Parents reveal how they were charmed by daughter's killer
The parents of a young nurse who was murdered by a husband have opened up about being charmed by their new son-in-law.
Shannon Mohr, 25, thought she had met the man of her dreams when she was introduced to 35-year-old David Davis.
She was captivated by his dashing good looks and rags-to-riches life story, claiming to have been orphaned as a child before serving in the military then working as an international property developer.
The pair eloped in Las Vegas after just seven weeks of courtship, and Shannon was thrilled to be married to Davis.
Her parents Lucille and Bob Mohr disapproved at first, but they were quickly won over by their charming new son-in-law.
"She would put her arms around him and sit on his lap and say: 'Isn't he neat mum, isn't he neat?'“ Lucille said.
Bob was equally thrilled by his new son-in-law.
"He was really a man's man. He loved to hunt and fish. He was a big guy, a very outdoors type person,” he said.
"We enjoyed his company. Any father would be proud to have him for a son-in-law."
Little did they suspect that after just 10 months of marriage their daughter would be dead and it would take nine years to bring their son-in-law to justice for her murder.
Horse riding ‘accident’ claimed daughter’s life
On July 23, 1980, Shannon and Davis went out for a horse ride, leaving her parents at their farm in Hillsdale, in the US state of Michigan.
But 25 minutes later their neighbour saw Davis galloping back across his field screaming for help.
He told him Shannon had fallen off her horse and hit her head on a rock, so the two men raced off to take Shannon to the hospital.
David told his parents-in-law Shannon had fallen off her horse and doctors confirmed she died after her neck was broken.
But even then, Lucille had her suspicions. She said Shannon was scared of the horse and never rode faster than a walk, so how could she fall off?
As Davis went to comfort her, she noticed finger nail marks on his hand and face.
"David grabbed me and as he put his hand round me I could see the finger marks where she had dug her nails in and I looked up and I could see marks on the side of his face,” Lucille said.
“I knew he had killed her."
The police accepted Davis' version of how his wife died. With no motive or any evidence of foul play, the medical examiner said her death was an accident and the case was closed.
Shannon was buried three days later, but her parents could not accept her death was just an accident.
Son-in-law’s life was a lie
The parents faced more shocking revelations about their son-in-law when his own parents turned up to the funeral and they discovered nearly everything he had told them and Shannon about his life was a lie.
The day after the funeral, Davis went to dinner with some of Shannon's relatives who were shocked to see he wasn't in mourning.
They had also discovered Davis had taken out three life insurance policies on Shannon's life and would be collecting more than US$300,000.
Both Shannon's parents and neighbour Dick Britton sent angry letters to the State Attorney's office complaining about the investigation. Mr Britton also rang a local newspaper reporter and told him everything he knew.
The Detroit Free Press came out with a front-page article exposing Davis as a womanising conman and insurance fraudster.
Reporter Billy Bowles, who wrote the piece, even discovered Davis had taken a new girlfriend to his wife's funeral convincing her he was a CIA agent and the funeral was the end of his assignment. When Davis saw the article he fled to Florida.
Hunt for killer husband
Almost a year after Shannon's death, her body was exhumed when medical examiners found needle marks on her right shoulder and in her wrist.
It was revealed she was injected with a drug called Succinylcholine, that paralyses all the muscles in the body so the victim suffocates.
In October 1981, a warrant was issued for Davis’ arrest and he was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted List, sparking a worldwide manhunt spanning more than seven years.
He was eventually tracked to Florida, where he assumed a fake identity and took up a job as a pilot.
On January 6, 1989, FBI agents and police waited for Davis to turn up to work at the airport, where they arrested him.
He insisted he was innocent, but it took the jury just two hours to find Davis guilty of murder, and he was jailed for life.
"We went out to the cemetery right afterwards and we looked down at her grave and said, 'We got him’,” Lucille said.
Davis appealed his sentence several times but all his attempts were rejected. He spent the rest of his days in a maximum security prison, where he died on November 2014.
He died of congenital neuromuscular disease aged 70.
– Australscope
If you or someone you know is suffering from sexual or domestic abuse, don't suffer in silence, call the National sexual assault helpline 1800 737 732 any time of day or night.
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