His name was on the work order. Her name was on the missing person’s report. They were dated three weeks apart, yet they shared the exact same address. That was the only reason anyone ever found out what happened to her.
The others were not so lucky. On the morning after she was last seen alive, a school custodian knocked on her front door. Nobody answered, but something was left behind on the handle.
It was a TCI cable service tag dated Saturday, February 4th. It had been left by someone who had already been to her house once before. Someone who had a specific reason to come back.
That tag was the first piece of a puzzle that investigators almost missed entirely. David Steven Middleton did not hide in the dark like a conventional phantom. He did not break into random homes or follow strangers down empty streets.
He knocked on doors that people willingly opened for him. He wore a uniform that made questions feel entirely unnecessary to the average homeowner. He carried an official work order that made him look like he belonged there.
By the time anyone connected his name to a body, he had already done it before. This is the documented case of the man they called the Cable Guy. David Steven Middleton was born on June 25th, 1961, in Boston, Massachusetts.
On paper, his early life looked perfectly ordinary. His father was a police officer, meaning structure and authority were part of the household from the beginning. When Middleton was eleven, his parents divorced.
Two years later, his mother remarried, and he gained a stepsister and a stepbrother. Not much is documented about those years at home, but records show he was a capable student. He maintained strong grades and had no disciplinary issues.
There was nothing that would have flagged concern for his future. At eighteen, he was hired as a police cadet by the Boston Police Department. At the same time, he attended college on a basketball scholarship at Suffolk University.
He later transferred to the University of Massachusetts to continue his education. He left the institution in December 1981 without completing his degree. That same year, he married his high school sweetheart, Julia Tina Heredia.
Shortly after his marriage, he resigned from the Boston Police Department. He relocated to Miami, Florida, where he joined the Metro-Dade Police Department in 1982. His first year there was, by all accounts, highly impressive.
He earned multiple commendations for his performance on the force. He was soon promoted to detective in the Warrants Bureau. His responsibilities included tracking fugitives, serving legal documents, and supporting arrest operations.
By every visible measure, he looked like a career officer moving in the right direction. Then, in 1984, while on duty, Middleton arrested a woman named Jerry Lynn Smith. He began a long-term extramarital affair with her.
In 1987, his mother passed away unexpectedly. People who knew him noted a distinct negative shift in his behavior after that loss. By March 1988, the Metro-Dade internal affairs division opened an investigation into him.
He had written letters to a prosecutor’s office in New Jersey requesting reduced bail. This request was for a man named Jabber Muhammad, and he did the same for Smith. He was removed from the warrant section because of this.
He was placed on station duty and was eventually suspended from the department. On February 15th, 1989, he was somehow reinstated to full duty. Fourteen months later, he was behind the wheel of a police cruiser.
He was telling a sixteen-year-old girl that it was past her curfew. It was September 1990 in Miami, Florida, when this encounter occurred. The young girl was known in court records only by her initials, AC.
She was walking along a street at night when a police cruiser pulled up. The officer behind the wheel was none other than David Steven Middleton. He told her it was well past the local curfew hours.
He claimed that her parents were deeply concerned about her whereabouts. He insisted that she needed to come with him for her own safety. He was in a full uniform and possessed a real badge.
He represented the law, so she had no reason not to trust him. She got into the front seat of the police car. Middleton did not drive her to the local police station as expected.
He did not attempt to contact her parents either. He drove her to a remote location outside Miami, away from witnesses. There, he used his department-issued handcuffs to restrain her wrists.
He then brutally sexually assaulted her in the vehicle. When it was over, he left her in an empty lot. He gave her a chilling warning that she would never forget.
“No one will ever believe you,” he said.
He did not accept that she would have the strength to fight back. She went directly to the authorities and reported everything that happened. She detailed the badge, the handcuffs, the false pretense, and the assault.
Middleton was arrested and charged with rape for the incident. The case went to trial, but the jury eventually deadlocked. They could not reach a unanimous decision on the rape charge.
Rather than retry the complex case, prosecutors accepted a plea arrangement. Middleton pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and false imprisonment instead. He was sentenced to five years in state prison for it.
He served only two years before being released early. Upon his release, the Miami-Dade Police Department officially terminated his employment. But here is where the system failed in a massive way.
The consequences of this failure were greater than anyone anticipated. Law enforcement agencies in Colorado and Nevada were never adequately informed of this. They knew nothing about Middleton’s conviction, his conduct, or the evidence.
