cutts and said:

“Don't even look at me.”

Ned Davis continued:

“Your honor he violently murdered her,”

and said:

“Five-foot-four, nine months pregnant, that baby could have been delivered.”

Before the funeral, hundreds paid their final respects for Davis with a candlelight vigil held outside her Lake Township duplex and during calling hours at the House of the Lord Church.

Other details

Blake had been left in the house alone at the crime scene while Davis’s body was moved.

Davis’s father, Ned Davis, told reporters:

“Our family, in one sense, was fortunate that we had some legal resolution because I know along with this, there are families out there that don't ever get an answer. It doesn't make it any less painful, but at least this part of it is resolved.”

Cutts denied involvement.

Cutts was believed to have been active on a dating site during the time Davis was missing and allegedly logged in just days before his arrest on June 23.

Bobby Cutts and Myisha Ferrell graduated together in 1995 from GlenOak High School.

Ferrell’s plea agreement required her to testify honestly at Cutts’s trial for the sentence to not be lengthened.

Interment occurred at Greenlawn Memorial Park in the Akron area.