-Michele definitely was a free spirit.
♪♪
-People wanted to be around her.
She liked being the life of the party.
-When michele died, I went to pieces.
-When michele davis's car suspiciously swerves
Out of control, killing her...
-Do we have a road rage? Do we have a sniper?
Do we have a stray bullet?
-...Dark details rise to the surface.
-There was tension between michele and the kids.
-Whatever was on his mind, he was gonna say it.
If you didn't like it, too bad.
-Investigators are left with more questions than answers.
-We were able to see michele davis's car
And then a red pickup truck speeding up
And then caught up with her.
-Who was driving the red truck?
-Somebody's not telling us a full story.
-And it all leads...
-Having a suspect and having enough to make an arrest
Are not the same.
-...To a killer relationship.
♪♪
When sweet and fun single mom michele mcclain
Meets older businessman randy davis,
There's no denying the chemistry,
And randy offers michele a more than comfortable lifestyle
With a new blended family.
But after almost two decades,
Michele and randy are growing in different directions.
Michele wants more independence,
But randy wants to keep the status quo.
Eventually, divorce looms.
Before anything is finalized, however,
Michele is killed in the most unusual of ways.
[ horn blaring, tires screeching ]
[ crash, vehicles passing ]
[ phone dialing, line ringing ]
[ siren wailing ]
It was some sort of rollover accident
That had crossed several lanes of traffic,
And it appeared to have stopped
Somewhere on an off-ramp.
The victim of the traffic accident was michele davis.
Michele was already pronounced dead.
♪♪
-Michele was born December 15, 1966 in des moines.
And then I followed almost a year later.
And then my brother, rod, arrived four years after that.
♪♪
-Growing up, michele definitely was a free spirit.
[ engine starts ] she used to have a mo-ped.
She used to love riding that around.
Enjoyed being with friends.
She loved her brothers.
I was a very scrawny kid.
I had a bull's-eye on me for bullies.
And she would stick up for me like crazy.
She would jump in there and fight and scrap
With any of the boys and usually come out on top.
♪♪
-People wanted to be around her.
She liked to party in high school.
She liked being the life of the party.
-Michele's good looks and magnetic personality
Attract many admirers,
But it's fellow classmate bill mcclain
She quickly falls head over heels for.
She met bill in high school
Their sophomore-into-junior year.
He clearly loved michele.
I think he fell in love with her the minute he saw her.
They decided to marry right out of high school,
And then bill jr was born in '86.
♪♪
They were most definitely like two kids playing house.
They struggled financially, not making a lot of money.
The expense of having a baby,
The stress of all of that took its toll.
Before I was even 2, they had been separated.
It wasn't like it was a bad divorce.
When I'd go to my dad's,
It wasn't like he would say anything bad about my mom
Or, you know, vice versa.
-Still in her early 20s, michele is back on the dating scene.
But as a new mother, she's now looking for someone
Who can offer a little more stability.
It isn't long before she crosses paths
With former marine randy davis.
Ten years older than michele, he's also a parent.
♪♪
-Michele and randy were in love.
They would go camping.
They were both interested in motorcycles.
They would like to go on motorcycle trips
To different parts of the country.
-Randy had a good business going.
He was in construction. He worked hard.
-Randy was divorced when michele met him.
Had two children of his own. He had josh and bridget.
And they were both a little older than bill.
[ bell tolling ]
-Michele and randy were dating about a year and a half,
And in 1991, they got married.
♪♪
-Randy was able to give her a nice home.
She took care of the kids, the house,
And she was in seventh heaven.
-And then, not too long after they had gotten married,
Randy's ex-wife, bridget and josh's mom,
Was killed in a car accident.
-It was an accident from a drunk driver.
I was still kind of young, so, you know,
I wasn't quite grasping what had happened.
It was definitely a hard time for a while.
-Michele became mom to randy's kids.
-She loved those kids.
It took them a while to warm up.
-My mom treated us all the same.
I mean, she took them in just like they were her own kids.
-She tried to be their mother.
