St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Jim Hill set the trial date Thursday for Randy O’Neal Davidson, 29, of Shelby County, who is charged with the capital murder of 62-year-old Diana Donahoo Rice of Shelby County.
Hill set the tentative trial date for Monday, Sept. 20, said St. Clair County Assistant District Attorney Carol Boone.
Rice was found in a wooded area near the Prescott community in April 2009.
Authorities alleged Davidson strangled the woman to death and left her body in an isolated area off Camp Winnataska Road, stealing her 2003 white Ford Tauraus.
Davidson remains in the Shelby County Jail on unrelated charges and is also facing charges in Jefferson County.
During a preliminary hearing May 2009, Shelby County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Shelby O’Conner testified that Rice’s purse was found along Camp Winnataska Road, near where her body was eventually found.
O’Conner said Rice’s credit cards were still in her purse, but $400 the victim had withdrawn from her bank account 2-3 days prior to her disappearance was missing.
She testified that authorities in Shelby County were already looking for Davidson in an unrelated burglary, which occurred only a few miles from where the victim was last seen.
O’Conner said witnesses place Davidson at the residence where she was a caregiver for an elderly man.
Davidson was eventually apprehended at a North Birmingham truck stop, where authorities had located and staked out the victim’s car.
O’Conner testified at Davidson’s preliminary hearing that the suspect had told investigators during questioning that he was on methamphetamine and had not slept for 8-9 days, and it was possible he could have strangled the victim with the nylon card found 10-15 feet from the body. However, Davidson qualified his answers to authorities and never outright admitted to the murder.
Davidson also has charges pending in Jefferson County, robbery first-degree, burglary first-degree, attempted rape and cruelty to animals.
Lt. Randy Christian with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said at the time of Davidson’s arrest that the suspect forced his way into a home in northeastern Jefferson County, armed with what a 27-year-old female victim described as a machete.
Christian alleges Davidson strangled a kitten to death in front of the victim’s two children, an 11-month-old girl and 3-year-old boy.
He said the suspect then forced the victim into a bedroom, striking her 3-year-old boy on the head with his hand along the way and ransacked the drawers in the bedroom.
Christian alleges Davidson attempted to rape the mother but stopped when her 9-year-old daughter arrived at the residence on a school bus.
Davidson allegedly fled in the family’s 2000 Dodge Durango, and was later taken into custody at the truck stop by Jefferson County deputies and U.S. Marshals.
If convicted of the capital murder, Davidson could face life in prison without the possibility of parole or death by lethal injection.
Post a Comment
