Missing and Murdered Children

Update: April 26, 2008

A reader dropped me an email last week to let me know that Joshua Davis plead guilty on April 17th to kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering Savannah Smith in 2006. His sentencing is scheduled for June 5, 2008 in Providence, RI.

According to an article in the Boston Globe Davis offered an apology to the family during the court proceedings:

Joshua Davis, 22, apologized softly to the family of Savannah Smith after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor and child molestation. But he said he knew an apology wasn’t good enough. ¹

He is right, an apology is no where near good enough. Unfortunately the state of Rhode Island does not have the death penalty. The prosecution is asking for a life sentence without the possibility of parole - the most severe penalty that can be handed down. I hope the judge gives him that sentence, especially after hearing the following details of what Joshua Davis did to Savannah Smith:

Davis drove the girl from Woonsocket to Cranston, carried the child through a glass- and debris-covered wooded area, sexually assaulted her, strangled her, beat her in the head and left her body under a tree.

“Her body was under the tree because the defendant attempted to hide Savannah Smith,” Macktaz said.

Her naked body was found the next morning. ²

According to Davis’ defense attorney his client decided to plead guilty to save Savannah’s family from the pain of a trial. Hmmm. I always find it interesting when these monsters start getting feelings of remorse and compassion when it is time for justice to be meted out to them.

Thanks to the reader for update.

All Savannah Smith did was to accept a ride from someone who was familiar to her. He was a neighbor and the boyfriend of her sometimes babysitter. What could be wrong with accepting a ride with Joshua?

Unfortunatley, Savannah found out that accepting a ride from Joshua, her neighbor was not a safe thing to do.

According to David Smith, Savannah’s father, she had asked him if she could go to the store with Joshua and he told her no. Here is the next thing he saw:

“She’s waving. She’s in the front seat all happy,” David Smith said. “I said no. I told it right to him, ‘No.”‘

Savannah was reported missing on late Sunday evening by her mother.

This morning Joshua led police to a remote area:

The child’s body was found dumped in the woods on Parkview Boulevard in Cranston, about 18 miles south of the girl’s hometown of Woonsocket… A chemical plant once operated at the site.

Authorities have not released the cause of death. Some news reports indicate that Savannah was sexually assaulted.

Savannah Smith was just eight-years-old. Joshua Davis is 20-years-old.

I wrote about a story last month that had similar circumstances. Jamie Bolin of Purcell, OK, age 10, was sexually assaulted and murdered, also by her young male neighbor.

As the grandmother of two little girls, what am I supposed to tell my daughter when she refuses to let her daughters go outside to play? I feel that they are being robbed of a normal childhood. A childhood that they should be able to feel free to go outside and run around the neighborhood, ride their bikes to the park.

I remember when I was a little kid. The only rule we had was “be home before the street lights come on”. We were free to run around the neighborhood, we played hide and seek with our friends, skated around the block and walked to the store. Our parents did not need to worry about us.

It used to be the only warning given was “Dont’ talk to strangers”. That warning is no longer sufficient. Are we now forced to warn our children to no longer trust adults? No longer trust anyone who lives outside of our own homes?

My heart goes out to the family of Savannah Smith. It does not appear that they could have done anything different, they could not have done anything to protect their daughter from the monster who lived just a few feet away from their home.

He seemed safe…

He said his daughter often talked to Davis, and would not have been afraid to go with him because she spoke to him every day.

“He was a nice guy, played along with the kids just like most neighbors would,” Smith said.

1. Eric Tucker, “Man pleads guilty to abduction, strangling or 8-year-old,” boston.com, April 17, 2008. [↩]
2. Ibid. [↩]