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The Disappearance of Sharon Ware Davis · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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If you're experiencing domestic abuse, please get help. One of the most accessible
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ways to do that is by calling the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at eight hundred
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seven nine nine Safe or eight hundred seven nine nine seven two three three.
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You can also text start Start to eight eight seven eight eight. At the
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hotline dot org, you'll find other resources available to you, including what to
0:32
do if you think someone you know is experiencing abuse. Again. If you
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are experiencing domestic abuse, please get help by calling eight hundred seven nine nine
0:44
Safe or eight hundred seven nine nine seven two three three will provide the National
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Domestic Abuse Hotline number and link in this episode's show notes. The Gone Cold
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podcast may contain violent or graphics subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. Sharon
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Eugenia Ware was born in Mobile, Alabama, on March seventeenth, nineteen fifty,
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to parents Isabella and Eugene, where after he graduated high school, Eugene
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Ware enlisted in the United States Air Force, and when he returned, he
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began studying at Tuglow College in Jackson, Mississippi, where he was attending when
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Sharon was born, nearly three hundred miles to the south, Isabella's marriage to
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Eugene had eroded and eventually ended in divorce. She was left raising Sharon and
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her three siblings by herself. Isabella didn't stick around the southeast long before heading
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west. She and the kids ended up in Las Vegas, Nevada for some
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time, and later settled in Los Angeles, California. There, Sharon worked
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hard and diligently at California State University at Los Angeles, eventually obtained a master's
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degree in public administration and set out to make her own way in life,
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but not before meeting a man named Ronald Dean Davis, or Ron as he
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was better known. Ron was born and raised in blue collar Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
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the son of a concrete mason and brother to ten siblings. He graduated
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from the University of Wisconsin's law school before relocating to California and enrolling at California
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State University at Los Angeles, where he obtained an advanced degree. When Ron
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and Sharon met, he'd recently become the father to a baby girl and was
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freshly divorced. They were married on February twenty third, nineteen eighty, and
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Sharon Ware became Sharon Davis Shortly thereafter, Sharon and Ron Davis headed to Dallas,
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Texas. Later family members would explain that the reason for the move was
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unclear. Neither of them were moving to Texas with the promise of employment.
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They had no family there and no friends. Still, the couple made their
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way just fine. Although he'd been schooled in law, Ron Davis took a
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job with the City of Dallas as an accountant. In nineteen eighty two.
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Sharon became a counselor for jail inmates, utilizing her genuine empathy and belief that
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anyone could be rehabilitated. Later, as their family grew to include two children,
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daughter Autumn and son Ron Junior, or Ronnie as they called him,
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Sharon moved on to teaching at Oakcliffe Elementary, the namesake of a Southwest Dallas
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neighborhood. A volunteer for various local causes, Sharon Davis became a well respected
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and beloved member of the community in no time. She was shy and quiet,
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but also thoughtful and optimistic, as her unfeigned and undeniably warm smile attested
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to. Life for Sharon and Ron Davis, however, was not without its
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problems. Five years into their marriage, Sharon called her mother back in California,
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before withdrawing some money from the couple's joint checking account, packed up the
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kids in the car and headed back west to stay with relatives. She'd filed
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for divorce from Ron, But as she made the drive to the Golden State,
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Sharon had second thoughts, perhaps anicked some and turned the car back toward
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Dallas. A year after reconciling with Ron, in October of nineteen eighty six,
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they bought a two story home in a quiet, tree shaded cul de
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sac in far south Oak Cliff, just east of the Red Bird neighborhood and
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directly south of Oak Cliff Country Club. The thirty two hundred square foot brick
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house in the middle class residential subdivision left little else to be desired. By
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outward appearances, Ron and Sharon Davis were doing well for themselves a house in
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a quiet, middle class neighborhood, solid employment, and two children who were
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thriving. But things, of course, aren't always as they appear. In
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the early nineteen nineties, Ron was no longer with city accounting. He became
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something of an activist, working with the Dallas County Criminal Justice Advisory Board,
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specifically dealing with juvenile justice issues. He quickly made a name for himself.
