Ricky and Dena
Body Turns Up
On May 15, a fisherman discovered a woman's nude body near a creek outside Bates City, Mo. The woman had been raped, beaten and choked.
Lorie Dunfield was stunned to learn that the victim was Marsha Spicer, 41, an old friend who traveled in the same circles.
Had the "cousin" hooked Spicer up with Davis, too? She thought it was too much of a coincidence that one of her friends turned up dead after her spooky encounter with Davis, so she went to the police on May 16.
On May 17, investigators from the Lafayette County sheriff and Independence police paid a visit to Davis and Riley on Truman Road.
They knew that Davis was a rape parolee, and inside the apartment, the officers saw a number of troubling things.
A video camera was trained on the bed, and an open journal book contained notations about choking and sex. The investigators also spotted marijuana — a clear parole violation.
Perhaps most importantly, Dena Riley admitted to an Independence police detective that her boyfriend enjoyed violent sex.
Collectively, what police saw and heard during their visit to Davis' home seemed to add up to sufficient cause to detain or even arrest Davis and Riley.
But Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh made a peculiar decision. He ordered the couple to leave the premises while he sought a search warrant.
He later remarked to the Kansas City Star, "This guy is an animal and he needed to be locked in a cage, but you have to jump through the hoops and do it right."