“It’s like you are on a mission.”
But finally there was a breakthrough last week when DNA identified the body as that of 21-year-old Paula Beverly Davis of Kansas City, Mo.
Even before the confirmation, the police was working on the next phase: Who killed the woman?
Once a family member contacted police in October, Lang started running down Davis’ friends. By January, he was flying to Florida to speak with Davis’ former roommate and best friend.
Though Englewood police were convinced Davis was not killed in Ohio, “it was in everyone’s best interest to do the right thing and investigate. It’s our body, it’s our case,” he said.
That may not always have been the case.
Davis’ body was found Aug. 10, 1987, on a grassy slope near the Hoke Road entrance ramp to eastbound I-70. The victim had two fresh tattoos — a rose and a unicorn above each breast. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office ruled she died by ligature strangulation.
The interview with the friend provided “good contextual information,” Lang said.
The friend was the last person who knew Davis to see the young woman alive at a truck stop outside of Kansas City.
“In her own words, she said they were prostitutes and junkies who turned tricks at truck stops,” Lang said.
“She was surprised to see someone from Ohio wanting to talk about it. She said no one cared about them then, and wasn’t surprise ‘she (Davis) was thrown away like a piece of trash,’ ” Lang said.
The friend told Lang that’s how they were treated.
Lang said the friend has turned her life around and did not want any publicity. She declined, through Lang, to speak to a reporter. He said the interview was emotional, and the friend is in regular contact with him.
About the Author