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Ron was climbing the ranks at the local chapter of the NAACP, where he
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was elected to serve on the executive board under President Lee Alcorn, the former
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founder of the organization's Grand Prairie Chapter. In fact, Ron could often be
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seen on television alongside Alcorn and County Commissioner John Wiley Price throughout the spring of
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nineteen ninety six, as highly publicized protests at Dallas Independent School District meetings grew
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heated and sometimes erupted into violence, albeit relatively light. Through activism related to
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his new line of work, Ron Davis formed groups that lobbied for government grants
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to treat and prevent youth crime. In the early nineteen nineties, Dallas experienced
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their most violent crime rates before and since, and when the latter half of
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the nineteen nineties arrived, the city was experiencing a steadily high crime rate while
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rates and other big cities across the nation were dropping. Dallas's crime rate even
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surpassed Detroit's by the end of the decade, further earning the nickname popularized when
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President John F. Kennedy was gunned down there in broad daylight. The city
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of hate. Much of the violent crime problem in the nineties was at the
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hands of juveniles, gang related shootings and killings, and the Dallas County Criminal
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Justice Advisory Board, along with the NAACP, were attempting to face the problem
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head on. But for whatever good, Ron Davis did. With Lee Alcorn
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and John Wiley Price in the background, Ron was dealing with claims he'd made
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that led to his suing the City of Dallas in nineteen ninety two. Ron
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had claimed that he was mugged outside of his workplace at the offices of the
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Dallas Code Compliance Division. He said the ordeal left him psychologically impaired and unable
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to continue his work there. Since he stopped showing up at work, the
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city let him go. The timing of the claim was suspicious anyway, according
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to his employers. It was six weeks after he was denied a promotion.
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A Dallas City psychiatrist reported back that their assessment of Ron Davis failed to provide
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evidence of any kind of trauma related to this claimed mugging, neither obvious nor
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latent. Still, Ron filed a lawsuit against the city and the legal battle
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stretched out for years. Finally, in nineteen ninety seven, lawyers for the
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city of Dallas awarded Ron Davis five years back pay. Although he'd continued his
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work for the NAACP. Ron insurance children later said that they didn't know what,
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if anything, he was doing for traditional work. After he left his
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job at the Dallas Code compliance offices, he told the family he was working
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as a day trader while running his nonprofit group that was supposed to provide housing
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and various other services for low income folks in the Dallas area. It's unclear
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if it actually did. The organization's officials consisted of mostly family members, including
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his wife Sharon. In nineteen ninety nine, Ron Davis, along with Lee
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Alcorn and John Wiley Price, were suspended from their positions at the NAACP after
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complaints alleged election irregularities on their watch, suggesting perhaps at their hands. Ron
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began a new NAACP chapter out of his house as the result, a seemingly
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unprecedented move. His Alcorns and Chris's woes with the organization were highly publicized at
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the time. Misconduct, or however Ron Davis's activities might be classified, could
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be chalked up to moments of weakness or corruption that's not outside the realm of
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rehabilitation perhaps, but his treatment of his wife, Sharon, according to his
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own children, was much less forgivable. Sharon ware Davis was a sensitive person,
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a warm and caring mother and educator, who unfortunately didn't realize her own
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worth. Family members said she lacked self esteem and confidence. She was quiet
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and nervous, they remarked. Ron, on the other hand, is boisterous
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and rule. The relatives later reported he was controlling, ill tempered, and
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when it came to Sharon, he was dismissive, intimidating, and belittling.
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One way in which Ron Davis controlled and manipulated his wife, family members said,
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was to insinuate that she was mentally ill, suggestions that most likely were
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gas lighting. At its most unadulterated, Ron would demean Sharon, insisting she
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was unable to perform tasks and duties she was more than capable of. The
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emotional and verbal abuse was sometimes shocking. While the family ate dinner one evening,
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Ron told everyone that he didn't love Sharon, seemingly because of his inability
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to provide. Ron allegedly demanded Sharon cash in her retirement fund worth about thirty
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thousand dollars, but she refused. Sharon was already paying half the bills with
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her own money from her own account, something Ron apparently demanded. By two
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thousand and one, things were coming to a head. She and Ron had
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been sleeping in separate bedrooms for quite some time at that point, and any
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affection or romantic connection between them had completely dissipated. In fact, family members
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reported that the marriage had essentially been over for many years. Sharon had stuck
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around, they believed for the sake of the kids. Ronnie and Autumn.
