Kansas man charged in two cold case murders after DNA links him to crime scenes

(KANSAS CITY, Kan.) — A Kansas man has been charged in the cold case murders of two women from the 1990s, authorities said.

Gary Dion Davis has been arrested for the murders of Pearl Davis, who was killed in 1996, and Christina King, whose body was found behind an abandoned building on Christmas Day in 1998, Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree said.

“DNA evidence from both murder scenes match the known DNA profile of Gary Dion Davis,” Dupree said at a news conference Wednesday.

It doesn’t appear Davis — who is charged with two counts of second-degree murder — knew the victims, Kansas City police chief Karl Oakman said.

After the crimes, the suspect “went on with his normal life like nothing happened,” Oakman said.

The chief added that it’s possible Davis has killed others.

To other cold case suspects, Oakman said, “We’re gonna eventually get you.”

Oakman said Kansas City has a “significant number of unsolved homicides dating back five-to-six decades” that “benefit from advances in DNA forensic testing and, simply, a fresh look.”

The chief on Wednesday shared stories of two other recently-solved cold cases, including one from nearly 50 years ago.

On Nov. 16, 1976, apartment complex residents found an infant dead in a dumpster. The baby girl had her umbilical cord still attached, and it was determined she was born alive and killed within a few hours of birth, the chief said.

Police received information that a teenage girl was possibly visiting her mother in the area for Thanksgiving, but left after only two days, Oakman said. Police investigated, but could never find the teenager, he said.

Last year, cold case detectives located the teen, who is now in her 60s, and obtained a DNA sample to compare to the towels the infant was wrapped in, Oakman said. The DNA came back as a match, he said.

The woman admitted that she gave birth that week, and she said immediately after, her grandmother “took the baby and walked off” and she never saw the baby again, Oakman said.

The grandmother, who has since died, has been identified as the suspect, Oakman said. There was no probable cause to arrest the baby’s mother, the chief said, adding that she was 18 at the time and also a victim.