There was no alert, no flag, and no warning sent across state lines. He was a convicted predator who used a police badge to target a teenager. Yet he walked out of prison into a system that was not watching.
He crossed state lines without any restrictions holding him back. He changed his life on the surface and started over in a new state. He got a new job and operated with no meaningful oversight.
Years later, AC would be prepared to testify once more. This time, it would be at Middleton’s Nevada penalty hearing. Prosecutors moved to use the Florida conviction as a documented aggravating factor.
They were seeking the death penalty for his later crimes. The crime that the system reduced to two years was not done following him. Before we go any further, consider why cases like this matter.
They are built on verified court records and documented facts. They are the details that the headlines moved past far too quickly. Hit subscribe and turn on notifications as we continue through the record.
David Steven Middleton is documented as a unique figure in history. He is the only convicted serial killer who also served as an officer. That is not an opinion; it is the verified public record.
After his release from the Florida facility, he left the state completely. He moved first to Colorado, then settled down in Reno, Nevada. There was no badge for him this time around.
He had no department-issued credentials to rely upon. However, he found something that gave him nearly the same level of access. He took a job as a cable television installer at TCI Cablevision.
Think about what that specific position provided to a predator. It gave him a legitimate work order with a customer’s name. It gave him their home address and a scheduled appointment time.
The homeowner arranged the appointment themselves ahead of time. It was a reason to be led inside without a single question. Middleton could walk through a front door and move through a residence.
He could observe the layout and note if someone lived alone. He left with a complete picture of that person’s life. All the while, he appeared to be doing nothing more than technical work.
What investigators later confirmed was chilling to consider. The Nevada Supreme Court acknowledged it directly in its subsequent ruling. Middleton had developed a consistent method across all of his crimes.
He would gain entry through a legitimate professional pretext. He would use white nylon rope and duct tape to restrain his victim. He would then transport her to a remote storage unit.
He had rented this unit in Sparks, Nevada, for this purpose. It was registered under a fictitious company name, Hal Data Research. It was connected to him through his girlfriend, Yvonne Ioni Haley.
That unit was not an afterthought in his planning. It was a deliberately maintained facility built for a specific purpose. It had been fully operational before the disappearances even began.
In late 1993, women started vanishing from the area. The first was Buffy Rice Donahue, who was eighteen years old. She was living in the town of Montrose, Colorado, at the time.
On the afternoon of Sunday, November 21st, 1993, she spoke to her parents. She told them she was heading out to wash her car. She also planned to pick up a lemonade down the street.
It was a routine errand on a quiet Sunday afternoon. She was last seen alive at a local Safeway grocery store. Her car was found later that day in a parking lot.
It was sitting outside a nearby Walmart store. Her wallet was inside, and her driver’s license was still there. Buffy, however, was nowhere to be found near the vehicle.
Search teams were deployed immediately to scour the region. Helicopters swept the area from above for any sign of her. Sniffer dogs were brought in to track her scent from the car.
Missing persons posters went up across the town of Montrose. None of these efforts produced a single viable lead for police. What nobody knew at the time was a critical piece of geography.
Yvonne Haley, Middleton’s girlfriend, worked at that exact Walmart. It was the same location where Buffy’s car was abandoned. That connection would not surface until years after the fact.
Investigators also noted another disappearance in the same area. A fourteen-year-old girl named Cindy Booth had vanished weeks earlier. Despite the geographic proximity, authorities maintained the cases were unrelated.
Eighteen months after Buffy disappeared, in May 1995, her remains were found. They were located in a remote wooded area near Norwood, Colorado. It was positioned within San Miguel County.
She had been bound and placed inside a plastic bag. San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters identified Middleton as the prime suspect. This was based on his ties to the area and Haley.
No charges were ever filed against Middleton in Colorado for this. Buffy Rice Donahue was never given her day in court. Eight months after Buffy vanished, the disappearances moved to Nevada.
Thelma Amparo Davila was forty-two years old when she disappeared. She was a Guatemalan immigrant who built a stable life. She lived in Reno with her sister, Dora Valverde.
For six consecutive years, she worked at a local casino. She was a dependable porter at the Circus Circus Casino. She had six years without a single missed shift on record.
Her supervisors knew her as one of the most reliable workers. On the morning of August 8th, 1994, Dora left for work. Thelma was resting on the living room couch at the time.
When Dora returned home that evening, the front door was unlocked. The television was still turned on in the living room. A potted plant near the entrance had been knocked over roughly.