But michele's relationship with bridget and josh
Had its ups and downs.
I just know that they tussled a few times over rules,
Over things that michele didn't want them to do.
-There was one night where josh and my mom were fighting,
And josh ended up making a fist or something
And was acting like he was gonna hit my mom or something.
It was kind of like one of those moments like, "wow.
What the heck's going on?"
-Despite the conflict,
Michele keeps trying to bring the family together.
And then, decade later,
The family suffers another tragic loss.
On September 11, 2008, while driving home from work,
Michele's car mysteriously flips over, and she's pronounced dead.
Traffic investigators try to determine
What caused the accident.
-Part of my duties in the traffic unit
Was to start walking through the scene
And trying to figure out -- "okay. What happened?"
-Investigators did not have any information
That somebody was in the car with her,
But we do have at least a couple witnesses
Who are consistently saying
She appears to be the person who started hitting people.
-Looking at it, initially it didn't make sense.
She just went off the road for one reason or another.
And why?
-It's a fate no one could have predicted for michele davis,
Whose future was looking bright
After falling on hard times seven years earlier.
♪♪
-There was a housing crunch in des moines,
And randy was forced to close.
So he shut down his construction business,
And michele had to return to work.
She worked for tmc transportation in des moines.
She worked in the payroll department.
She'd never laid hands on a computer before.
Now she's in this office setting.
But she was pretty sharp.
She caught on quickly, and she earned their respect,
And she loved working there.
-Money affects every relationship.
There's no way around it.
Who's making it and who isn't?
It can be tough to navigate the feelings that finances bring up,
And that can really test the strength of marital bonds.
It can also alter power dynamics,
Which is what happens
When michele finds newfound career confidence
While randy sees unprecedented difficulty in his industry.
The two start becoming more at odds with each other.
♪♪
-Randy never had a filter.
You know, whatever was on his mind, he was gonna say it.
And if you didn't like it, too bad.
But more and more, everything had to be randy's way.
There was no in between.
-In 2004, michele and randy were on the rocks, and michele left.
♪♪
But randy was hurt, devastated.
-Randy tried and tried to get her to come back.
He would call her all the time.
-And she was back home in... A matter of days.
♪♪
-Yet after a period of reconciliation,
It is clear that their relationship has not improved.
The feelings michele had
Of wanting to leave the marriage resurface,
Increasing as the children grow up and move out of the house,
Leaving michele and randy alone in an empty nest.
By April of 2008, michele has enough.
-In an eight-hour period, she was out of the house,
Moved into an apartment, and beginning a brand-new start.
-I think she did love him
But she just knew that she couldn't stay there anymore.
-They started their divorce proceedings.
She took property from the home --
Dishes, some furniture --
And half of the money out of their account.
Her stepkids were upset with her.
They felt she had stolen from their father,
So there was a tension between michele and the kids
Because of that.
♪♪
-Ran into randy at wal-mart.
He was...Crying pretty good.
And randy is just looking at me deep in the eyes, and saying,
"well, I love her. I need her home."
-While randy and his children struggle to accept
That michele's decision is final,
Even before the divorce is complete,
She is already moving confidently into her new life.
-She had gotten her hair cut,
And the smile was just back on her face.
She felt just a lot freer.
♪♪
-Michele was able to get out and do things
And actually start to enjoy things on her own.
It was good to see her happy.
-Michele seems to have a new lease on life.
She begins dating again
And looking forward to this new chapter.
♪♪
But the new chapter is tragically brief.
Just five months later, michele is dead.
But what caused michele to so suddenly careen off the road?
-One thing that stood out to me --
The impact was not that severe to be a fatality.
It hit hard. Don't get me wrong.
But it wasn't a head-on, immediately stop.
It was a glancing blow off of that wall.
-Not everybody dies in rollovers anymore.
Because of all the wonderful advancements
That we have through traffic safety --
Airbags, seat belts, the design of the car.
-I've worked lots of fatals over the years.
I felt something was off.
-Michele was transported
To the polk county medical examiner's office that night
To have an autopsy the next day.