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By outward appearances were like the ideal family, Ronnie Davis later told the Dallas
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Observer, but on the inside, there's a completely different story. Both kids
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were attending the University of Texas Arlington or UTA, and though Sharon had originally
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suggested she'd see them through college before leaving Ron, it would soon prove impossible
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to wait any longer. In June of two thousand and one, the final
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nail in the coffin of this marriage was driven. On the sixth of that
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month, Sharon was shocked to discover paperwork indicating Ron was taking steps to have
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her committed to a mental institution. The thing is, she was not unwell
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psychologically, but it hit her she had been emotionally tortured and was fragile,
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to the point that one more day might be too much. Ron, she
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knew, had to go as soon as possible. The following day, Sharon
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where Davis, met with an attorney about filing for divorce from Ronald Dean Davis.
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This time she meant it. By June eleventh, two thousand and one,
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her attorney, Fred McDaniel, filed a restraining order that prevented any money
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or other assets the couple shared from being moved or removed. McDaniel also filed
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a day vorce suit, which was incredibly bold, but there was a reason.
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In the suit, Sharon sought sole possession of the couple's home and asked
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that she be granted control of more than half of their assets. Also included
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were allegations that Ron had committed fraud against the City of Dallas. With the
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summons yet to be served, Sharon told her husband she'd filed and that he
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should expect papers any day now. She told her neighbor of this confrontation,
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who later said Ron called Sharon a sneaky bitch, before threatening her, the
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children will get over it if something were to happen to her, Ron allegedly
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told her. In the conversation, Sharon told her neighbor that she'd found a
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journal ron had been keeping that tracked nearly every movement she made from the time
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she rose in the morning till the time she laid her head down at night.
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Perhaps, if she was and in fear for her life, she'd not
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have unburdened herself to the neighbor, but Sharon needed to ask that she called
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police if the house alarm sounded. She also called several relatives to ask that
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they'd check on her frequently. Throughout the divorce process. Sharon even told Ronnie
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and Autumn about their father's threats against her. Although Ronnie lived on the campus
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at UTA, Autumn still lived at home and told her mother she'd stay close
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by. Sharon feared being alone with ron On the morning of Wednesday, June
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thirteenth, two thousand and one, eighteen year old Autumn Davis woke up at
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her usual time six thirty am. The night before, her mother had asked
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her to move her car so her father could get out first thing in the
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morning, as he had a breakfast meeting he had to get to. Autumn
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had done what her mother asked, although it was highly unusual for Ron to
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leave before she woke up, but he was gone this particular morning. After
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going about her regular morning routine, Autumn climbed into her mom's nineteen ninety eight
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Mercury Villager mini van so she could be dropped off at a bus stop she
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had to get to her summer job in downtown Dallas. Sharon her hair in
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curlers and wearing an emerald green pajama top with jogging pants underneath. Autumn later
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said was rushing around to get her dropped off on time, but she added
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was smiling and in a really good mood. At about seven thirty am,
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Sharon pulled up to a city bus stop in the Redbird area, less than
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two miles west of the Davis family home. Autumn got out, they exchanged
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I Love yous, and Sharon drove off. Knowing her mother well, having
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seen her keep a tight routine for her whole life, Autumn assumed Sharon would
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rush back home to get ready for a Continuing Education training course she had that
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day at Stemmin's Elementary She'd taught third graders there the previous year, and in
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the two thousand and one two thousand and two school year, Miss Davis was
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to move up to teach the sixth grade. Later that day, Autumn arrived
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back home after work at six pm. When her mother hadn't gotten back.
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She began to worry. Her mother, after all, was a creature of
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habit, and a break in her routine or plans was unheard of. She
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was supposed to be home. Autumn called her brother, who was at the
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University of Texas Arlington, and told him Sharon was missing. The fact that
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their mother had filed for divorce just two days before was foremost on their minds.
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Since Sharon had been taking classes at UTA while working toward becoming a school
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principal. Ronnie hurried through campus just in case she'd gone to, say,
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see one of her professors or to pick up study materials. She wasn't there.
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More worry compounded, hoping she simply had some car trouble. He drove
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the route she took from class to the house. Sharon ware Davis was nowhere
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to be found. When Ronnie arrived at the Davis family home, he and
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Autumn begged their father to call the Dallas police and file a missing person's report.
