The disappearance of King Jay Davila; South Texas Crime Stories
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The staged kidnapping of an 8-month-old child angered all the San Antonio group.
The particulars of the case shocked many and three folks ended up behind bars.
In this week’s episode, we revisit the killing of King Jay Davila, labeled by an investigative reporter as “one of the most horrific child abuse cases that Bexar County has seen probably the last 30 years.”
King Jay lacking
On January 4th, 2019, police get a name from a person that his automotive was stolen from a West Side gasoline station and his child was inside.
Christopher Davila, the kid’s stepfather, instructed them he went inside briefly however left the automotive working and the door open.
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Surveillance footage from the gasoline station exhibits a girl in a hoodie strolling as much as the automotive, getting in, and driving away.
The San Antonio Police Department and a number of different companies get entangled within the case and the search was on for 8-month-old King Jay Davila.
The following day we discovered that Christopher Davila had been arrested for baby endangerment.
Baby King Jay’s mom, Jasmine Gonzales, spoke to KSAT 12 quickly after. During the interview, Davila referred to as from jail upset in regards to the police investigation.
“Since day one the police have been doing the same thing and they are not getting anywhere. Their focus is somewhere else. They just need to focus on where the car was located,” Davila stated in a telephone interview.
Details don’t add up
Police on the time had been beginning to understand the small print of the kidnapping weren’t including up.
SAPD Chief WIlliam McManus stated throughout a press conference: “The story of the kidnapping was made up, made up to cover foul play.”
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It was additionally revealed that the girl who apparently stole the automotive on the gasoline station was Davila’s cousin Angie Torres.
Torres was allegedly picked up by Beatrice Sampayo, Christopher Davila’s mom, and the 2 disposed of the infant’s automotive seat.
At no time that night time the automotive was stolen was the infant ever inside.
More arrests
Six days after King Jay disappeared police revealed they arrested Christopher Davila, Beatrice Sampayo, and Angie Torres.
But then got here the tragic information no one wished to listen to — investigators had discovered child King Jay’s physique.
“We found what is believed to be the remains of King Jay Avila. We recovered his body last night. His father Christopher Davila led us to him after he was arrested for tampering with evidence,” McManus stated. “Christopher has said that King Jay’s death was an accident. He panicked and did not call 911. Based on that information we charged Christopher Davila with injury to a child by omission.”
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King Jay was discovered below a bridge off Castle Lance Dr. on the West Side.
His physique had been wrapped in a blanket and put inside a backpack that was buried.
Davila instructed police that whereas he was watching King Jay, he put the infant in a automotive seat that was unstrapped on prime of a mattress.
While he was taking part in video video games he sat on the mattress, which precipitated the automotive seat to turn into unbalanced, King Jay fell out and presumably hit his face on the dresser.
He stated the infant had swelling round his eye and later died.
The health worker later revealed the trigger of loss of life was blunt power trauma.
Sentencing
Davila has since taken a plea deal within the case and was sentenced to 40 years.
Angie Torres additionally took a plea deal on tampering with proof and was sentenced to eight years.
As for Beatrice Sampayo, she’s nonetheless awaiting trial, her subsequent scheduled listening to date is Sept. 12.
Investigative reporter displays on protection
For this episode we introduced in our KSAT Investigates Reporter Dillon Collier.
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Collier adopted this case intently and acquired his fingers on paperwork earlier than different media did.
“It’s one of the saddest things that I think a lot of us have covered in our time here,” Collier stated. “Turned into one of the most horrific child abuse cases that I think Bexar County has seen probably the last 30 years… “I got involved when it became more than just a search for a child and really an investigation of this family.”
Collier pointed to some of the distinctive elements of the investigation.
“The scrutiny of this case was incredible. If you remember, every time they would search a house related to the family, the neighbors would tip off the media. And we were actually there for these searches as SAPD lined the street with vehicles and carried out these search warrants. And then after the arrests were made in the case, the two women, the two family members, Beatrice Sampayo, and Angie Torres, were both assaulted within days of being taken into custody by other people at the Bexar County Jail. Sampayo was spit on by another inmate. Torres got beaten up. They had a mug shot where you could tell that she’d been beaten up by other inmates. So this was really a case where the public turned against his family and was disgusted by what had played out.”
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Leigh requested Collier about probably the most illuminating half of his reporting.
“Getting the arrest warrant for Davila, which explained how the baby had gotten hurt, the steps he had taken to conceal the injuries, and the fact that you know, he carried himself as the baby’s father. So he acted like the baby’s father to be able to take an eight-month-old, wrap him in a blanket, put him inside of a backpack, and then to bury him in a field. It was just almost unbelievable to read that on the pages that he would admit to such a thing,” he stated.
“Also as a father to hear that that must be hard to report on something like that and to see the whole public image of this family shift. That’s not something we normally see.” Leigh stated.
“No and again, it was odd to see how angry the public acted towards his family before any of them had ever been criminally charged. And I think, you know, it’s tough not to get angry as someone in the media. We’re supposed to be unbiased. We’re supposed to sort of stay out of it emotions-wise. But when you start realizing that something terrible happened to this kid and this family has gone out of their way to try and hide that, it’s tough not to get upset about it. But, you know, you just kind of use it as motivation to try and learn as much as you can about the case,” he stated.
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Collier stated he was shocked that Davila took a plea deal.
“His attorneys had rejected the initial one, and I think that was for 50 years. And he ended up taking a plea deal to 40 years. So if you’re going to reject the plea deal for 50 years, why turn around and then be okay with one that, you know, at the end of the day, if he’s going to serve about half that time, it’s a real similar amount of time that he’ll stay in prison. So I thought that was sort of a really weird move to reject the first one. Set yourself up potentially to go to trial and spend the rest of your life in jail and then come back and sign on for 40 years. Almost like they gave up in a way,” he stated.
Torres took a plea deal as nicely. But Sampayo, his mom, continues to be scheduled to go to trial later this year.
“And I try not to cast too many aspersions on her. She’s in enough trouble as it is. But if you recall, she carried herself as being terminally ill with cancer. So here we are now three and a half years later. And I guess, you know, she has a different definition of terminal cancer than what I would, because, you know, we are years and years removed from her arrest and she is still healthy enough to go to trial at this point,” Collier stated.
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“Where does this case fall for you?” Erica requested.
“I think it’s sadly the latest in a long line of horrific child abuse cases in San Antonio. This one may have been an accident. I’m not sure Chris Davila meant to hurt his child, but he certainly didn’t care enough about the child to get medical attention and do the right thing. And I think that that, sadly, is a trend that we see a lot in Bexar County. I don’t know why that seems to be how things are here, but I think this is the latest in a long line of instances like that,” he stated.
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