Post by LadyBlue on Jun 20, 2007 1:25:51 GMT -5
NORTH CANTON, OHIO — When I arrived at the home of Jessie Davis last night, the FBI Crime Scene Unit was taking out bags and boxes from her house. It’s always a gut-wrenching feeling when you watch authorities pull out clues as to what could have happened to someone's daughter, mother, or friend.
The 26-year-old mother of a two-year-old boy was due to give birth any day now to a baby girl she plans on naming Chloe. Her family says Jessie's suitcase was packed for the hospital and the new baby's little clothes were freshly hung in the closet on satin hangers.
Jessie was in good spirits when she last phoned her mother, Patty Porter, on Wednesday night, at 9:20 p.m. By Friday morning, Jessie's mother became alarmed that she had not heard from her daughter and went to check on her. That's when she found her two-year-old grandson alone in a dirty diaper; Jessie was no where to be found. Her bedroom looked like there was some kind of struggle; the mattress was askew, the top sheet and comforter gone. Bleach was spilled all over the floor.
The 9-1-1 call released by investigators is chilling. You can hear the panic and fear in Jessie's mother's voice as she talks to the operator. When asked if Jessie left her son home alone, Patty yelled, "She didn't leave him alone! My God, something is WRONG!"
Last night, outside Jessie's house, two women sat in their cars waiting to talk to any police officer that would come out. They were locals who were helping to search the area. This neighborhood is quaint and upscale, with big two-story homes, American flags at every corner, kids on bikes, Moms and Dads on front porches, and neighbors watering their lawns. The landscape is lush, with trees, and the hillsides are plump with big green shrubs. It's beautiful, but a prime place to hide someone for sure.
One of the women is a postal worker who knows the neighborhood well. She remembered there is a coal mine tucked away in the nearby woods and thought that would be a good place to poke around. She went and found a pink top and grey stretch pants that were burned around the edges. They didn't know what to do with the clothes, so they brought them to the house. Jessie's sister drove up while this was happening, and heard that someone may have found evidence. She started yelling, "Why would someone touch evidence! WHO moved it?"
Clearly upset, she walked over to the grass across the street to look at the clothes that were laid out on the lawn. She doubled over and started wailing and said she thought they were Jessie's. As she was crying and being supported by another woman, the sheriff's captain came out of the house with members of the FBI. Together, the crime scene unit put on their blue gloves and carefully placed the clothes in evidence bags, and took the sister and another woman into the house. They asked the women in the cars who found the clothes to go with them too. Later, the captain came out to tell us that after the sister calmed down, and when she took a closer look, she didn’t think the clothes were Jessie's. The officers later asked the ladies to please not touch evidence, and if they find anything again, to call police immediately. After that bit of excitement, the FBI investigators kept coming out of the house with more evidence bags and tackle box looking cases (their crime scene tools), then loaded them up and took off at 8:40 p.m.
Later, at the sheriff's office, Jessie's mom told me that she didn't think anything was wrong with Jessie the last night she talked to her. She was upbeat, in a good mood and happy. Her sister, Whitney, talked to her on Wednesday afternoon and gave the same report. Jessie was a woman of routine — they said she always took her gold hoop earrings out and put them on the counter, which is right where they were. She even had her coffeemaker ready to brew in the morning.
Her sister said the only clothing missing out of the house were the pink stretch Victoria Secret pants she gave her two weeks ago and a white spaghetti strapped long cami that read, "Ohhh laaa laaa" around the belly. She said she wore it all the time and that it’s now gone.
Also worthy to note: She is no longer 135 pounds, but now 170 pounds, and has more brown hair than blonde, a correction made by the family after Jessie's description was first issued.
Jessie's mother is devastated by her daughter's disappearance; she says she believes she's alive, and was taken for her baby. She wants the focus to be on finding her, not accusing anyone right now. Neighbors tell me that no one is sleeping well these days on the block. They didn't hear anything that night. They said she really kept to herself, and didn't know her that well. They just want her home so she can deliver her baby.
Tuesday, June 19
It's now 11:30 a.m. I just got off the phone with the captain, who says they have nothing new, and wouldn't comment about the search at the father's house last night. Bobby Cutts Jr., the father of Jessie's baby, has been cooperating with investigators. FBI agents were at his house with a K-9 unit, and were seen taking out potential evidence. It could just be an effort to clear him, or something more serious. Eyebrows have been raised because he is a married father of two (his wife reportedly knows about the on-again, off-again relationship with Jessie) and today we are learning that in 1998 he was convicted of aggravated criminal trespass for breaking into another woman's home, who he has another child with.
Right now Jessie's mom and sisters are inside the sheriff’s station talking with investigators ... they aren't saying what they are talking about inside. It just started to pour here, and its 85 degrees! Greta just pulled up and is about to hit the ground running with her camera crew, and I know she has a lot of interesting things planned for Tuesday night's show ... so be sure to watch.
It's now 12:30 p.m. and Patty just came out of sheriff's station. She's about to do a live hit with Jon Scott; I just asked her what she was doing inside, and she said one of her daughters (Jessie is one of seven) was being interviewed by the FBI. She also told me that she just gave the FBI film to be developed that had fresh pictures of Jessie from her baby shower last weekend.
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,284535,00.html