Because we want to know -- how could this happen?
♪♪
-If he was mad at her,
He would call her names, degrade her.
-He shoved me. Almost knocked me off my feet.
-He had been known to snap.
-The twist came during the autopsy.
-I was blown away.
I couldn't believe it. I was in total shock.
[ sirens wailing, horns honking ]
-Investigators with the des moines police department
Are trying to figure out
What could have caused michele davis
To suddenly lose control of her car,
Causing a chain reaction of crashes.
With no signs of her braking and witness accounts
Of michele's car suddenly veering into others
Before careening off the interstate,
Something just isn't adding up.
♪♪
-Our traffic unit, through experience, usually thinks
That these incidents are some sort of medical issue --
A heart attack or an aneurysm, a seizure, even --
That might cause that accident.
-So, in the case of michele davis,
It was really important to find out --
How could this person all of a sudden die in a car crash?
♪♪
[ telephone ringing ]
♪♪
-I'll never forget the sound of my dad's voice.
I could hear it in his voice he's been crying.
♪♪
"dad, what's going on?"
He tells me, "just come over here. Now."
And everybody started to show up over at my dad's.
-Before any news got out there, we spoke to the family.
I explained to them that there would be
An autopsy the following day.
We would try to provide as much information as possible
As to what caused the accident.
♪♪
-I went to pieces.
It was a rainy night. [ thunder crashes ]
I had caused such a commotion
That all the lights in the neighborhood had turned on
And they had all stepped out onto their porches
To see this big guy on his knees, sobbing in the rain.
[ thunder rumbling ]
-I couldn't, like, breathe. I just didn't believe it.
I'm trying to figure out, like, what happened.
-I called randy.
I said, "randy, I'm sorry."
I said, "if you need anything, you know where to find me.
You know my number.
You're still family."
He was crying.
He said, "thank you.
That means a lot to me."
[ thunder rumbling ]
-Later on, randy's son, josh, came to the house.
And I saw him coming up the drive.
I went to give him a hug, and he...He shoved me.
He pushed me very hard. Almost knocked me off my feet.
I thought, "this is a very strange reaction."
But the relationship that michele had with josh
Was definitely strained over the separation and the divorce.
And I'm thinking, "he's upset. He is just blowing smoke.
He's gonna deal with it how he deals with it."
♪♪
-The next day, I went to the autopsy.
Michele was still wearing the c-collar
That had been placed on her
Because she died before that was ever removed.
It was during the autopsy that dr. Schmunk
Had removed the collar.
-The twist came during the autopsy,
When they discovered that gunshot wound...
...That nobody... Nobody knew about.
♪♪
-I'm standing on the left side of michele,
And I noticed that, where her earring would normally be,
There was a gunshot entry
That came out on the right side, in the area of the cheek.
-Any head wound is gonna bleed significantly.
During this initial response, we can't see
That she had been shot with that amount of blood.
-It's a shock.
I mean, it becomes an answer as to the cause of death,
But it's also a quick shift in gears.
What we believed to have been a traffic fatality
Is now a homicide.
♪♪
It was a small caliber -- probably a .22 caliber.
But they did not recover a bullet from michele.
-What are the different scenarios
Of how somebody could possibly be shot on the freeway?
Do we have a road rage? Do we have a sniper?
Do we have a stray bullet? We don't know.
Either somebody is an unbelievable shot
Or the luckiest shot in the history of human beings.
One in a million.
-We go to the department of transportation
And see if they can secure all the video
From an hour before this accident occurred
Till 30 minutes after that.
It was going to take some time to complete.
So I wanted to see if I could gather some more information.
Michele' s car was examined,
But the bullet was not recovered inside the car.
-When they look at michele's car,
There's papers from a pending divorce.
So those papers become relevant
In adding someone that they have to look at --
Her soon-to-be ex-husband, randy davis.
♪♪
-I know I have to talk to randy.
When we looked into him,
Randy didn't have much of a criminal history.
But randy had a no-contact order against him by michele,
So that could be something.
