Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 17

hfi Sauls CQS2 DETROIT FREE PRESSSUNDAY, OCT. 12, 1980 17A Riding death, insurance fortune: A tragedy explored lfe l5 David and Shannon Davis lived together 10 Robert Mohr, Shannon's father, who objected to having the body cremated. And Lucille Mohr, Shannon's mother, who had early suspicions of Davis. Cheryl left before the others. She said Davis escorted her to her car and that when she started crying again, "He hugged me." Then, she said, "He grabbed my rear end, and I backed away.

As she left, she said, Davis told her, "Don't do anything until you hear from me." Instead, she said, she moved out of her apartment and went to live with an aunt in Illinois so Davis could not find her. When she returned recently to Toledo, she moved in with her parents. On the Tuesday morning after Shannon's funeral, Davis drove up to the Mohrs' house in a new Dodge van to drop off some pillows Mrs. Mohr had left at the farmhouse. He had accepted delivery on the van the day before.

Mrs. Mohr said the seeds of suspicion had already been planted in her head when Davis arrived, alone, and reached out to embrace her. "I pulled away from him," Mrs. Mohr said. "He said, 'Why? I said, 'I had a bad day, David.

I think you know Mrs. Mohr said Davis stayed less than five minutes. He told her he was on his way to the desert, then perhaps to Florida. T'HAS BEEN LEARNED that an old girl friend, Jeanne C. Hohman of Hudson, was in Florida with Davis the week after his wife's death.

She returned ahead of and Davis stayed for about three more weeks and went scuba diving. When Davis returned to Michigan, he sent word to Miss Hohman to call him so he could talk with her before sheriff's deputies did. Asked in a telephone interview whether she went to Florida with Davis after his wife's death, Miss Hohman said: "I prefer not to comment other than to say he's a friend of mine." On the night of Sept. 23, at her front door in Hudson, Miss Hohman again refused to answer questions about her relationship with Davis. She said, "I've got company, and I've said all I have to say to you." Davis' truck was parked in her driveway.

After Miss Hohman returned from Florida, Davis stayed on for three more weeks in Taver-nier in the Florida Keys with Buddy and Cathy Brown. Brown, Davis' diving instructor, said Davis told him of Shannon's death "with tears in his eyes." Brown described Davis as "a man just totally consumed in grief." Brown said he invited Davis to stay with him, and that Davis rested, read books and went scuba diving. Davis called Britton from Florida to ask about his mail. Britton quoted Davis: "What I'm mainly interested in is a letter from the funeral home." Later Britton said, "Well, I knew what you get from the funeral home the death certificate." Davis' impatience to get mail from the funeral home aroused Britton's suspicions and he went to see sheriff's detective Schindler. ipv AVIS FLEW HOME unexpectedly after he had been at the Browns' home for three weeks.

He left his van, saying he would return for it. Davis arrived back in Michigan on Aug. 24, and Shannon's body was removed from the grave the next day to be examined by a doctor. A report of the autopsy by Dr. Fazekas said he found a 3 14 -inch cut on the back of Shannon's scalp and bruises of the left cheekbone, left shoulder, upper back, upper right arm and fourth fineer of the right hand.

Her skull was not fractured. Fazekas failed to find any neck injuries as listed by the Lenawee County medical examin er on the death certificate. Fazekas said Shannon died of the head injury which caused bleeding underneath the soft outer covering of the brain. The injury to the brain was on the opposite side of the head from the scalp wound. In an interview, Fazekas said this indicated to him that her head hit a fixed object.

If her head had been struck a blow by a moving object, he said, the injury to the brain would have been directly beneath the point of impact. Fazekas' autopsy report said the large bruises on the shoulder and back indicated that her body struck a broad surface, "indicating the injury was suffered in a fall. But in answer to a question, Fazekas said an autopsy could not determine whether Shannon fell from a horse. HE MOHRS SAID that since Davis stopped by their house on his way to Florida, he had not spoken to them. But they said they were notified that he recently tried to make them the beneficiaries of the $10,000 from New York Life and the $53,289.60 from Hartford Life, the two policies Shannon already had when she got married.