Thelma’s wallet, her keys, and several hundred dollars were untouched. They were sitting right there on the table in plain sight. The blankets she had been sleeping under were completely gone.
So was Thelma, leaving no note behind for her sister. She had missed a dentist appointment that afternoon as well. Those who knew her said she would never do that willingly.
She did not show up to her shift at Circus Circus either. Dora filed a missing person’s report with Reno police on August 10th. A witness would later tell investigators a crucial detail.
Middleton had been seen on the stairs outside Davila’s apartment. This occurred on the exact morning she was last seen alive. That placement put him at her location at the critical moment.
For eight long months, Thelma Davila remained entirely missing. Then, on April 9th, 1995, a man was walking his dog. It was a remote area near Verdi, Nevada, when he found her.
He came across human remains hidden in the brush. Animal activity had severely disturbed the scene over the months. What remained was a skull attached to several vertebrae.
There were also a number of long bones scattered nearby. Pieces of white braided rope were found near the bones. The remains had been wrapped in a large yellow storage bag.
It was a product labeled as a Warps banana bag. Investigators later traced that specific bag to a single local store. It was the only shop in the Reno area that carried them.
Records showed one box of three bags had been sold there. The sale was finalized on February 8th, 1995. That purchase date placed the acquisition weeks after her disappearance.
This connected the disposal of her remains to a post-crime action. A dental bridge recovered from the skull made identification possible. The remains were confirmed as those of Thelma Amparo Davila.
Dr. Frederick Lochridge was brought in to conduct the examination. Because of the condition of the remains, a standard autopsy failed. There was no soft tissue left to examine for trauma.
Dr. Lochridge reviewed the skeletal remains for any indicators. The skull was completely intact upon his examination. None of the bones showed evidence of a gunshot wound.
There were no knife wounds or traumatic physical injuries visible. He could not establish an exact medical cause of death. He stated he could not rule out suffocation or other options.
The cause of Thelma Davila’s death was never officially determined. But the evidence surrounding her disappearance spoke volumes anyway. The location of her remains told a clear story.
Six months after Thelma Davila went missing, it happened again. Katherine Elizabeth Powell was forty-five years old at the time. She held a PhD in psychology from a respected institution.
For thirteen years, she taught third grade in the area. She worked at Sun Valley Elementary School in Reno. She was divorced and lived entirely alone in her home.
Colleagues described her as exceptionally reliable as a teacher. She was the kind of person whose absence was immediately noticed. It simply did not happen under normal circumstances.
On the evening of Friday, February 3rd, 1995, she vanished. Catherine Powell was last seen alive running errands that afternoon. She had plans for a ski trip with a close friend.
It was scheduled for the following morning, Saturday, February 4th. She never showed up to meet her friend for the trip. Her friend could not reach her by phone all day.
Over the weekend, several people attempted to contact her at home. Nobody got through to her answering machine or phone lines. On Monday, February 6th, she missed school.
When she did not appear at Sun Valley Elementary, they worried. Her colleagues immediately notified the police of her sudden absence. Officers were dispatched to her home on Silver Knolls Boulevard.
Her truck was parked right there in the driveway. Her personal belongings were still inside the quiet house. Catherine, however, was not anywhere on the property.
A school custodian had gone to her home prior to police. He reported something that would later prove to be highly significant. He had knocked on the door and received no answer.
Attached to the front door was an attempted service tag. It was from TCI Cablevision, the local cable provider. It was clearly dated Saturday, February 4th, 1995.
The morning after Catherine Powell was last seen alive, someone came. Someone from TCI Cablevision had visited her address that morning. Two of her neighbors, Angela Green and Charles Corning, noticed something.
They saw an unfamiliar pickup truck parked outside her home. It was there in the early morning hours of February 4th. A third neighbor provided a much more specific account to police.
On February 1st, five days before she was reported missing, it happened. A TCI cable truck had been parked outside her residence. That neighbor later identified the occupants of that service truck.
They were David Steven Middleton and his girlfriend, Yvonne Haley. On the evening of February 11th, 1995, a discovery was made. At approximately 9:30 p.m., a body was found.
A woman’s body was discovered inside a trash dumpster. It was located at a Reno apartment complex down the road. The body was inside a zippered sleeping bag.
It was covered by multiple plastic garbage bags as well. A large yellow Warps bag was placed over the top. Dr. Roger Ritzlin performed the official autopsy on the remains.
The body was loosely bound with several pieces of rope. It was wearing only a black tank top and blue socks. Bruising was present on the elbows and the knees.
