Family seeks justice in Highland Park mother’s 2018 murder

Suspect identified shortly after murder

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. – The family of Emma Jean Davis, a mother of six, was very hopeful her killer would be brought to justice shortly after she was killed in her own Highland Park apartment. That was three years ago.

Davis, 58, was strangled to death April 9, 2018, in her bedroom. Her family believed that she knew her killer because there were no signs of forced entry. The apartment was also ransacked and robbed.

Police focused on a small group of people and had a suspect in a matter of weeks.

A breakdown of the Highland Park Police Department and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office is keeping a family from the justice they feel they are so close to getting.

“We’re worried it will go cold or the suspect will run,” Davis’ sister-in-law Joie Canty said.

Highland Park police sources told Local 4 the detectives on the case had DNA evidence and cell phone location data that placed the suspect at the scene.

The case was sent to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office but then sent back to the Highland Park Police Department in July of 2018 for further investigation. The case was never re-submitted.

Police sources said the case was taken back and is out of their hands.

Read: More local crime coverage


About the Authors

Jason is Local 4’s utility infielder. In addition to anchoring the morning newscast, he often reports on a variety of stories from the tragic, like the shootings at Michigan State, to the off-beat, like great gas station food.

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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