Davis pre-trial set for Dec. 14

A pre-trial date has been set for a Jay County man charged with murder for allegedly killing his girlfriend’s daughter by repeatedly slamming her body on concrete.
Dalton R. Davis, 21, appeared by video conference for an initial hearing this morning in Jay Circuit Court, during which a pre-trial hearing was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Dec. 14.
Also at the hearing, a plea of not guilty was entered for Davis for the murder that occurred late Monday. He will be assigned a public defender.
Davis is accused of killing his girlfriend Courtney Lloyd’s 5-week-old daughter, Lillian Grace Lloyd, late Monday in a home at 8804 N. 500 West, where they lived together along with several others. He was arrested Wednesday, and formal charges were filed Thursday afternoon.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed Thursday, Davis said he and Courtney Lloyd argued Monday evening about his drinking.
Davis allegedly told Jay County Sheriff’s Office investigators Patrick Wells and Mitch Sutton that while Courtney Lloyd was asleep, he took Lillian Grace Lloyd from the glider in which she was sleeping and carried her to the bedroom. He then went out a door next to the bedroom so he could smoke a cigarette.
Angry about the earlier argument, he held the infant by her legs and “forcefully struck her body on the concrete two to three times with her back and head striking the ground,” says the affidavit. It also states that Davis demonstrated the action to investigators with a doll.
He then put the girl in her bassinet and lay down in the bed next to it, the affidavit says.
Preliminary autopsy results show a severe skull fracture was the cause of death, which was most likely instantaneous. Results of the full autopsy, being performed at St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, are not expected for several weeks.
Jay County prosecutor Wes Schemenaur, who is in his second term, said he has never seen a case like this.
“Not like this, no,” he said. “It’s pretty shocking.”
Jay Emergency Medical Service and Bryant Fire Department first responders were called to the home following Courtney Lloyd’s 911 call at 11:48 p.m. Monday. During the call, she told Jay County Sheriff’s Office her child “was not breathing and was pale in color.”
JEMS transported Lillian Grace Lloyd to Bluffton Regional Medical Center, and while on the trip “noticed what they described as suspicious bruising to the child’s back and abdomen,” the affidavit says. She was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after her arrival, and the Division of Child Services and Indiana State Police were called to assist in the investigation.
Davis, Courtney Lloyd, and Courtney Lloyd’s mother, Mary Lloyd, were initially interviewed early Tuesday at Bluffton Police Department.
Mary Lloyd also lives in the home, along with Courtney Lloyd’s friend, Sasha N. Fields, her two children, ages 3 years and 9 months, and her boyfriend Kurtis P. Puckett.
Courtney Lloyd, Mary Lloyd, Davis and the children were at the home Monday when, according to the affidavit, Mary Lloyd left about 10:30 p.m. to pick up Fields and Puckett from work.
With Lillian Grace Lloyd asleep in the glider, Courtney Lloyd fell asleep on the couch next to Fields’ 9-month-old, she told police.
The affidavit states that Courtney Lloyd later woke up and noticed her daughter was no longer in the glider, then went to the bedroom to check on her. It was then that she found her daughter unresponsive and called 911.
After police reviewed the initial autopsy report, Davis was interviewed a second time beginning at 2:27 p.m. Wednesday at Jay County Sheriff’s Office in Portland. According to the affidavit, he first told police that Lillian Grace Lloyd “appeared fine” when he put her in the bassinet, then told them he had accidentally dropped her when he went outside to smoke.
The document says police told Davis his statement was not consistent with the child’s injuries, and it was then that he told officers he had slammed the girl on the concrete.
He was arrested and booked into Jay County Jail on the murder charge at 4:33 p.m. Wednesday.
Davis, who worked at Tyson Mexican Original in Portland, faces a sentence of 45 to 65 years in prison if convicted.
“This is one of those cases that warrants the maximum, in my opinion,” said Schemenaur. “Obviously he’s innocent until proven guilty. But if he’s convicted, I don’t think it gets any worse … you can’t find an any more innocent victim than a newborn.”
The incident marks the third murder investigation since February involving a Jay County resident.
Charles “Maddog” Whittington of Portland is in custody at Blackford County Jail awaiting trial for the Feb. 5 murders of Shane P. Williamson, 40, and his daughter, Katelin Williams, 14, in Hartford City. Richard A. Straley was sentenced June 22 to 60 years in jail for the March 18 stabbing murder of his wife, Connie Straley, after pleading guilty in May.
Before this year, the last murder in Jay County was in 2008.