The Mohrs said Davis' request was turned down by both companies. Davis' lawyer has notified Prudential, holder of the largest of the policies, that he plans to file suit to force payment. Asked about these plans, the lawyer, James Cmejrek of Ann Arbor, said, "We're talking about it." Last month, when Davis called Britton over to his house to tell him about the insurance policies, he offered Britton his farm, equipment and crops in the field for $130,000, about what Britton considered to be the value of the land alone. Britton accepted. They closed the deal Friday.

Britton said Davis told him he plans to buy a yacht and sail to Florida. Meanwhile, Davis was still at the farm. He expects to move out Monday or Tuesday, Britton said. "This guy has been as good a friend and neighbor as my wife and I ever had," Britton said. "If there was a way I could clear his name I'd do it." Britton has been back to the clearing in the several times.

"I went back there the week after she died," Britton said, "and there were two toadstools coming up, blood red, right on the spot where she fell." Husband's right to payments on policies disputed RIDING DEATH, from Page 16A payments and $740 a month from State Farm Insurance Co. CCORDING TO PEOPLE who knew Davis during the five years he was drawing weekly workmen's compensation payments based on medical re ports that he could not see well enough to work, Davis was hunting deer and pheasant, driving cars and trucks on the highway, playing paddle-ball at the Adrian YMCA, reading newspapers and books and attending Adrian College. He also harvested soybeans with a combine, which farmers say is precision work requiring good vision. The cutter must be kept inches above the ground and raised to avoid rocks, which can damage the combine. "A guy with 2020 vision can't hardly combine soybeans," said neighbor Godfrey.

After the workmen's compensation claim, against Chrysler, Davis collected on insurance claims for two fires at his Hillsdale County farm, which is in Wright Township, southeast of Hills dale. Davis bought his first 64 acres there in 1973 from Britton for $39,900 and moved there from Ann Arbor, continuing to commute to his Chrysler' job. He made an $8,000 down payment to Britton under a land contract. The incident on which he filed his disability claim occurred about six months later, and he left Chrysler and started drawing insurance benefits. DAVIS' BARN BURNED the night of Sept.

7, 1976, while Davis was away and neighbor Howard Sensabaugh was lnnkinp out for the farm. "When he left," Sensabaugh recalled, "he said, 'There's nothing in the barn. You won't have to bother with the Davis collected $6,000 for his barn, hay and a combine destroyed in the fire, an insurance company spokesman said. Davis bought Howard and Dorothy bensa- baueh's 40-acre farm, across the road from his own, in April of 1979, making a $15,000 down payment under a land contract. That brought Davis' acreage to 104.

A fire destroyed the vacant Sensabaugh house 11 months later, on March 10, 1980. Davis told firemen who arrived too late that he was asleep in his house across the street. He collected $30,000 in insurance for the loss, an insurance company spokesman said. About two weeks later, Sensabaugh said, Davis paid off the land contract with the insurance money. Within seven weeks after Davis and Shannon were married, they had taken out three policies on her life, and Davis had been named as beneficiary on a fourth policy Shannon already had.

The value of these policies to Davis if Shannon died accidentally was more than $307,000. Two other policies that have turned up bring the total that Davis stands to collect to about $330,000. This is the sequence: On Oct. 2, 1979, eight days after the wedding, Davis and Shannon applied to Prudential Life Insurance Co. of America for a policy that would pay him $1 10,000 if Shannon died a natural death or $220,000 if she died accidentally.

They bought an identical policy on Davis. The application listed Davis' income as $12,000 a year and Shannon's as $15,000. Three days later, on Oct. 5, they bought a new MGB convertible and took out a policy that would pay off the debt $10,227.36 with finance and insurance charges if either of them died. On Nov.

1, Shannon co-signed for a farm loan Davis had taken out on Sept. 14, just before their marriage, and Shannon took out a $25,000 policy with Mutual Service Life Insurance Co. to pay off the loan if she died. On Nov. 13, Davis was named as beneficiary of Shannon's company life insurance policy with Flower Hospital in Toledo, where she was a registered nurse.

Her father had previously been the beneficiary of this policy, written by Hartford Life Insurance Co. and calling for payment of $26,644.80 if Shannon died of natural causes or $53,289.60 if she died accidentally. Davis also told Britton about a fifth policy to pay off his debt believed to be $13,500 on a new two-ton Chevrolet farm truck if Shannon died. The sixth policy was for $10,000 with the New York Life Insurance Co. Shannon took it out in 1976, naming her father as beneficiary.

