OFFENDER (DECEASED) - RICHARD WILLIAM DAVIS

Missoula, Montana - 1974 Bath, New York - 1973 Richard Davis was recently linked to the 1974 homicide of a five-year-old female abducted near her home in Missoula, Montana. The victim’s body was found approximately 10 miles east of her residence in a culvert near I-90 in Turah, Montana.

She sustained trauma to her head, stab wounds to her chest, and had been sexually assaulted. Davis is also linked to the 1973 attempted abduction of an eight-year-old girl in Bath, New York.

Davis primarily resided in Pennsylvania in the early 1960s; South Dakota (Lead, Deadwood, and Rapid City) in the late 1960s; Bath, New York in the late 1960s to late 1970s; North Little Rock, Arkansas, in the late 1970s to late 1980s; and Cabot, Arkansas, from the late 1980s until his death in 2012. Davis also traveled extensively across the country to include, but not limited to: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

Davis held various jobs, to include working as a missionary on the Sioux Reservation in the early 1960s; working in the mines in South Dakota in the late 1960s; as a security guard at a winery/bar in Bath, New York, in the mid-1970s; driving a school bus in Alaska in late 1974/early 1975; as a security guard at the Arkansas School for the Deaf and Blind in the 1970s or 1980s; and as a truck driver in the early 2000s. Davis also volunteered at Big Brothers/Big Sisters in Arkansas in the late 1970s or 1980s.

Investigators are looking for similar cases Davis may be responsible for committing. Remarks: Davis was known to smoke menthol cigarettes.

He drove multiple vehicles, including: a Nash Rambler (driven in late 1960s), an Oldsmobile 98 (driven in early 1970s), a blue pickup truck (driven in late 1970s to 1980s), and a truck with sleeper cab (driven in early 2000s). Davis was known to carry a folding knife and a handgun.

He traveled cross-country, from New York to Alaska, but primarily resided in Pennsylvania, South Dakota, New York, and Arkansas.