Man arrested for murder of Carrollton girl

The body of 16-year-old Carrollton resident Shania Gray was discovered Saturday at approximately 4:30 p.m. in the Trinity River, in Irving. Franklin B. Davis, 30, is charged with the capital murder of Gray. According to Carrollton Police Department officials, Davis told officers he killed Gray shortly after picking her up from school on Thursday.

Davis was being held at the Carrollton Municipal Jail on unrelated traffic warrants during the investigation.

Shania Gray was last seen at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 6, at Hebron High School. According to Carrollton police, Shelly James, Gray's mother, reported her missing Friday morning after she failed to return home that evening.

"When we started the investigation, we didn't know where she was or if she had left on her own accord," said Jon Stovall, public information officer for Carrollton PD. "We were just trying to figure out where she could be. She just moved from Mesquite and we didn't have any background on her or her family. We talked to the Mesquite Police Department and found she had prior reports involving Franklin Davis."

In March 2010, Gray reported that she was a victim of a felony criminal offense in which Davis was the suspect, according to Davis's arrest affidavit. He has been charged in Dallas County with felony counts of sexual assault of a child, but Stovall said it is unclear exactly how Gray was involved in the case.

"I know she was supposed to be testifying -- that's what the family had said -- but I have not seen the report," Stovall said. "What I understand is that it might not have been her, but I have been told that at some point she had been assaulted during the course [of a sexual assault] --this is from the family -- somebody's kid, either his children or his wife's kids but somehow during the course of that she was assaulted."

Stovall said Davis told police how he picked Gray up from school and killed her, leading officers to believe the murder was somehow related to the pending case.

"We don't know any other reason he would have done that," Stovall said. "He said that he wanted to talk to her about those charges -- that was the focus and the thought process of why he was even making contact with her at all. That is the only real reason he had any contact with her in the first place, was because of that court case."

On Sept. 7, Carrollton PD found through cell phone records that Davis and Gray had been in contact with each other the day she went missing. The records also revealed that Davis and Gray were at the same place at the same time, including Hebron High School at about 4 p.m., when she was last seen, according to the arrest affidavit.

"We were looking to see if he was some how connected or if he knew where she was," Stovall said. "We put their phone records together and realized they were together -- it showed they were at the same place at the same time, and we knew he was connected."

Davis was arrested and taken into CPD custody late Friday evening on unrelated traffic warrants. He was advised of his Miranda Warning, which he waved and told officers that he was involved in the disappearance of Shania Gray.

"We brought him in and arrested him for that warrant -- he had unpaid fines in Fort

Worth and Balch Springs," Stovall said. "We interviewed him multiple times and then they discovered a body in Irving on Saturday around 4:30 p.m. We realized it was more than likely her and in the evening on Saturday, Davis told us that he killed her."

Stovall said Davis did not give a clear motive as to why he killed her. However, according to the affidavit, Davis contacted Gray through Facebook and gained information about an upcoming trial in which Gray would be a witness.

"According to Davis, he had created a Facebook account, and she didn't know that she had been talking to him," Stovall said. "We aren't done. We are going to get the records from all of the Facebook accounts and put it all together. We want to do the best we can to cover all bases and get everything out there so we can paint a bigger picture of what happened."

Davis told police that he had used a pre-paid cellphone to arrange a meeting with Gray at Hebron High School on Sept. 6. According to Davis's affidavit, Gray was surprised to see Davis when he arrived at school.

"It is our understanding, based on what Davis is telling us, that Gray had been talking to him electronically but thought she was talking to someone else and was surprised when she saw him at her school," Stovall said. "She willingly got into the car to talk and that's when he drove her to the place where he shot and killed her. We don't know what transpired between the time she walked out of school and got into that vehicle. We only have what he has told us, and we may never truly know."

Davis then told police that Gray got into his vehicle after being told that Davis wanted to talk to her about the upcoming trial.

"There is no evidence that she was abducted, no eye witnesses, no video tape," Stovall said. "Some time during the course of that drive, once they left the school on the way to the park where she was killed, she saw that he had a gun -- this is all according to him -- he explained it away and told her he wasn't going to do anything to her. I don't know if she tried to get out of the car because this is all what he is telling us. It is our belief, based on his statements and what we have available to us right now, that for whatever reason she willingly got into his car and left with him."

After leaving Hebron High School, Davis drove Gray to the Champion Trail trailhead at Valley View Lane and IH 635. According to the arrest affidavit, Gray asked Davis if he was going to hurt her and Davis told her he simply wanted to talk about the case.

After they walked down to the river, Davis stated that he used the .38-caliber pistol he brought with him and shot her twice. Davis stated that Gray fell partially into the river and began asking "Why, Wish?" a nickname Davis admitted to using. Davis then told police that he reached down and pulled Gray up onto the bank of the river and stepped on her neck until she stopped breathing.

At approximately 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Irving police responded to a report that the body of a female matching the description of Gray had been found. Officers located a backpack near the scene containing identification and confirmed the body in question was Gray's.

Davis then told police several locations where they could obtain evidence -- where he shot and killed Gray, and to a pond at the intersection of Royal Lane and Las Colinas Boulevard where he threw the pistol.

"We can only attempt to speculate," Stovall said. "We know there is a pending case where she is the victim and he is going to trial. He didn't specifically say, but that case has led us to believe that [could be why]."

Stovall said Gray's body had been in the river for two days before a passerby saw her and notified police.

The family of the victim was unaware of any contact between the two, Stovall said.

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