Dena Riley, Kansas City, Missouri, sentenced for kidnapping of Kansas girl

Right: Dena Riley & bf Davis

Sep 14, 2009

Associated Press

via tbo.com

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- A 43-year-old Missouri woman who already has been sentenced to nine consecutive life sentences for a 2006 crime spree has been given another one.

Dena Riley of Independence, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court in June to kidnapping a 5-year-old southeast Kansas girl while Riley and her boyfriend were wanted for murder in Missouri. On Monday, she was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Kansas to life in prison without parole.

Authorities said Riley and her boyfriend, Richard Davis, were on the run when they took the little girl from her home in Arcadia, Kan.

Riley was sentenced earlier to life without parole in the videotaped slaying of 41-year-old Marsha Spicer, plus eight additional life sentences and 239 years in prison for 25 other counts.

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The Murder of Marsha Spicer

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Richard Davis found guilty in videotaped sex killing

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - A suburban Kansas City man was found guilty Thursday of the videotaped sexual torture and slaying of a 41-year-old woman.
Richard D. Davis, 44, of Independence, was found guilty of 25 counts, including first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, sodomy, and assault in attacks on Marsha Spicer of Independence and Michelle Huff-Ricci, 36. The murder charge was for Spicer's May 2006 death.
Davis, who showed no emotion as the verdict was read, was acquitted on one count of first-degree assault related to the attack on Huff-Ricci. Her charred remains were found in neighboring Clay County, where Davis and his girlfriend, Dena Riley, are charged with capital murder for her April 2006 suffocation.
Riley also is scheduled to go to trial next year in Spicer's killing.
Jurors, who deliberated for less than four hours Thursday, will now determine whether Davis will face the death penalty. The sentencing portion of the trial is scheduled to begin this morning.
The key evidence in the case was videotapes that prosecutors say Davis and Riley made of the attacks on Spicer and Huff-Ricci to fulfill Davis' violent sexual fantasies. During the weeklong trial, jurors watched graphic DVD recordings taken from those tapes, one of which showed Spicer's death.
During closing arguments, assistant Jackson County prosecutor Tammy Dickinson told jurors that Davis held Spicer down at his apartment while Riley smothered her.
Defense attorney Tom Jacquinot argued that the slaying was not planned and that Davis simply became caught up in his own "horrible fantasies" about killing.

Richard Davis found guilty in videotaped sex killing

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - A suburban Kansas City man was found guilty Thursday of the videotaped sexual torture and slaying of a 41-year-old woman.

Richard D. Davis, 44, of Independence, was found guilty of 25 counts, including first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, sodomy, and assault in attacks on Marsha Spicer of Independence and Michelle Huff-Ricci, 36. The murder charge was for Spicer's May 2006 death.

Davis, who showed no emotion as the verdict was read, was acquitted on one count of first-degree assault related to the attack on Huff-Ricci. Her charred remains were found in neighboring Clay County, where Davis and his girlfriend, Dena Riley, are charged with capital murder for her April 2006 suffocation.

Riley also is scheduled to go to trial next year in Spicer's killing.

Jurors, who deliberated for less than four hours Thursday, will now determine whether Davis will face the death penalty. The sentencing portion of the trial is scheduled to begin this morning.
The key evidence in the case was videotapes that prosecutors say Davis and Riley made of the attacks on Spicer and Huff-Ricci to fulfill Davis' violent sexual fantasies. During the weeklong trial, jurors watched graphic DVD recordings taken from those tapes, one of which showed Spicer's death.

During closing arguments, assistant Jackson County prosecutor Tammy Dickinson told jurors that Davis held Spicer down at his apartment while Riley smothered her.

Defense attorney Tom Jacquinot argued that the slaying was not planned and that Davis simply became caught up in his own "horrible fantasies" about killing.

Richard Davis Jury reviews sex-killing tape, nears deliberation

Right: Richard Davis

Associated Press

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - Jurors in the capital-murder case of a man accused of killing two women viewed a DVD recording Wednesday of the women being beaten and sexually tortured.

The jury in the trial of Richard Davis, 44, reviewed 90 minutes of edited images taken from seven hours of videotapes that police found in Davis' Independence apartment.

According to previous testimony, the videotapes showed Davis and his girlfriend, Dena Riley, brutalizing two women -- Marsha Spicer, 41, and Michelle Huff-Ricci, 36.

Davis is on trial in Jackson County for the May 2006 death of Spicer, of Independence. He faces 40 felony counts, including capital murder, and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Riley's trial is scheduled for next year.

