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Unexpected Witness Comes Forward after 2008 Iowa Car Crash Becomes Homicide Investigation
A father and son were questioned after 41-year-old mother Michele Davis left the marital home in search of a new chapter in life.
In 2008, detectives with the Des Moines Police Department (D.M.P.D.) in Iowa were called to what was initially believed to be a fatal car accident along an off-ramp on Interstate 235. However, a post-mortem examination would determine that the car’s sole occupant, 41-year-old mother Michele Davis, actually had injuries consistent with a homicide, a revelation explored in Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins.
Who was Michele Davis?
Des Moines-raised Michele Davis was the older sister of Todd and Rod Cosner, both of whom spoke to Killer Relationship. Rod Davis said Michele Davis was “definitely a free spirit” who loved mopeds and was fiercely protective of her two younger brothers.
“People wanted to be around her,” Michele Davis’ sister-in-law, Wendy Cosner, said. “She liked being the life of the party.”
The magnetic student married her high school sweetheart, Bill McClain, and by 1986, the young pair had a son, Bill McClain Jr. Although the new mother and father seemed to love one another, they separated before the child turned 2.
“They were most definitely like two kids playing house,” said Todd Cosner. “They struggled financially, not making a lot of money, the expense of having a baby, the stress of all of that took its toll.”
According to Bill McClain Jr., the divorce was amicable, and still in her early 20s, Michele Davis entered the dating scene. That’s when she met Randy Davis, a U.S. Marine who owned his own construction business. Between his two children — including a son, Josh Davis — the single parents moved in together as a blended family and married in 1991.
Michele Davis worked as a homemaker, and when a drunk driver killed the biological mother of Randy Davis’ children, she stepped in as a mother-like figure to her husband’s children and raised them like they were her own.
Things, however, weren’t always easy with the new family unit, especially between Michele Davis and her stepson and stepdaughter.
“I just know that they tussled a few times over rules, over things that Michele didn’t want them to do,” according to Wendy Cosner.
A Marriage in Trouble
Stressors between the married couple peaked in 2001 in what Todd Cosner called “a housing crunch,” which forced Randy Davis to sell his construction business. It also prompted Michele Davis to enter the workforce, and she soon took a job with TMC Transportation in Des Moines and worked in the payroll department.
With Michele Davis bringing in money and Randy Davis’ career floundering, the tension between husband and wife escalated.
“More and more, everything had to be Randy’s way,” Rod Cosner told Killer Relationship. “There was no in-between.”
Michele Davis attempted to leave Randy Davis for the first time in 2004. However, according to loved ones, she was only away for a matter of days before the husband convinced her to return home. She stayed until after the kids were mostly out of the house, and in April 2008, she left once and for all.
Within hours, she’d moved into her own apartment.
“I think she did love him, but she just knew that she couldn’t stay there anymore,” said Bill McClain Jr.
Things between Michele Davis and her stepchildren only worsened when she filed for divorce and took some belongings and money, according to her brother.
“Her stepkids were upset with her,” said Todd Cosner. “They felt she had stolen from their father.”
Did Michele Davis die in a car accident?
On September 11, 2008, five months after moving out, Michele Davis was pronounced dead on the scene after her vehicle suddenly veered off-track along the interstate at 4:48 p.m., hitting multiple cars before flipping over on an off-ramp. But investigators, including Eric Hartman of the D.M.P.D.’s Traffic Unit, didn’t think the impact would have killed Michele Davis as it had.
“I’ve worked lots of fatals over the years,” Hartman told Killer Relationship. “I felt something was off.”
D.M.P.D. detectives Mike McTaggart, Dennis O’Donnell, and David Seybert were on the case, which became even more suspicious after the victim’s body was sent to the Polk County Medical Examiner’s Office. The following day, experts found Michele Davis sustained a single, fatal gunshot wound from a small-caliber firearm that entered just behind her ear, turning the case into a homicide investigation.
At this point, investigators were unsure whether Michele Davis’ death was the result of road rage, a sniper, a stray bullet, or something else. They hoped to glean new clues when requesting potential video footage from the Iowa Department of Transportation.
Inside the vehicle were documents pertaining to the pending divorce, and according to Det. McTaggart, Michele Davis had a no-contact order against her estranged husband.