Forensic analysis determined those injuries occurred prior to her death. Blue fibers were also found on the surface of the body. Toxicology results showed a non-toxic level of lithium.
This was consistent with a prescription Katherine Powell had been given. She took the medication for a diagnosed bipolar disorder. Microscopic examination of her heart showed something unique.
There was acute cell death in the left ventricle of the heart. That deterioration had begun a few days before her death. Dr. Ritzlin also noted the total absence of petechiae.
These are small hemorrhages typically seen in cases of suffocation. There was also an absence of fecal staining on her body. That indicator is commonly associated with that cause of death.
He testified at trial that both markers are usually present. Neither was present in this case, according to his findings. This finding complicated the exact cause of death determination.
However, it still pointed investigators toward what had likely occurred. The body was officially identified through fingerprint records as Powell. Three women, two states, and a terrifying pattern emerged.
Law enforcement was only beginning to see the picture clearly. At the center of it was a man with a work order. He had a storage unit and a refining method.
When Catherine Powell failed to appear at work, they acted. Her colleagues did not wait long before contacting local police. Investigators were dispatched to her home to look for clues.
Her truck was in the driveway, and her things were inside. But Catherine was gone without a single trace left behind. Detectives began retracing her final weeks of life immediately.
They reviewed her financial records and recent purchases for clues. They looked at her scheduled appointments and service calls. One entry in her service history stood out to them.
On January 28th, 1995, a cable installation was completed. This was nine days before she was reported missing from school. The name on that work order was David Steven Middleton.
He drove a red pickup truck that matched neighbor descriptions. He also had a prior felony conviction on record in Florida. On February 23rd, 1995, investigators executed a search.
They went through Middleton’s apartment looking for evidence of murder. Inside the residence, they found an operational shotgun. Under Nevada law, a convicted felon cannot possess firearms.
He faced immediate criminal charges for the weapon alone. Middleton was arrested that same day for the firearm possession. But the firearms charge was only the beginning of his problems.
Information received through Reno’s Secret Witness program helped them. It directed investigators to a specific storage unit in Sparks, Nevada. The unit was registered under a fictitious business name.
That name was Hal Data Research, used to hide his identity. When investigators searched the unit on March 5th, 1995, they succeeded. What they found built the foundation of the entire case.
Inside the unit was Catherine Powell’s personal property. These were items confirmed missing from her home by family. Investigators also recovered a specific yellow windbreaker from the unit.
The jacket appeared on surveillance footage from an electronics store. It was the Good Guys electronics store located in Reno. There, Powell’s Mastercard was used after her death.
The card was used to purchase a Yamaha stereo system illegally. The red handcart used to collect that order was there too. Store records showed the order was placed by phone.
It was collected by a woman in that yellow windbreaker. She arrived driving a red pickup truck registered to Middleton. The unit also contained clothing belonging to Thelma Davila.
This included a black lace shirt consistent with her wardrobe. There were other personal belongings connected to her missing person case. Hair samples were recovered from restraints inside the unit.
They were forensically consistent with Powell and Davila. Saliva collected from items inside contained matching DNA profiles. This provided a direct physical link to Middleton’s victims.
Biological evidence on Powell’s clothing provided a link to him. Blue fibers recovered from Powell’s body matched the unit’s contents. This established cross-contamination between the unit and the scene.
White braided rope found inside could not be excluded either. It matched the rope used to bind Powell’s body perfectly. It also matched the rope found near Davila’s remains.
The forensic comparisons were consistent across all three locations. Then there was the refrigerator in Middleton’s apartment to consider. The interior shelves had been completely removed by him.
Two small breathing holes had been drilled into the side. At the time of the preliminary hearing, everyone noticed. Both the prosecution and defense acknowledged the implication of the appliance.
The Nevada Supreme Court later confirmed it in its ruling. There was compelling evidence Powell was confined inside that unit. She likely suffocated as a direct result of that confinement.
Forensic odontologist Dr. Raymond Rawson was brought into court. He was an expert in bite mark analysis for criminal cases. He examined a dental mold taken directly from Middleton.
He compared that mold against a bite mark on Powell. His conclusion for the jury was completely unambiguous about it. The bite mark had been inflicted while Powell was alive.
It was a forceful bite that caused bleeding beneath the skin. It was entirely consistent with Middleton’s unique dental impression. On the day the body was found, detectives interviewed him.