-Divorce always brings up a lot of emotions.
And when randy finds it difficult to come to terms
With the fact that the marriage is over,
He makes several attempts to reconcile with michele,
Turning up at her apartment and even her work.
Michele gets a no-contact order against randy,
Hoping it will stop him from trying to change her mind.
-I wanted to see if randy had been in contact with michele
The day of the incident.
-We have a victim. We have a husband.
Let's subpoena phone records.
In 2008, it takes a little bit of time.
-And there's something else to consider.
If this wasn't a random shooting and michele was the target,
Who might be capable of making that precise fatal shot?
Is there anyone who can fit that profile?
At this point, there are more questions than answers,
And mctaggart and o'donnell head over
To speak with michele's loved ones once again.
This time, he's notifying them of her murder
And has his eyes open for potential suspects.
♪♪
-I was blown away.
I couldn't believe it. I was in total shock.
So I went around to the other side of the house.
And I had a detective on my heels.
He wanted to talk to me.
So he put me in his car.
-Michele's brother did inform me
That michele had two stepchildren.
♪♪
Josh had recently got out of the marine corps,
At that point, lived with his father.
♪♪
-There was a thought that josh might have been involved,
Just because he was not happy about the divorce.
He had been known to snap when pushed
And the military training that he had just had.
♪♪
-Josh would have received
Definitely some marksman training.
♪♪
It definitely piques your interest.
♪♪
-Twenty-four hours into the murder investigation
Of michele davis,
Detectives in the des moines police department
Have two potential suspects in their sights --
Michele's stepson, josh,
A marine, who recently returned home;
And randy, michele's soon-to-be-ex.
The detectives learn through a background check
That randy also served in the marines 30 years earlier.
Both men have military training, very likely in marksmanship,
Which matches them to the profile of the freeway shooter.
But are either of them angry enough with michele
To want her dead?
♪♪
-I spoke with josh
Out at a medical center in west des moines.
-It was really important to find out if there's any motive
For why josh would be so angry at michele
That he'd want to kill her.
Maybe would he be so angry at her because the divorce
Is gonna divide up property unfairly to his dad?
-Josh davis told me that on September 11, 2008,
He went to the mall with his sister,
Went home approximately 3:30,
Watched a tv show -- "sons of anarchy."
He believed his father came home at approximately 5:30 p.M.
At that point we knew a storyline
That he locked himself into,
And we were going to explore further into his alibi.
-From what he told the investigators,
There's only one person who can corroborate
Where josh was when michele was shot --
His father, randy davis.
The detectives want to speak with him
Before father and son have a chance to talk.
-Randy was brought to the station for an interview.
♪♪
-Randy doesn't say a whole lot.
He didn't seem very angry. He didn't seem really sad.
He was just kind of... Just really right in the middle.
♪♪
-This directly goes against what the detectives have heard
From randy's son, josh,
Who told them that he had been home from 3:30
And that his father had not come home until about 5:30.
We know that michele had been shot just before 5:00.
So which one of these men are lying
About where they were when michele was killed?
♪♪
-At that point, it's trying to figure out
Who's telling the truth and who's not telling the truth.
Kind of like a card game.
You know what cards you hold. I know what cards I hold.
Sometimes you try to bluff.
-Somebody's not telling us a full story.
♪♪
-Detectives mike mctaggart and david seybert
Have just heard conflicting information
From randy davis and his son, josh,
Regarding their whereabouts when michele was killed.
So, where does the truth lie?
-When somebody lawyers up, he is unavailable to us.
It's odd, number one, and two, it hampers our investigation.
-Always, somewhat cynically, we say,
"if you didn't do anything wrong why do you need a lawyer?"
It just makes us suspicious of what are you hiding.
-On September 12th, we were able to secure
A search warrant for randy's and josh's house
And randy's ford f-150 truck.
We're looking for any evidence
That might help this investigation.
-So, the question is, well, where's the gun?
♪♪
-Did not find the gun. No ammunition.
No gun in the house.
But during the search of that residence,
We did find a .22-caliber cleaning kit for a rifle.
