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Evidence lost in probe of Davis killing, court is toldFORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The director of the Fort Worth Crime Lab conceded today that potentially important evidence was lost or mishandled after a 1976 shooting spree at the hilltop home of millionaire defendant Cullen Davis.Testifying on cross-examination, Frank Shiller told a civil jury that among the items lost or misplaced was a bloody scarf taken from the body of a slain 12-year-old girl, Andrea Wilborn.w AShiller, the 16th witness in the trial, said the crime lab never received the white patent-leather shoes worn by a second victim, Stan Farr, 30. He offered no explanation for the breach in evidentiary protocol.Davis attorney Steve Sumner has suggested that the shoes could have provided fingerprint evidence critical to his client’s case.Davis, 53, is accused in a wrongful death suit of killing two and wounding two in a nighttime rampage at his Fort Worth mansion 11 years ago. His ex-wife, Priscilla, and her second husband, J3TfRfcWilborn, are seeking millions of dollars in damages from Davis.In testimony Tuesday, Shiller said the same gun killed Andrea and Farr, Mrs. Davis and a young mansion visitor, Gus Bubba” Gavrel, were critically wounded in the August 1976 shooting.Shiller said a bullet removed from Farr’s body matched a bullet recovered in the basement utility room where Andrea’s body was found.Since there were no witnesses to Andrea's death, it is essential to the plaintiffs' case that evidence show that the fatal bullets came from the same gun. Miss Davis was to testify later that she witnessed the slaying of Farr.Shiller told the jury his conclusions regarding the physical evidence of the case would be consistent with Mrs. Davis’ claim that the assailant wore a woman’s black wig and fired the fatal shots in a gun concealed in a black plastic bag.On cross-examination, Shiller testified that nothing found by crime scene officers would place Davis at the mansion the night of the shootings.%An Amarillo jury acquitted Davis of Andrea’s slaying in 1977 but that verdict has no legal bearing on the civil proceedings.The current trial is a consolidation of suits filed by Mrs. Davis and a former husband, Jack Wilborn, the father of the slain girl.A Dallas pathologist, Linda Norton, testified Tuesday a bullet severed Andrea’s aorta, the body’s main artery, and that she bled to death. The witness said death was not instantaneous and that the child remained conscious for at least seyeraLminutes and perhaps as long as an hour.Attorneys ushered Mrs. Davis from. the courtroom prior to the medical testimony.Melissa Patterson, a Neyv Mexico economist, testified in effect that the monetary value of a child’s life is at least $1 million.But the most compelling testimony came from Dr, Richard Coons, an Austin psychiatrist. Among the notations made by the psychiatrist in a March session with Mrs. Davis was this:“When he (Cullen) shot Andrea she had to He there and bleed to death. He made a mortal enemy when he did that. He’s just mean and evil. He didn’t have to kill Stan. Stan didn’t do anything to him.”
Newspaper Details
Paris News
Paris, Texas, US
Wed, Jun 03, 1987
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Jared T.
NA, NA 30 May 2023
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