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According to Ottomn and Ronnie, however, Ron Davis told them that the
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cops wouldn't accept a missing person's report for twenty four hours. Remember this is
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a man trained in the law. The kids were beside themselves and it wasn't
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until the following morning Ron Davis reported his wife, his soon to be ex
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wife missing. When Ron Davis called to report his wife Sharon missing, he
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told a Dallas police detective that she probably wasn't missing at all, but instead
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it high tailed it to Lake Tahoe, where he said Sharon had talked recently
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about visiting. The cops got little else out of the man, and he
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refused to undergo police interviews for a while. Further lack of cooperation included his
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refusal to let police search he and Sharon's home. There were many reasons to
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suggest Sharon would not have up and left with her neighbor and friend Sarah and
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sister Beverly, a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer. Sharon had been organizing a trip
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to a California resort, a sort of celebration that was to take place after
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her divorce from Ron was final. But perhaps the sole reason no one,
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not her neighbors, friends, nor relatives believed Sharon would up and leave town
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without telling a soul was her children. She'd never leave without telling them.
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Everyone said something was undeniably wrong. A few days after Sharon war Davis was
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last seen, a startling discovery proved them right. On Monday, June eighteenth,
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two thousand and one, five days after Sharon ware Davis's disappearance, a
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Dallas Police patrol officer found her green nineteen ninety eight Mercury Villager van in the
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parking lot of a Bally Total Fitness. The missing woman was a member of
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the gym, which was near the Southwest Center mall and a mile from her
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home. She hadn't been there to work out since around a week before her
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disappearance. Employees at Bally said, but they first noticed the van at about
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midnight on the day she vanished. Alarmingly, a window of the via was
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shattered, though it was troubling not because detectives believed that particular clue was the
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result of foul play. Rather, they were theorizing the van had been parked
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there by someone other than Sharon purposefully put at a place where she was known
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to frequent and made to look like she'd been the victim of a terrible crime
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at the hands of someone who struck at random. There, the van wiped
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clean of discernible fingerprints, showed nearly every sign of being staged. Her children,
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twenty year old Ronnie, an eighteen year old autumn anguished with panic.
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Meanwhile, Dallas Police Lieutenant Sally Lanham, who was assigned to the case,
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still wasn't having any luck speaking with Ron Davis. It rubbed Lieutenant Lanim the
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wrong way. Eight days after Sharon disappeared, Ron hired attorney Cheryl Wattley.
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While hiring a lawyer in such a case as and does not necessarily imply guilt,
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mixed with Ron's refusal to speak with police or let them in he and
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Sharon's house raised major red flags. On Tuesday, July third, two thousand
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and one, Lieutenant Lanam and Sergeant Brenda Nichols visited the Davis home. They
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knocked, no one answered, and as they headed to their unmarked car to
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leave, a neighbor told the detectives that they'd seen Ron Davis arrive home earlier.
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He was in there for two and a half hours, Sergeant Nichols and
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Lieutenant Lanam knocked waited, knocked, waited, until finally Ron answered and let
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them in. It was the first time detectives were able to have a lengthy
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talk with their missing persons. Soon to be ex husband and three weeks after
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Sharon disappeared, Ron Davis ran a tape recorder the entire time. One of
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the first things he asked us was am I sus Sergeant Nicholls told the Dallas
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Observer in two thousand and two. Although the detectives were all but certain Sharon
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met with foul play, the cops had no criminal evidence. The policewoman answered
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that it was a missing person's case and that he was a witness at this
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point, not a suspect. An uncooperative witness. Sergeant Nichols later said Ron
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refused to give the detectives a detailed account of his whereabouts for the day Sharon
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disappeared, and said she'd taken between ten thousand and twenty five thousand dollars in
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cash from their home. When asked if they could examine the spot where the
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couple kept the money, Ron Davis told the detectives it was none of their
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business, even as they explained that it might hold the clue they needed if
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someone accosted Share and shortly after she dropped off Autumn at the bus stop,
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Sergeant Nichols explained, pointed a gun at her and demanded she'd take them to
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her house to get the cash. Might have latent fingerprints belonging to the perpetrator.