Michele's gunshot entrance wound was a small caliber,
Probably a .22 caliber.
You wouldn't get a cleaning kit for a gun that you didn't have.
-It's a big clue.
But without the murder weapon,
The detectives still have no solid evidence.
And either man living at the home
Could be the owner of the cleaning kit.
At this point, detectives don't have enough to arrest anyone.
And when it's time to lay michele to rest two days later,
Both josh and randy show up to pay their respects to michele.
♪♪
-Her visitation was standing room only.
There was over 400 people there.
It was hard to even get up there to see her.
-It was an open casket. I didn't even go inside.
I was outside the whole time
'cause I was already, like, a hot mess.
♪♪
-It was...Kind of ironic.
Her divorce was to be final on the day of her funeral.
♪♪
-Randy is definitely a suspect.
You also have randy's son, josh davis.
Josh seemed to be angry
Because michele wanted half of randy's pension
And half the house during the divorce.
I know that I have to wait on the cellphone information
And interstate video.
I need a confession or I need some witness.
Let's bring in those witnesses from the interstate.
-So the investigators start interviewing people,
And they start looking for is there any similarity
Between what unrelated witnesses may have seen.
And there were witnesses who started to come forward
Who talked about an erratic driver.
We live in iowa, right? There's lots of trucks.
But there's stickers in the back of the window,
So that starts to narrow it down.
And who in michele's circle of people drives a red f-150 truck?
Well, it's her husband, who's about to be divorced from her.
-Connecting the truck to randy is a huge break,
But without a good description of the driver
And with both randy and josh having access to the vehicle,
The detectives need more evidence
To build a case against the right man.
When the footage from the interstate finally comes in,
Detectives scour it for anything that will help them identify
Who is behind the wheel of the red truck.
-Our department of transportation,
They do have cameras.
They do not film as in a continuous video,
But they do take still pictures every few seconds.
-We got very lucky, and we were able to see
What we believed was michele davis's car
And then a red pickup truck that was speeding up
And then caught up with her at the time of the accident.
-So detectives have to figure out
Who was driving the red truck.
-The money was so important to him.
-I was infuriated by that.
-I have a good suspect.
-It's time to make an arrest.
♪♪
-In the four days since michele davis's deadly commute,
Dmpd detectives have narrowed down the possible suspect pool
To two men very close to her -- josh and randy davis.
Both were angry with michele,
And with josh living with his father,
Both had access to a red pickup truck
Seen pulling up beside michele's car
Just before she lost control of it.
But will the video from the interstate show
Who her killer is?
-If you watch a vhs tape back in the day,
That's the graininess of the video we had.
So any time you would try to expand it,
The picture becomes more pixelated.
There are no details that we were able to make out,
Being the driver of the vehicle, the plate of the vehicle.
-And because the camera clicks at certain intervals
And it doesn't operate as a streaming instrument...
[ tires screeching, horn honks ]
...The camera did not catch the crash.
[ siren wailing ]
-Kind of dejecting.
But your mind starts going in different directions.
Obviously, michele davis is alive
When she leaves work that day at 4:30 p.M.
So the other thing that would make sense is driving the route
That we believed that she would have probably taken home,
Trying to locate any surveillance cameras
Anywhere along the route around that time.
♪♪
I found video of a car wash
That is on the route of michele davis,
On park avenue at around the time
That michele davis would have been leaving work.
And then we see michele davis's vehicle,
And several cars later, we see the red pickup truck.
It's amazing.
-Despite their diligence
In tracking down more surveillance of the truck,
The videos never catch a glimpse of the driver.
Detectives mctaggart and seybert try reaching out to josh again,
Only to learn that he has also lawyered up.
♪♪
-And then...
I finally get the cellphone records
From randy's cellphone.
Now I'm able to verify some locations
And who's calling and what time and how long they are.
-Not only are we looking for incoming and outgoing calls.
Most importantly is tower location --
Where the towers are being pinged from that phone.
-The cellphone records are great information
In whether or not they can corroborate
Randy davis's statement.