The Investigation
Relatives admitted that Randy Davis was “dragging his feet” with the divorce, but while the husband was thought to be controlling in the marriage, there was no evidence he was ever physically abusive toward his wife, or even owned a firearm.
Investigators soon turned their attention toward the victim’s stepson, Josh Davis, who admitted to being "upset" about Michele Davis not leaving quietly.
“Josh had recently got out of the Marine Corps, [and] at that point, lived with his father,” according to Det. McTaggart, who claimed that the son’s military background piqued detectives’ interest.
Josh Davis said that on the day of the homicide, he went to the mall with his sister before returning home at around 3:30 p.m. to watch T.V., according to an audio-taped interview between Josh Davis and Det. Seybert. He said his father came home at around 5:30 p.m.
The stepson admitted he “didn’t like” some of Michele Davis’ requests in light of the couple’s ongoing divorce proceedings. According to those close to the case, Michele Davis sought half of everything, including the house and pension funds.
For his part, Randy Davis said he was on the phone with his divorce attorney at 3:15 p.m. and returned home at around 3:45 p.m. He claimed Josh Davis came home around 5:00 p.m. before cooking. Soon, Randy Davis, whose interview was video-recorded and published by Killer Relationship — put an end to the interrogation and lawyered up.
“At that point, it’s trying to figure out who’s telling the truth and who’s not telling the truth,” said Det. Seybert.
Detectives narrow in on a killer
On Sept. 12, 2008, authorities obtained a search warrant for Randy and Josh Davis’ home. While there were no signs of a gun, detectives were struck by a cleaning kit for a .22-caliber rifle, a weapon that could have easily matched the one used to kill Michele Davis. They also searched Randy Davis’ red Ford F-150 pickup truck, which matched a vehicle witnesses said they saw driving “erratically” on the interstate just before the crash.
Despite the damning discoveries, at the time, there wasn’t enough for authorities to press charges.
The Iowa Department of Transportation handed over traffic images, and while there was no video, they revealed grainy still shots taken every few seconds, capturing a red Ford F-150 speeding on the highway and eventually catching up to Michele Davis’ vehicle.
Finer details, including the driver’s identification and license plate number, could not be determined.
Retracing the victim’s movements from when she left her job at 4:30 p.m., detectives also found video footage from a local car wash.
“We see Michele Davis’ vehicle, and several cars later, we see the red pickup truck,” said Det. Seybert. “It’s amazing.”
Cell phone data placed Randy Davis’ cell phone near his estranged wife’s place of employment at the time she left work, contradicting his previous statements to the police when he said he was at home.
An unexpected witness comes forward
On Sept. 19, 2008 — more than a week after Michele Davis’ death — Det. McTaggart said he had an unexpected call from his sergeant., stating that Josh Davis planned to come into the police station with his attorney for a new interview. In his videotaped interview with detectives, Josh Davis confessed he knew more about his stepmother’s death than what he’d previously stated, as obtained by Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins.
“When I came home from my sister’s, my dad’s truck was in the driveway,” said Josh Davis. “When I came in, he come down and he said, ‘I wish that you didn’t come home.’”
The son said he came home shortly before the shooting and tried to stop his father from leaving the house with a .22-caliber rifle.
“He said he couldn’t take it anymore because he was gonna have nothing,” Josh Davis told authorities. “I held him up against the wall and told him he didn’t want to do anything stupid. And then he got in his truck and left.”
The son said there was no sign of the gun when Randy Davis returned home at around 5:30 p.m.
The weapon used to kill Michele Davis was never recovered.
“That’s when he told me he did it,” Josh Davis continued to investigators. “He didn’t tell me how, just that he did it.”
Detectives were inclined to believe the son, especially since he seemed sincere, and because Randy Davis had already lied to authorities about his whereabouts, as proven by cell phone data. It was enough for authorities to charge Randy Davis with first-degree murder.
Det. Seybert called Josh Davis’ willingness to come forward an “act of courage.”
In 2010, Randy Davis eventually pleaded down to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 50 years behind bars. According to records reviewed by Oxygen.com, he will be eligible for parole in 2043.
Watch all-new episodes of Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins, available to watch on Oxygen.