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Still Ron wouldn't bite. He told police, Sharon might have checked herself
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into a mental institution and neglected to tell the kids because she'd stop taking her
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medication. Detectives could uncover nothing that suggested Sharon ware Davis was mentally unwell or
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even taking medication daily. Sergeant Nichols and Lieutenant Lanham got virtually nothing out of
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Ron Davis. With his permission, detectives perused the home. One of the
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home's bathrooms had been remodeled in the three weeks since Sharon disappeared. Throughout the
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next several weeks, Autumn and Ronnie said their father gave them several theories about
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what might have happened to their mother. She ran into a drug dealer,
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had a psychotic episode, or simply left voluntarily. After all, Ron told
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the kids it wouldn't be the the first time she left with a large sum
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of cash. He was referring to a time when Sharon left him, although
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the striking difference there was that she took Ronnie in autumn with her. It
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seems odd, he thought they'd believe that one. By September of two thousand
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and one, Ronnie had had enough of his father's constant dismissiveness and obfuscation concerning
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his mother's disappearance. The Dallas Observer reported the following event in two thousand and
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two. It, of course, is not verbatim, and other sources,
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a report by WFAA and an Affidayphit were used for supplemental information. As he
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drove to his family home from his dorm room at UTA, Ronnie was psyching
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himself up for a big confrontation, thinking of the questions he needed to ask
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in order to get an answer he was looking for. The first thing ron
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Davis demanded of his son when he walked in the door was to know if
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he was wearing a wire for the cops, and arrest warrant later issued stated
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Ronnie took his shirt off and showed his father he was not bugged, and
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proceeded to demand answers, ron gave him none. Instead, he went through
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the same theories he had touted to them since the beginning, and told Ronnie
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he had documents showing Sharon was checked into a mental health institution. Ron Davis,
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however, would not provide this proof to his son. It was time
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to change tactics, and Ronnie knew just the thing. He knew His father
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was a belittler, and one thing a belittler dislikes is to be belittled.
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Well, it's a shame that my mom has come up missing and she actually
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beat you in life, Ronnie said. As the talk with his father grew,
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heated. You always run around acting like you're a big wig or something.
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She did beat you. It's a shame that she's not here to see
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it. The argument was physically moving about as ron inched toward the home's study,
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which was dark. As Ronnie followed, he flipped the light switch and
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turned his head back toward his father, who was removing a pistol from a
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holster on a chair. Ronnie's heart pounded. You talk a good game,
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ron Davis allegedly said, you're not afraid to die. Ronnie heard the firearms
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hammer being cocked back faster than he'd ever moved in his life. Ronnie sprinted
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out of the house, but he'd left his cell phone inside. Eventually,
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after asking him to put the gun down several times, Ronnie said his dad
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did and then let him come in to get his phone. More words were
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spoken. Somebody is going to talk to you in the next couple days.
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Someone is going to come to uta. Ronnie reported his father as saying,
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you need to see how serious I am. You crossed the line. The
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following spring, after Ronnie pressed charges related to this incident, a grand jury
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no build ron Davis for a felony assault charge. As Dallas Police Sergeant Brenda
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Nichols and Lieutenant Sally Lanham continued to investigate, they couldn't help but suspect Sharon
28:21
where Davis had met with foul play. She filed for divorce and she's gone,
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Lieutenant Sally Lanham told WFAATV. Quite honestly, people don't just disappear.
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It's usually because something bad has happened. There was nothing to suggest Sharon had
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vanished of her own free will. She left no word, No monetary transactions
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or phone calls home had been made. Everything kept coming back to one theory,
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but detectives couldn't come out and say it. As the months went on,
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Autumn grew more and more distrustful of father. He claimed to have been
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working diligently to locate Sharon, and then there was the claim he made to
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Rannie about having proof documentation that Sharon was in a mental health facility. Ron
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Davis even said he'd hired a private investigator, but he could offer Autumn and
29:18
Ronnie nothing tangible, nothing other than his word that these things were the case.
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His behavior had been let's just say questionable and leave it at that,
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and the veneer covering at least some of Ron's tactics at both avoiding cooperation with
29:36
police and painting his wife and a bad light would eventually be stripped away.
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In the days, weeks, and months following Sharon ware Davis's disappearance, he
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managed to avoid the constables attempting to serve him with divorce papers, but staying
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away from the cops, avoiding being served, and remodeling a bathroom in the
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home were hardly the only things that Ron Davis was up to. He also
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continually thwarted media coverage of Sharon's missing persons case. When the television show Unsolved
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Mysteries contacted him for an interview, he declined. They filmed the segment anyway,
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which was to air in the spring of two thousand and two, but
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after Ron sent them a letter, they pulled it. The segment never ran.