-The first phone call is about 2:30 in the afternoon
From a law firm.
And that's 25, 30 minutes.
And it does appear that the call started out
By where his job site was and ended by where his house is.
So after the lawyer, cellphone records show
That there's another, real brief phone call
From randy's sister around 4:30,
And that cell tower is way away from his residence.
-The problem is now he leaves his residence again,
Which is contrary to his story.
-And he is right by where michele works.
Not only was he by michele's work,
He's by michele's work right when she gets off of work.
I do feel like I have a good suspect.
However, having a suspect
And having enough to make an arrest are not the same,
And I am running out of potential areas
To gain evidence enough to get an arrest.
♪♪
-Detectives mctaggart and seybert
Just need one solid break to push them over the finish line.
And they get it with an unexpected call at the station.
-September 19th, my sergeant called me on my phone
And said that josh was coming in at noon
With his attorney to do an interview.
-Josh davis wanted to come in with his attorney
And speak with detectives about the death of michele davis.
-So josh goes to the police.
And the police are, I think, suspicious, right?
But he gives information to the police that is absolutely...
Unexpected.
-Um...
♪♪
-On September 19, 2008, one week after michele davis's death,
Josh davis, the stepson she raised as her own,
Comes down to the police station with his lawyer
To speak with detectives.
But what exactly did he come to tell them?
Josh revealed that his father has a .22-caliber gun --
The murder weapon that the detectives have yet to find.
That's a major break.
If josh is doing what it looks like he's doing,
Summoning up the courage to turn on his own father,
His only surviving parent,
They know he's been put in the middle
Of one of the worst family situations imaginable.
♪♪
-Josh stated that when his father returned home,
Approximately 5:30 p.M.,
That he did not have in his possession
The same rifle that he had left with.
♪♪
-Josh's statement, it did make sense.
Josh's story is sounding more credible than randy's story
Because I know randy has not told me the truth.
-I thought that was an act of courage,
Integrity, and doing the right thing.
It's emotional.
He couldn't live with the fact
That he knew his father killed his mother.
♪♪
-Randy davis was arrested
And charged with first-degree murder.
-He didn't want to make a statement and...Went to jail.
-What made this case so unique
Is the manner in which she was killed.
How possibly could that have occurred?
How close could he get to her?
That's an incredible shot,
And I think it was probably lucky, frankly --
Unlucky for her, for sure.
♪♪
-Because randy had never physically harmed michele,
Her family never dreamed that one day he would kill her.
It is something they now have to come to terms with.
♪♪
-He would degrade her, you know?
He would get mad at her, call her names.
But I've never seen a mark on her,
So I never thought she was in any sort of danger.
-Psychological domination, financial domination --
You don't see those signs right away.
I'm gonna regret that the rest of my life.
♪♪
-I think randy davis's motive was a combination
Of different things.
She was leaving him.
He had no control over her anymore.
And the money, which was so important to him,
Was an issue in the divorce.
We obviously did not have the weapon or the casings,
But we did have josh's statements.
Randy knew that we had that,
And I think that's one of the reasons
He may have decided to plead guilty.
-Randy davis took a plea with the county attorney's office,
And he received a 50-year sentence
For murder in the second degree.
♪♪
-I was infuriated by that.
I wanted to see him squirm.
♪♪
-Everyone that knew her has changed
From her being taken away.
And there's just a cloud now.
-I remember michele as being part of me.
-When that's gone, you don't replace it.
This is a hurt that don't heal.
-Thinking about my mom...
♪♪
...I don't think there's ever gonna be a day I don't.
I'll sit there and talk to her.
My mom was amazing.
♪♪
-Michele davis was excited to be free from what had become
An increasingly hostile home environment
And hoped that over time
The love she shared with her bonus children
Would overcome the turbulent emotions
Brought on by the divorce.
But she never got the chance to enjoy this next phase of life
Because of the danger that often faces women
Who leave controlling men.
Unfortunately, sometimes the killer relationship
Is the one that can't live and let live.