Davis was made the beneficiary instead of Mohr on April 28, 1980. The six policies on Shannon total about $330,000. According to a 1976 study by the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association, the median for insurance owned by females in the U.S. was $14,660 in households having a total income of $25,000 or more. Britton said Davis phoned him about four weeks ago and asked him to come over so he could explain the insurance policies.

Britton said Davis told him about the six policies and said it was his practice to buy insurance in both their names whenever he made a purchase or assumed a debt so Shannon would be protected if he died. HE SAID he bought the big Prudential policy because an agent, Philip Rick of Hillsdale, learned of the marriage and came to their house and made a sales pitch to him. Rick declined to be interviewed. But a copy of the application for the Prudential policy states that it was not the agent who initiated the request for insurance. Rick wrote on the application that the Davis couple wanted the insurance because "Both David and Shannon are signed on mort- A he at he on Free Press Photos by WILLIAM ARCHIE months in this farmhouse in Hillsdale County.

the hospital at 9:20 p.m. The death certificate filled out by Dr. Robert Harrison, the Lenawee County medical examiner, set the time of death at 35 minutes earlier, at "approximately 8:45 p.m." Shannon's father, who had driven up from Toledo, arrived at the Davis farmhouse just in time to take a telephone call from Thorn Hospital notifying him and his wife of their daughter's fatal injury. They joined Davis and Britton at the hospital. I HERE, BRITTON SAID, Davis told the Mohrs, "I want her cremated.

We ve discussed it, and we decided on cremation." The Mohrs objected. They had sent Shannon to Catholic schools and raised her in the Catholic Church, which has traditionally opposed cremations. Mohr recalls that he responded: "Oh, no, please." Britton said there was a long silence, broken by Davis: "Well, she wanted to be cremated." Britton said Mohr repeated his objection: "Oh, no, no, no, Dave." Britton interceded: "I said, 'Let her go, Dave. Let them have their daughter Davis then agreed to a Catholic burial. The Medical Examiner's Office in Hillsdale County, where the incident occurred, requested an autopsy on the body, but it had no jurisdiction over the case.

Dr. Harrison, who did have jurisdiction, said he called the Sheriff's Department in Hillsdale and that a deputy told him there was no suspicion of foul play. Harrison turned down the request for an autopsy and released the body to Jasin's Funeral Home in Toledo for burial. Shannon's funeral was held on Saturday, July 26, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Toledo, a few blocks from where Shannon had lived with her parents until her marriage.

Davis sat in the front row of the church with his face buried in his arms during the mass, and as mourners started filing by the closed casket to view a photograph of Shannon, he turned and rushed out a side door. That afternoon, Davis went fishing with dentist friend Bob Burns. O' THE FOLLOWING Monday night, Davis went to Toledo for dinner at the Loma Linda Mexican restaurant with friends Tom and Regina Davis and a cousin of Shannon's who had been very close to her, Cheryl Hogan, 21. Regina said Tom had invited Dave to dinner to cheer him up, but Davis suggested they go to Loma Linda's. Regina said she thought Cheryl Hogan needed cheering up, also, and invited her to join them.

Cheryl said she started to decline but that Regina persuaded her to go, saying Davis needed reassurance of the support of Shannon's family. Cheryl said Davis ordered margaritas and nachos at the bar, and when they gota table, "The first thing he did was toast to his 'loving wife who is now smiling down on He said it so sarcastically I started crying." Regina does not agree that Davis' tone was sarcastic, but she said, "I thought it was out of place to be at Loma Linda's at all. It's a big bar. It's a party place." Farmer Richard Britton on his tractor: "She was laying there with that awful, pale look, not moving a hit." gages for expanding farm operation, land and equipment. Since both are responsible for the indebtedness (approx $110,000 at present time) they are each applying for coverage.

Shannon contributes substantially to there (sic) income by her job as a RN." Hillsdale County records do not show any indebtedness for Shannon on Oct. 2, 1979, when the application was filed for the Prudential policy. Records show that her name has never been listed on the $46,500 farm mortgage. During her 10 months of marriage to Davis, Shannon's only debts, as shown in courthouse records, were as co-signer for the MGB convertible on Oct. 5 and the farm loan on Nov.

1, and both of those debts were covered by other insurance policies. The application for the Prudential policy did not request double-indemnity coverage doubling the benefits in case of accidental death. Agent Rick filed an amendment a month later stating that this was in error, and double-indemnity coverage was added. THE TIME Shannon died on July 23, two of the. policies totaling $78,289.60 for an accidental death were due to expire soon.