Detective Jenkins interviewed Middleton directly about the missing women. During that interview, Middleton confirmed two things entirely voluntarily. He acknowledged he performed a cable installation at her home.
He also acknowledged that he owned the red pickup truck. He knew witnesses had described it near her home recently. Everything else regarding the disappearances he denied completely.
The evidence told a different story to the investigators. Piece by piece, from service records to the storage unit, it grew. They had a case that placed him at the center.
The question now was whether a jury would agree with them. While Nevada investigators were assembling their case, Florida was acting. Prosecutors in Florida were doing something equally significant back home.
They were going back into his old records there. Files from Middleton’s years on the police force reopened. What emerged was a pattern that extended well beyond AC.
Florida prosecutors filed charges connected to two additional assaults. These cases occurred while he was an active officer there. The first involved a woman named Ms. Cosmi.
Her account described Middleton using his authority to isolate her. He used his position to carry out the assault safely. The badge once again was his primary mechanism of control.
The second case involved a victim identified as Jane Doe. Her account was more detailed and considerably more unsettling to read. She told prosecutors that Middleton stopped her one evening.
He used the pretense of a routine DUI checkpoint to pull her over. He later contacted her and invited her to his residence. When she arrived, he was dressed in a religious costume.
He led her into a darkened room inside the house. He burned incense and drew strange symbols before assaulting her. It was calculated, controlled, and deliberate from start to finish.
Additional victims came forward during this period of investigation. Each described a version of the exact same structure. A position of authority was used to establish initial contact.
A false pretense was used to create total isolation for them. Then, a controlled environment was used for the assault. Florida prosecutors faced significant challenges in advancing these old cases.
Some of the physical evidence had deteriorated over time. Some allegations could not be sufficiently corroborated after many years. However, the Florida cases did not fade away entirely.
Lead Nevada prosecutor Thomas Viloria moved to use them. He wanted the documented Florida conviction as an aggravating factor. He presented it at the Nevada death penalty hearing.
The crimes committed in Miami now followed him into court. The ones that cost him his badge were back again. The stakes this time were his own life.
The trial opened in Washoe County District Court in Reno. It began in the hot summer of 1997 before a jury. Presiding over the proceedings was Judge Peter Breen.
The prosecution was led by Deputy District Attorney Viloria. The defense was handled by public defender Michael Specchio. He was assisted by Deputy Public Defender John Petty.
Before the trial even began, the defense made a move. Specchio filed a pre-trial motion seeking a gag order. He wanted to limit press coverage of the sensational case.
Judge Breen denied the motion, allowing the press inside. The road to trial had not been straightforward for anyone. Middleton’s defense team had previously filed a habeas corpus petition.
They argued that because no medical cause of death was established, it failed. They believed the murder charges could not legally stand in court. Judge Breen initially agreed and dismissed the charges early on.
The Nevada Supreme Court reversed that controversial decision unanimously. The court found that while exact causes remained undetermined, it sufficed. The full body of evidence supported a reasonable inference of crime.
The charges were reinstated, and the case proceeded forward. Viloria built the prosecution around a single documented argument for the jury. He argued Middleton followed the same pattern in both cases.
He showed the physical evidence connecting him to both victims. It was extensive, consistent, and independent across multiple disciplines. The evidence presented included Powell’s stolen Mastercard records.
It was traced to the post-death electronics purchase in Reno. Wool and textile fibers from Powell’s body matched the unit. Dr. Rawson testified about the painful bite mark found on her.
He stated it was inflicted while she was still alive. He showed it matched Middleton’s dental impression perfectly. Hair samples from both victims were recovered from the unit’s restraints.
Biological evidence on Powell’s clothing linked directly to him. Rope recovered from the storage unit matched both crime scenes. Three separate witnesses placed Middleton at Powell’s residence.
The modified refrigerator was confirmed as the confinement location. Middleton himself had acknowledged the cable installation to Detective Jenkins. He had also admitted to owning the red truck.
Then Middleton took the stand in his own defense. He told the jury a shocking story about his encounters. He claimed he had a prior consensual encounter with Powell.
He said he left her home afterward that evening. He claimed he returned later and found her already dead inside. He said he panicked when he saw her lifeless body.
He wrapped her body and placed it in a dumpster. He did this because of his own fears, he claimed.
“I did not believe anyone would accept my version of events,” Middleton testified.
Viloria responded to that account directly and without hesitation. He looked at the jury and dismantled the story completely. He argued that a regular person does not act that way.
A person who discovers someone deceased does not wrap them up. They do not load them into a vehicle and transport them. They do not place them in a trash bin across town.
