T. Cullen Davis

Thomas Cullen Davis (born September 22, 1933, Fort Worth, Texas) is an American oil heir. At the time of his trial, he was the wealthiest man to have stood trial for murder in the United States. The prosecution alleged that he forced a 12-year-old girl into the basement of her home, making her kneel before shooting her dead. A Texas jury found him not guilty of the murder. The girl was the daughter of his second wife, whom he had been separated from for two years, and was in the process of divorcing. Cullen came to a settlement with the family of a man who was shot dead in the same incident, but for which Davis was never tried, contrary to what has sometimes been reported or implied.

Life and murder trial

Thomas Cullen Davis was born on September 22, 1933, in Fort Worth, Texas. His wealth, which at the time of the trial was estimated at over a hundred million dollars, was inherited from his father who founded Kendavis Industries International, Inc.. Davis had a reputation in Dallas society circles for displays of bad temper and general "creepiness", according to female associates.^[1] Davis' second marriage was to Priscilla Lee Childers. They were married on August 29, 1968, only hours after the death of his father. It was her third marriage. By her second marriage, Childers had a daughter, Andrea Wilborn.^[1][2]

Davis and Childers separated and both began dating other people. On May 24, 1979, Davis married his then-longtime girlfriend, Karen Master (they remained married until Karen died on September 23, 2016 at age 67). On August 2, 1976, shortly after a judge had granted a considerable increase in the support Davis had to pay Childers, an intruder entered her home and killed her 12-year-old daughter Andrea Wilborn, who had returned home from bible school. When Childers and her boyfriend, Stan Farr, came back to the house unaware, both were shot and wounded, Farr fatally. Childers staggered from the house pursued by the killer as two family friends drove up; one, Gus Gavrel Jr, was shot by the killer and left paralysed for life. The body of Wilborn, who had apparently been forced to her knees before being shot dead, was found in the basement.^[1][2]

Childers identified Davis, saying he had shot her and Farr, wearing no disguise except a wig. Gavrel said he was shot outside the house after his companion recognised the gunman as Davis and called him by name. Davis was only tried for the murder of Wilborn. His defense concentrated on the personal life of Wilborn's mother during the two years Childers had been separated from Davis before the murders. Davis was found not guilty by a Texas jury. Of the trial, prosecutor Tim Curry said, "We were out-bought and out-thought".^[1][2]

Other trials

In related civil litigation concerning Wilborn's death, Davis prevailed and was held not liable. The children of Stan Farr later sued Davis for wrongful death and received $250,000 in a settlement.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

In 1978, Davis was arrested again, this time for allegedly hiring a hitman to murder Priscilla Davis, as well as the judge overseeing their ongoing divorce litigation.^[8] The case hinged on a tape-recorded conversation between Davis and an undercover employee posing as a hitman, during which Davis was alleged to have asked the undercover employee to murder his wife; this trial, Texas v. Davis, has been called one of the first uses of forensic discourse analysis of tape-recorded evidence in a legal setting.^[9] A discourse analyst testified that Davis' words in the tape did not constitute solicitation of murder;^[9] Davis was acquitted.^[10]

Later life

According to truTV, Davis lost most of his oil fortune in the recession of the 1980s, and eventually declared bankruptcy. Cullen and Karen Davis sold their home to a real estate developer in 1984. The 300 acre property has been fully developed.

Priscilla Lee Childers died of breast cancer on February 19, 2001.^[11]

According to the profile on Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice entitled Oil, Money, and Mystery and on A&E's American Justice, T. Cullen Davis is a born-again Christian.

In books and television

• A book on the murder trials entitled Blood Will Tell: The Murder Trials of T. Cullen Davis (ISBN 0-15-169961-5) was written by Gary Cartwright and published by Harcourt in 1979. A book on Cullen Davis, Texas vs. Davis (ISBN 0-451-17054-7), was written by Mike Cochran.
• Davis was the subject of the book Texas Justice by Cartwright, which was made into a TV movie starring Peter Strauss and Heather Locklear. The case was covered in a chapter of Creating Language Crimes (ISBN 978-0195181661) by Roger W. Shuy, a linguistics professor who was a witness in the case.
• The case has been profiled on TruTV's Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege and Justice - Oil, Money, and Mystery, A&E's American Justice as well as on Investigation Discovery's Behind Mansion Walls.

References