Boyfriend arrested in Ohio woman's disappearance; charged with 2 counts of murder

6/23/2007

Jessie Davis

AP

CANTON, Ohio The boyfriend of a missing pregnant woman was arrested on two counts of murder Saturday after a body believed to be that of Jessie Davis was found a week after she vanished from her home.

Canton Police officer Bobby Cutts Jr., 30, was arrested Saturday afternoon on for the murder of 26-year-old Ms. Davis and her unborn baby, Chloe. Ms. Davis was expected to give birth to Mr. Cutts daughter July 3.

The Stark County Sheriff s Office released no details about the investigation, saying only that a body was found in Summit County at 3:30 p.m. Along with law enforcement officials from both Stark and Summit counties, police officers from Summit County Metro Parks and the National Park Service were on the scene. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park extends into Summit County.

Mr. Cutts is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Canton Municipal Court.

Ms. Davis was discovered missing last Friday, when her mother, Patti Porter, went to her daughter s home at 7 a.m. She found her 2-year-old grandson, Blake, alone in the duplex, furniture overturned, and a pool of bleach on the floor.

People throughout northeast Ohio rallied in support of the family, and more than 4,000 showed up since Thursday at the Greentown Fire Department to search the fields and woods around Ms. Davis home. The search was organized through the volunteer efforts of EquuSearch, a group from Texas. Although deputies would not say how Ms. Davis body was discovered, it was not uncovered by an EquuSearch team.

The Davis family lawyer, Rick Pitinii, said the family is grieving in private.

He addressed some 60 reporters at a press conference Saturday: "Leave them alone for a little bit. Let them grieve in private. Please do not all tonight. Please do not call tomorrow. Their phones will be off for obvious reasons. They do thank each and everyone of you, and the thousands of volunteers."

Mr. Pitinii was obviously moved by the family s loss. Since Ms. Davis disappeared, he said, "they ve gone through an absolute roller coaster of emotions. I ve seen them laugh. I ve seen them cry. I ve seen them angry, upset, everything you can imagine. I don t know. I don t know. I never had to deal with anything like this before.

He declined to speculate about the family s feelings about Mr. Cutts.

"I think this whole process for them has been more about finding her than necessarily who is or is not potentially at fault or blame. I don t think they re concerned with that right now.

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