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When the Dallas Observer contacted him in two thousand and two, he declined
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their requests for an interview with a letter writing verbatim, according to that publication,
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your article will be one sided, biased, full of conjecture, speculation,
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and designed to entertain the public at my family's expense. He said the
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publication had an unhealthy history and fascination with African American men, do anything to
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create a negative story about them. Still, Ron's life was moving forward without
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much of anything standing in his way. After being nominated by Dallas County Commissioner
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John Wileye Price, Ron Davis was appointed to a small panel of individuals charged
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with seeing all things labor at the Dallas County Sheriff's Office in March of two
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thousand and two. For a while, he steered clear of both police and
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controversy, but two thousand and three would bring with it some damning allegations against
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the man, allegations that wouldn't have come to light had he not got things
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moving himself. Ron had lawyered up a few days after Sharon disappeared, and
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now in the spring of two thousand and three he was suing that attorney,
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Cheryl Watley. She owed him somewhere between fifteen hundred and forty seven hundred bucks.
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Ron was claiming a partial refund the ten thousand dollars retainer he paid her
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for representation in the year following his wife, Sharon's disappearance. This was a
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pretty bold move for this amount of money because it rendered the attorney client privilege
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the too once had nol and void. Cheryl Watley's lawyer, Russell Wilson,
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got straight to the point. I think he killed his wife, Wilson said,
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had Whatley not been representing him at the time of Sharon's disappearance, Wilson
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went on, there's a chance Ron Davis would have gone to prison. Why
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did he hire an attorney? Because he committed a crime, that's why.
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So he played the criminal system to his favor, and now he's trying to
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play the civil system to his favor. Some of the tactics Ron's attorney used
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while she worked for him came out. Whatley told the court she agreed to
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the dpd's request for her client to take a polygraph examination, but only if
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they supplied him with the questions to be asked in advance. She knew.
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Wattley continued that the cops weren't going to do that, so it made her
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client look as though he was cooperative, and that the detectives working Sharon's missing
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person's case were the ones being difficult. When she still represented him, Whatley
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gave a television interview in which she insisted Ron was hoping for Sharon's safe return
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and that the kids were praying for it. She told the small Claims court
33:29
that this angered Ron, who had tried to coach his attorney into saying negative
33:34
things about Sharon, including that she was on mood stabilizing drugs and was unwell
33:39
mentally claims. Whatley refused to pair it other than a small jury ruling in
33:46
Cheryl Wattley's favor and awarding her the minimum amount of money Ron Davis sought.
33:52
The civil trial also suggested that the plaintiff had been laundering money through his nonprofit
33:58
organization, ested he was guilty of tax evasion. These are things that were
34:04
also allegedly in Sharon's divorce petition. To be fair or played devil's advocate,
34:09
depending on how you look at it, these claims relied mostly on the fact
34:14
that Ron Davis kept large sums of cash, some of which his former attorney
34:19
suggested she'd moved around and or distributed for him, though to be fair,
34:24
again, she likely was not lying. Davis had represented himself in the courtroom,
34:32
Ron reiterated the very thing Dallas police detectives in charge of Sharon's missing person's
34:37
case had told him He's never been named as a suspect in her disappearance,
34:44
and that's true. Later, Wattley's attorney, Russell Wilson, told a Dallas
34:49
Observer reporter, there's still nobody, still no tears from Ron Davis. Sharon
34:58
Davis adored her children, who knew her as a warm and selfless woman.
35:02
She had told her neighbors and relatives of threats Ron Davis had made against her
35:08
life within days of her disappearance, and either her son Ronnie nor daughter Autumn
35:15
believed their father's portrayal of their mother or his several nonsensical, non evidence based
35:21
theories about what happened to her? Sharon ware Davis stands between five feet one
35:30
and five feet two inches tall and weighs between one hundred and eighteen and one
35:35
hundred and thirty pounds. She's a black woman with black hair and brown eyes.
35:40
At the time of her disappearance, Sharon was fifty one years old,
35:45
and at the time of this recording, she'd be seventy three years old.
35:50
Her ears are pierced. She wears eyeglasses or contact lenses. She was last
35:55
seen wearing an emerald green pajama top and sweatpants. Her hair was in curlers.
36:02
If you have any information about the disappearance of Sharon Whare Davis, please
36:07
contact the Dallas Police Department at two one four six seven zero five three eight
36:14
nine. If you like gon Cold's mission to renew the public's interest in cold
36:20
cases, you can support the show at patreon dot com slash Gone Cold podcast.
36:27
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36:58
You can also find a link in bio in the episode's description. Thanks
37:02
for listening, y'all.