Davis and Riley also are charged in neighboring Clay County with capital murder in the April 2006 suffocation of Huff-Ricci.

Closing arguments had been expected Wednesday, but were put off when Davis told the judge he wanted to testify. The judge sent Davis out of the courtroom to talk to his attorneys about taking the stand, after which Davis decided against it.

Jurors will start deliberating after hearing the closing arguments today.

The DVD played Wednesday could be seen only by the jury, judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys. However, the audio could be heard by others in the courtroom, revealing graphic details of the case.

Members of Spicer's family who were in the courtroom when the DVD started playing had left by the time the recording finished.

Huff-Ricci's death came to light after Davis and Riley were captured in southwest Missouri after a five-day manhunt in May 2006 and brought back to the Kansas City area to be charged in Spicer's death.

Police have said both defendants led investigators to Huff-Ricci's charred, skeletal remains in rural Clay County, just north of Independence.

Riley and Davis also have been indicted in Kansas on a federal charge of kidnapping a 5-year-old southeast Kansas girl related to Davis after they fled the Kansas City area.

Richard Davis trial in taped sex killing begins

July 26, 2008

Associated Press

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - A man on trial for capital murder in the videotaped slaying and sexual torture of a 41-year-old woman will not dispute most of the charges against him, his lawyer said Friday.

But defense attorney Tom Jacquinot said in his opening statement that there will be questions about whether Richard Davis, 43, deliberated before killing Marsha Spicer.

"A confession is a confession," Jacquinot said. "A videotape is a videotape. Nobody is going to come here today and say these things didn't happen."

Davis faces 40 felony counts, including capital murder, kidnapping and rape in the May 2006 death of Spicer, of Independence. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Jackson County prosecutor Ted Hunt said during his opening statement that Davis and his girlfriend, Dena Riley, lured Spicer to his Independence apartment and "did not intend to let her leave alive."

The trial for Riley, 42, is scheduled for next year.

Davis and Riley also are charged in neighboring Clay County with capital murder in the April 2006 suffocation of Michelle Huff-Ricci, 36. Her charred, skeletal remains were found in May 2006 in rural Clay County, just north of Independence.

Ricci's death came to light after Davis and Riley were captured in southwest Missouri and brought back to the Kansas City area to be charged in Spicer's death. Police have said both defendants led investigators to Ricci's remains.
Riley and Davis also have been indicted in Kansas on a federal charge of kidnapping a 5-year-old southeast Kansas girl related to Davis after fleeing the Kansas City area.

Police Find Bloodstains in Grisly Videotape Sex Murder Investigation

Right: Richard Davis, Dena Riley

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Associated Press

Independence, Mo. — Authorities found what appeared to be bloodstains in two vehicles searched at the apartment of a suburban Kansas City couple accused of killing a woman whose sexual assault and torture was videotaped, according to court documents filed in the case.

The couple, Richard D. Davis, 41, and Dena D. Riley, 39, face charges of first-degree murder, first-degree assault, kidnapping, forcible rape and forcible sodomy in the death of 41-year-old Marsha Spicer. Spicer's naked body was found in a shallow grave on May 15 in Bates City, east of Kansas City.

Prosecutors have said a search warrant on the couple's Independence home found a videotape showing them beating, raping and choking Spicer.

The latest court documents say an investigator, looking in the garage, found a possibly bloodstained blanket in a Chevrolet S-10 pickup and what looked like a bloodstain in the upholstery of a 1993 Toyota Corolla.

A pitchfork was found in the Corolla's trunk.

In the apartment itself, the documents say, investigators found a marijuana cigarette, a bag of a leafy substance, a laptop computer, videotapes, a roll of duct tape and pieces of duct tape with hair stuck to it.

Left: Victim Marsha Spicer

In the video, officials said, Spicer has duct tape around her wrists and over her eyes.

Investigators also tested the inside of a bathtub and took a bathroom sink's drain and filter.

Following eight days on the run, Davis and Riley were arrested in southwest Missouri on May 25 with a 5-year-old girl. Federal authorities are investigating possible kidnapping charges.

Investigators also are trying to determine if Davis and Riley are linked to a badly burned body found over the weekend east of the Kansas City suburb of Liberty. Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders has said additional charges against the couple are likely and could include charges related to other slayings.

The Jackson County Coroner is examining the body, which officials said is so badly decomposed they couldn't determine gender.

Sherry Ballew has told Kansas City media outlets that she thinks the body belongs to her daughter, 36-year-old Michelle Ricci, who hasn't been seen since April 2 and was a friend of Spicer. A family member said police had asked both Ballew and a granddaughter to provide DNA samples.