“That is not the behavior of a panicked bystander,” Viloria argued. “That is the deliberate action of someone managing evidence.”
The jury heard it all during the dramatic trial. At the penalty phase, Viloria called three witness testimonies. They addressed the human cost of what Middleton had done.
Jeff Powell, Catherine’s brother, took the stand to speak. He testified that the last time he saw his sister was Christmas. It was during the holiday gathering in 1994.
He brought a home video he filmed that day. The courtroom watched Catherine Powell wearing a festive Santa’s cap. She was wearing elf ears, laughing and playing with children.
Catherine’s mother also testified about her devastating loss. So did Dora Valverde, Thelma Davila’s grieving sister. She described coming home one evening in August 1994.
She found an empty couch and never saw her sister again. The jury found five aggravating circumstances in Powell’s murder case. They found four in the murder of Thelma Davila.
All of these factors warranted the maximum penalty under law. On August 26th, 1997, the final verdict was delivered. He was found guilty on all counts by the jury.
This included two counts of first-degree murder in Nevada. There were two counts of first-degree kidnapping on the record. He was convicted of grand larceny and fraudulent credit card use.
On September 15th, 1997, Judge Breen handed down sentences. He gave him death twice for the brutal murders. There were additional life terms for the kidnapping convictions.
He received thirty-two more years for the firearms violations. This included time for the fraudulent use of Powell’s credit card. The total estimated cost of the proceedings was huge.
It came to approximately $461,260 for the taxpayers. David Steven Middleton, former officer and cable installer, was processed. He became the eighty-third person placed on Nevada’s death row.
The verdicts delivered were not the end of things. They were the beginning of a new legal process entirely. In November 1998, the Nevada Supreme Court reviewed it.
They affirmed all convictions and both death sentences on appeal. The court found substantial evidence supported every single charge returned. They ruled that Middleton’s claims on appeal had no merit.
Middleton’s legal team did not stop fighting the sentences. Over the years that followed, multiple appeals were filed regularly. His attorneys argued ineffective assistance of counsel during the trial.
They alleged prosecutorial misconduct occurred during the original proceedings. They filed a motion arguing for a pre-trial competency hearing. They believed the case should never have reached a jury.
Then, in 2004, a separate ruling changed things slightly. The Nevada Supreme Court issued a ruling in the McConnell case. It held that a specific aggravating circumstance could be tricky.
It could not be used twice to justify a sentence. Middleton’s attorneys moved to apply that ruling to his case. They argued it required the removal of two aggravating factors.
The court agreed that two factors needed to be removed. However, it also ruled that the remaining factors sufficed. The remaining circumstances supported both execution sentences on their own.
The legal challenge failed to overturn the death penalty entirely. In 2017, the court issued a twenty-six-page order rejecting petitions. The court found no evidence that trial counsel performed deficiently.
It found no support for any claim of innocence. Every argument Middleton raised was addressed and denied by judges. In 2022, a federal appeal was filed by him.
It was similarly denied by the federal court system. Every legal avenue that existed has now been completely exhausted. David Steven Middleton is now sixty-four years old.
He is held at Ely State Prison in Ely, Nevada. That is where Nevada’s death row population is housed. Nevada has not carried out an execution in many years.
No execution date has been scheduled for Middleton currently. None is currently pending before the state courts either. The Donahue family in Colorado has never received a verdict.
They never got a trial verdict in Buffy’s name there. They filed a civil suit alleging investigative failures by police. However, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals denied relief entirely.
They denied it based on statute of limitations grounds. Their one stated wish remains the same after all this time. They want to be present when Nevada executes his sentence.
They want to see the day it finally comes. Dora Valverde, Thelma Davila’s sister, remembers it vividly today. She still thinks of the unlocked door and empty couch.
She received a legal verdict in 1997 for her sister. So did Jeff Powell, Catherine’s dedicated brother, who fought. He last saw her at Christmas in 1994 before she died.
He spent years away from his practice to see justice. They got the outcome the system was able to provide. However, no verdict gives back what was taken from them.
Buffy Rice Donahue never even had a criminal trial. Catherine Powell held a PhD and taught third grade passionately. She was last seen on a Friday before a trip.
It was a ski trip she never got to make. Thelma Davila worked six consecutive years at her casino job. She never missed a single shift before she vanished completely.
If documented cases like these matter to you, remember them. They are built on verified court records and forensic facts. These stories are not finished, and neither are we.
