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Thread: Kevin Levi Davis Sentenced to Life for 2013 NC Slaying of Sandra Thomas and Clifford Dembinski

  1. #1
    Jan
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    Kevin Levi Davis Sentenced to Life for 2013 NC Slaying of Sandra Thomas and Clifford Dembinski




    Teen could face death in Candler slayings

    A Weaverville teen accused of killing two people in a Candler home could face the death penalty if convicted, a judge told him Thursday.

    Wearing a brown jail jumpsuit with shackles on his hands and ankles, Kevin Levi Davis, 18, made his first appearance Thursday in Buncombe County District Court. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sandra Ratcliff Thomas, 63, and Clifford Joseph Dembinski, 55.

    Judge Julie Kepple told Davis — recently left unemployed and cut off from family — that he could face a potential sentence of death or life in prison without parole on the murder charges.

    He also faces a vehicle theft charge. Investigators say Davis stole Thomas’ car.

    Davis requested a court-appointed attorney and will next appear in court June 27. He remained held without bond at the Buncombe County Detention Facility.

    No family members were present for Davis or the two victims in the case. A person who answered the phone at Davis’ home Thursday declined to comment.

    Buncombe sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday charged Davis with killing Thomas and Dembinski, whose bodies were found Tuesday afternoon following a suspicious house fire at Thomas’ home at 52 Hubbard Lane.

    Davis, driving Thomas’ Honda Civic, was taken into custody Wednesday in Lincolnton, about 95 miles east of the murder scene.

    Dembinski was Thomas’ nearby neighbor and friend who also lived on Hubbard Lane, family members said.

    Davis is a distant relative of Thomas and had been at her home a few days before the killings, family members said.

    Sheriff Van Duncan said he could not discuss details of the case, including a motive or how Thomas and Dembinski were killed.

    Their bodies have been sent for autopsies. But the discovery of the bodies and the fire itself were suspicious from the beginning, the sheriff said.

    'A downward spiral'


    Friends remember Davis as a normal, likable teenager whose life took a turn last winter.

    After high school, Davis had a good job at the Arvato plant in Weaverville but was laid off in the fall.

    Sometime in early winter, his personality changed, said Van Wharton, 19, who graduated with Davis last spring from North Buncombe High School and was one of his best friends

    “I remember him being all right, and then he started acting differently,” Wharton said. “He got sketchy. It just seemed like a downward spiral.”

    It was difficult to pinpoint exactly what was going wrong with his friend, he said. Davis began taking large amounts of cold medicine, and his personality was different.

    “He was just a little bit distant,” Wharton said.

    Davis, who played basketball for North Buncombe his senior year, lived with his mother and stepfather and his two younger sisters most of his high school years, Wharton said.

    But in his senior year, Davis went to live with his grandparents. After high school, he bounced from one friend’s home to another, never lasting long in any one place.

    “I think his family would have supported him if he had let them,” Wharton said.

    Davis stayed with three friends in their apartment for several months, but they kicked him out, Wharton said.

    His girlfriend at the time, a UNC Asheville student, let Davis stay at her apartment for a while, and he lived with Wharton’s family for several weeks in January before Wharton’s father made him leave.

    “My dad said there was something about him he didn’t like, and he had to leave,” Wharton said.

    A recent incident caused him to further question Davis’ state of mind.

    “A week or two ago, he posted on Facebook that one of his sisters had died,” Wharton said. “Then I saw her at church. She was very much alive.”

    If Davis is guilty of the charges against him, Wharton said he couldn’t be sure of a motive, and he never would have thought of Davis being involved in a murder case.

    “That’s just crazy,” he said.

    http://www.blackmountainnews.com/art...EWS/306070013/

  2. #2
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    August 28, 2013

    Report: Grisly details revealed in double homicide

    Kevin Levi Davis, 18, charged in deaths

    CANDLER, N.C. — Court documents in the case of a double homicide in Candler revealed gruesome new information about the crime, according to a report in the Asheville Citizen Times.

    The report said Sandra Ratcliff Thomas, 63, and Clifford Joseph Dembinski, 55, were stabbed repeatedly before being robbed, and Thomas was also beaten in the head with a blunt object.

    Kevin Levi Davis The Citizen Times' report also said that the suspect in the deaths, 18-year-old Kevin Levi Davis, was in a car with a man when he was arrested, but that man has not been charged.

    Thomas and Dembinski were found dead after firefighters responded to a house fire on Hubbard Lane in Candler on June 4.

    Scott Sodorff told WYFF that Thomas and Dembinski were good friends and they spent a lot of time together. Sodorff lived in an apartment on Dembinski's property.

    Sodorff said Davis was related to Thomas and he thought he had lived with her briefly in the past. He said Davis was at Thomas' home over the weekend asking for money.

    "He was here the other day hanging around the house, and me and Cliff went down and told him not to. 'Leave Sandi and her daughter alone.' Not to bother with borrowing any more money. 'Just need to go away and get yourself a job.' That kind of thing," Sordoff said.

    Davis had previous outstanding warrants for breaking and entering, simple possession of a controlled substance, larceny after breaking and entering and misdemeanor larceny, according to investigators.

    The Citizen Times' report said that evidence seized in the case includes three pieces of broken wood, a knife and a meat cleaver removed from Thomas’ home.

    Davis is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

    http://www.wyff4.com/news/north-caro...#ixzz2sdu3drJm

  3. #3
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    June 1, 2015

    NC man convicted of double-murder, sentenced to life

    ASHEVILLE, NC (FOX Carolina) - A Buncombe County man was sentenced to life in prison Monday after pleading guilty to seven felony charges, including two counts of first-degree murder.

    In June 2013, deputies were called to a fire on Hubbard Lane in Candler. When they arrived on scene, they found the bodies of 63-year-old Sandra Ratcliff Thomas and 55-year-old Clifford Joseph Dembinski. Both of their deaths were classified as homicides.

    Then-18-year-old Kevin Levi Davis was named a person of interest in the case and was arrested in Lincolnton. Davis was charged with seven felony charges in relation to the homicides, including burglary, arson and two counts of first-degree murder.

    District Attorney Greg Newman, the prosecutor for Davis' trial, said Davis admitted the murders to deputies the same day he was arrested.

    Newman said this case was eligible for the death penalty, but he reached a plea deal with the defense. Davis pleaded guilty in court Monday to all felony charges and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    "What he did was horrendous," Newman said. "But the fact he was willing to stand in court, say he was guilty and assume responsibility, that to me is significant."

    He said the families of Thomas and Dembinski were saddened for everyone involved, including Davis's family, but they are able to have closure knowing Davis will spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.

    http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/289...tenced-to-life
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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