Melinda Kay Davis missing Ohio mom found dead in trunk of car two weeks after vanishing. Ex boyfriend arrested on kidnapping charges, eyed as murder suspect.
The body of a missing Richland County, Ohio woman has been found in the trunk of her car after disappearing over two weeks ago, authorities said.
Melinda Kay Davis, a 33-year-old mom of four from Shelby, was discovered dead in her 2013 black Volkswagen Jetta late Sunday at an apartment complex in Galloway, 18 days after she was first reported missing, the Mansfield News Journal reported.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Office during a Monday news conference said that the ‘macabre’ discovery was made after a citizen tipped off Columbus police about Davis’ disappearance on Feb. 25.
Court documents reveal Davis telling a friend she was on her way to Mansfield to see her ex-boyfriend, John Henry Mack Jr — and to reach out to authorities if she didn’t get back in touch with her afterward.
‘If you don’t hear from me, call the police,’ Davis said.
Missing woman suspected her imminent demise
It wasn’t immediately clear why Davis thought she might be in danger and what led to her still going to the meet.
Mack Jr., 43, was charged with kidnapping Davis on Feb. 26, a day after she was last seen. He was arrested on March 4 in Mansfield by the US Marshals Service. Blood believed to be Davis’ was found during a search of his apartment, court documents show.
Davis’ car was then found parked at Lehnert Green apartments in Galloway, less than a mile from where Mack worked as a truck driver.
A resident at the complex said she noticed the car on Feb. 27 and took a video showing the Jetta in the background.
‘I get in my car to smoke a lot of times,’ Tiffany Kyser told the Mansfield News Journal. ‘What if she was alive and I was right there?’
The Jetta was towed late Sunday and Kyser said she regrets not being more proactive and contacting cops herself about the car, which ‘appeared messy’, she said.
Kyser said authorities told her a co-worker of Mack’s found the vehicle, saying that employees would sometimes park at the apartment complex to dodge parking fees.
Further charges pending
An announcement on the cause of Davis’ death is pending autopsy results.
Richland County Prosecutor Gary Bishop declined to speculate on a motive in her death and it remains unclear exactly where and when the mother of three was killed.
Mack, who remains jailed on $1 million bond, has pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping charge. Bishop said he expects to file additional charges against him, WBNS reported.
United States Marshals Service agent Pete Elliott said Mack boasted at one point to investigators that Davis’ ‘body would never be found,’ which helped connect the man to his ex-girlfriend’s disappearance, cleveland19 reported.
‘He remains charged with kidnapping,’ Prosecutor Bishop told reporters. ‘He’s also charged with receiving stolen property for an unrelated matter. Obviously, the charges and the number of charges will be determined at a later date once this investigation is fully completed.’
Also charged is Mack’s son Jaybyn Mack, along with the son’s wife, Alexandria , who were with Mack at the time of his initial March 4 arrest. They have been charged with obstruction of justice.
More charges were expected in the days and weeks ahead.
