Officials release information in murder case that led to suspect’s public suicide at Ingles

SHEILA A. MATHEWS :::

Stanley Steverson, of Thomaston, has been identified as the person police say was murdered last week by Demonte Terrell Davis, the man who committed suicide Sunday afternoon in the Griffin Ingles parking lot.

Authorities say Davis had agreed to peacefully surrender to police at Ingles but when he arrived, committed suicide.

Steverson was initially reported as a missing person to the Thomaston Police Department (TPD) on Wednesday, June 8.

“He hadn’t been seen since Tuesday evening,” said TPD Chief Mike Richardson.

When Steverson’s family learned he had not shown up for work, he was reported missing.

Prior to the filing of that report, the Upson County Sheriff’s Office (UCSO) received a report of a vehicle – a blue Ford F150 – that had been abandoned on private property off Jeff Davis Road.

The vehicle’s license plate had been removed, but deputies ran the vehicle identification number which resulted in no alerts, so the truck was impounded.

“They ran the VIN and it didn’t come back stolen. They called us that (Wednesday) morning and asked if we had anything on this person (Steverson) and we said no because at that time, he hadn’t been reported missing,” Richardson said.

Once Steverson’s family reported him missing later that afternoon, the connection was made to the abandoned vehicle and it was transported to an UCSO hangar.

There, investigators discovered what appeared to be dried blood in the bed of the truck.

Assistance was requested from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and further testing by crime scene investigators established the truck bed did contain blood and that it was human.

“We conducted a joint investigation with assistance from Thomaston PD and GBI revealing evidence that Mr. Steverson had been the victim of a homicide occurring on Rose Hill Drive in Upson County,” said Upson County Sheriff Dan Kilgore.

Officials say they soon established a connection to Amber Smith Davis, the murder suspect’s wife.

“We started pinging phones and that was when we discovered that Stanley Steverson had some sort of relationship with Amber Davis, the wife of the murder suspect,” Richardson said. “After further investigation, we determined that there was some connection between them. We put out a BOLO (be on the lookout) for them and put her information out on FLOCK and she was stopped. She was picked up and returned to Upson County for questioning. It was her questioning that led us to know what happened. She told us that her husband had shot Stanley Steverson and driven off with his body.”

Steverson’s family was on Friday night notified that evidence indicated he had been murdered.

Kilgore said once Demonte Davis was identified, an arrest warrant was obtained charging him with Steverson’s murder.

Demonte Davis remained at large until Sunday when telephone contact was established.

Richardson identified TPD Sgt. Curtis Keys as the officer with whom Demonte Davis communicated throughout the day Sunday.

“He (Sgt. Curtis Keys) got on the phone and established that rapport. He (Davis) kept saying he would turn himself in to Curtis, so that’s why he was there, and I sent a couple of my SWAT guys to back him up,” Richardson said. “Davis had some connection to Griffin. When he was talking to Curtis and Curtis said he used to work in Griffin, Davis said he remembered him from when he used to work for the Griffin Police Department.”

Kilgore said Demonte Davis was accompanied to Griffin by family members, who were present when he took his life.

“We coordinated efforts with Thomaston PD and Spalding County SO to safely effect his surrender. Davis was escorted to Ingles by family members and exited a vehicle at approximately 4:50 pm. He placed a handgun to his head firing one self-inflicted gunshot. He was pronounced deceased at the scene,” Kilgore said. “The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is handling this stage of the investigation. No officers fired their weapons or were injured in this incident.”

Richardson said multiple law enforcement agencies jointly worked this case since Wednesday, and that cooperation continues.

“This was an extensive operation between the UCSO, the GBI and us (TPD). It was our three agencies that worked everything leading up to us being in Spalding County yesterday, and the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office was quick to help us with apprehending him. There was a great cooperative effort in gathering information and putting it all together to get arrest warrants for Davis. We utilized all resources available,” Richardson said.

Amber Smith Davis has been arrested on a charge of concealing a death and is being held in the Upson County Jail.

Stanley Steverson’s body has not yet been recovered.

Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the Upson County Sheriff’s Office at 706.646.7903.

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