The Hartford Life policy would have expired in six more days, on July 29, because Shannon had quit as a full-time employe at Flower Hospital and no longer was eligible for company-paid insurance. The Mutual Service Life policy would have expired in less than six weeks, on Sept. 1. This was a 10-month term life policy, non-renewable, that Davis took out on Nov. 1, 1979.

It could not be determined whether the loan that it covered was due on Sept. 1. The Production Credit Association, which made the loan, refused to discuss it. IHE INSURANCE POLICIES began sur facing the week after Shannon's death. Davis' denial of their existence in the hours immediately after his wife died destroyed his credibility with his in-laws and others and led to the court order to have her body removed from the grave and an autopsy performed.

Britton, the Mohrs and others heard Davis say had no insurance on Shannon. Britton said he overheard Davis tell a sheriff's deputy at Thorn. Hospital in Hudson immediately after Shannon's death that he had no insurance. Later, Britton said, Davis told him, "Dick, I'm going to have a hard time making it without Shannon's income. I'm going to have to sell those two convertibles." About two months after that, Britton said, Davis called him over and told him about the six insurance policies on Shannon's life.

Mohr said he also asked Davis about insurance the hospital and that Davis told him he had none. Later, at the funeral home, Mohr said, he and others overheard Davis tell a funeral home employe he would have to sell farm equipment to meet funeral expenses because he had no insurance. VIRTUALLY NOTHING is known about the way Shannon suffered the fatal head injury other than Davis' statement to the deputy at the hospital that heard her scream and turned to see her lying the ground. A The woods where Davis said this happened are about a half mile behind Davis' house and about a quarter mile behind Britton's. Just inside the woods from the soybean field there is a small clearing, about 10 feet wide and 50 feet long, not visible from the road or the closest farmhouses.

Scattered about the clearing are about a half-dozen rocks embedded in the ground, none very big. The one that Britton and sheriff's deputies found covered with blood the next day measures about five inches high and, at the base, about five inches wide and 11 inches long. Small bushes around the rock were matted down, Britton said. The Brittons were the last persons to see Davis and Shannon before her injury, and Richard Britton was the first to see them afterward. Britton said they came by his farmhouse as he was repairing the disc on a tractor and that Davis helped him for 20 or 30 minutes while Shannon waited, holding her black mare and her husband's white stallion.

Ann Britton said Shannon was wearing jeans, a blouse and tennis shoes. Britton said Davis told him he and Shannon were going to ride in the woods, separated from Britton's house by a soybean field. Shannon's mother and eight-year-old nephew, Brian Mohr, were visiting her from Toledo, Britton said, and had stayed behind at the house. Britton said that as Davis and Shannon started to ride off, Shannon asked if she could take Britton's four-year-old son, Norman, to play with Brian. Britton said, "I was getting ready to say, 'Yeah, and David said, 'No, come get him in the They rode off without Norman.

Britton cannot be certain of the time, but he said he thinks it was about 8 p.m. AVIS AND SHANNON were gone 15 to 20 minutes, Britton said, "and here come Dave, riding across the soybean field on that white horse. I thought, what's this? I don't like anybody riding across my crops. He was riding at a good clip. I saw the front of his shirt was all covered with blood.

He said, 'Come on! Shannon's been hurt. Shannon's been hurt real "I said, 'Shouldn't we call an ambulance, 1 "He said, 'No, we don't have They jumped into Britton's 1968 Chevrolet Impala and drove across the field, by way of a lane that cuts through the corn and soybeans. "He told me she talked to him," Britton said. "He said she told him, 'Go ahead and get help. I'm Britton said Shannon lay at the edge of the soybean field, just out of the woods, and that Davis explained, "I had to drag her put of the woods." He said Davis felt of Shannon's wrist and neck and said, "She's got a pulse." But Britton said, "Man, she was laying there with that awful, pale look, not moving a bit." Britton concluded then that Shannon was dead.

They loaded her into the rear seat, and Davis got in with her, telling Britton he would give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Britton said he drove at speeds up to 95 miles an hour to Thorn Hospital in Hudson, 1 1 miles away in neighboring Lenawee County. Shannon was pronounced dead on arrival at 4k.