Frank R. Davis

Case details

Frank R. Davis was convicted in connection with the assault and killings of multiple teenage boys.

Background

On June 3, 1971, 13-year-old Duane Bush was reported missing from his home in Union Mills, Indiana. Suspected as a runaway, Duane had actually been kidnapped, sodomized, and strangled. Three months elapsed before a hunter found his scattered skeletal remains on wooded ground, five miles northeast of town. The dead boy was identified from dental charts.

Shortly after Duane Bush died, Frank Davis was convicted on a charge of burglary and sentenced to a term of one to ten years in the penitentiary. Three months after his release, he joined a friend in sticking up a grocery store for forty dollars; this involved a second sentence with a ten-year maximum. Davis escaped briefly in 1975 but was swiftly recaptured. Parole put him back on the street in 1982.

The offence

On January 10, 1983, a 15-year-old victim was assaulted in LaPorte, Indiana, ten miles northeast of Union Mills. The victim was choked semi-conscious and clubbed with a pistol. He survived his injuries and staggered to the police station, where he filed a report of the incident.

On June 16, 1983, 14-year-old D.R. was confronted by Davis with a knife after he and Davis drank a beer provided by Davis. Davis tied a wire around D.R.’s neck, performed oral sex on him, and then strangled him to death with his hands.

On June 18, two 15-year-old boys, J.L. and E.F., were camping out when they came across Davis in the woods. Davis was smoking pot and shared it with the teenagers. Davis left while the boys returned to the campsite. Davis watched and waited until the boys went to sleep, then went into the tent, woke up J.L., and escorted him into the woods at knifepoint. Davis tied J.L. up with wire, performed oral sex on him, and then strangled him with the wire. Davis returned and got E.F., tied him up with wire, performed oral sex on him, struck him in the head with the axe, and left.

Victims

• Duane Bush, 13-year-old
• J.S., 15-year-old
• D.R., 14-year-old
• J.L., 15-year-old
• E.F., 15-year-old

Investigation and evidence

The murder weapon was an axe belonging to the dead boy’s father, picked up at the camp site at the time of the abduction. Tests revealed no fingerprints, but officers said they would not be necessary.

After the assaults on June 18 and the following events, a team of searchers found a boy who had been struck and left for dead. The boy was still alive when searchers found him in the afternoon and rushed him to a local hospital. Upon regaining consciousness, he offered homicide detectives a description of the killer and offered them a name.

From his cell, Frank Davis made a full confession in the deaths of Lopez, Reed, and Bush, along with two counts of attempted murder for the victims who survived.

Arrest

Officers arrested Davis later in the day after the body of Jeff Lopez was recovered on June 21. The body of Jeff Lopez was recovered on June 21, and officers arrested Davis later in the day.

Trial

Davis was scheduled for trial in January 1984. He opted for a guilty plea on two counts of felony murder (Reed and Lopez) and two counts of attempted murder. He also pleaded guilty to Murder (2 counts) and Attempted Murder (A Felony) pursuant to a plea agreement.

The plea agreement called for dismissal of CDC (A Felony) (4 counts) and Felony-Murder (2 counts), but allowed the State to seek a Death Sentence.

Sentencing

On January 25, 1984, the court imposed a death sentence and additional prison terms. Davis received two death sentences and prison terms of 50 years and 50 years.

Aggravating Circumstances included:

• b(1) Child Molesting
• Lying in Wait

Mitigating Circumstances included:

• emotional pressure
• antisocial character disorder
• sexually abused as a prisoner in Boy's School 07-10-96

Davis was resentenced after a new sentencing hearing to 220 years imprisonment.

Appeals

Outcome

Davis was sentenced to death on January 25, 1984, and later received a resentencing to 220 years imprisonment after a new sentencing hearing.

Aftermath

Frank Davis’s case involved multiple victims and resulted in a later resentencing to 220 years imprisonment after the January 25, 1984 death sentence.