A Poisoned Passion
Page 25
rural areas account for only 19 percent of the adult population in the United States [they] have suffered 27 percent of the casualties . . . the death rate for rural soldiers is 60 percent higher than the death rate for those soldiers from cities and urban areas.
The institute believed that the enlistment rate was higher out in the countryside because of the more limited employment opportunities present in rural areas.
Although deeply touched by the losses of these two young men in their community, the Severance family had a reason to celebrate that Christmas. Shane was coming to visit for a full month. It was a time filled with happiness and new fond memories.
Back in Texas, bad news was brewing. The audiotape of Lloyd Davidson’s disturbing conversation didn’t prompt CPS to investigate. Angie Voss, the same CPS employee who, in the spring of 2008, would pull hundreds of children out of the FLDS compound in Eldorado, took no action after hearing Lloyd’s rant. People aware of the tape couldn’t understand how she’d ignored such a blatant example of verbal abuse.
Tom Goff had argued for months for the inclusion of the audiotape in court for the custody hearing. Judge Jay Weatherby resisted until finally admitting, “How come everyone else can hear this and I can’t?”
“Judge, have you tried headphones?” Goff asked. The judge plugged in a pair, listened and agreed to admit the audiotape. Goff was jubilant. He believed, with that item in evidence, Les Severance’s victory was a slam dunk. He didn’t, however, count on local politics.
Throughout the hearings, dozens of people testified on behalf of the Severance family. No one did so for the Davidsons. Shane’s ad litem attorney produced a report demonstrating that the environment at the Davidson household was poor, at best. The one at the Severance home was excellent. Psychologist Johnny Burkhalter, however, disregarded all the reasons for awarding custody to Les. He was focused on one thing: it was detrimental, he believed, to separate Tristan and Shane. The counselor hired by the Severance side disagreed, saying that that rationale “defied common sense.” Judge Weatherby, however, agreed with Burkhalter’s assessment, awarding custody to Judy and Lloyd Davidson.
Tom Goff lashed out. “This custody case was a no-brainer. The entire system failed the Severance family from Maine—the criminal justice system, the child protection system and the legal system. They failed Michael. They failed Les. They failed Shane. I am very disappointed in the system.”
Goff appealed the decision to the same judge who’d issued the ruling. He noted that Judy and Lloyd Davidson received more than $2,000 monthly from an Air Force benefit and Social Security to care for the two boys, as well as a $500,000 life insurance policy.
It is shocking that the family of Wendi Mae Davidson will benefit financially from the murder of Shane Michael Severance’s father by his mother. This fact alone should convince any trier of fact that it is not in the best interest of the child to be with and be in the custody of [Lloyd and Judy Davidson].
Weatherby rejected the Severance claim. The only recourse now was to appeal it to a higher court outside of San Angelo. That required money and resources that the Severance family simply did not have. It was a bitter pill for them to swallow. They still suspected that someone in the Davidson family had helped Wendi with the disposal of Michael’s body, and now Michael’s son was going to live in their midst. Les would have gladly taken Tristan into their home as well, because they knew that Michael had loved Tristan and the fatherless little boy had loved Les’s son.
On February 18, 2008, Lloyd wrote another letter to Texas Parks and Wildlife—this time to the new executive director, Carter Smith.
I would like to introduce myself and my wife and congratulate you on your new job with TPWD. My name is Lloyd Davidson and my wife is Judy Davidson. We are the proud parents of Marshall Davidson, who was a Texas Game Warden before he was wrongfully terminated from your department.
Lloyd detailed his outrage once again and wrapped up his letter with questions:
Please let me know if your department has started an investigation of Ranger Palmer and notified the District Attorney. Also are steps being taken to get Marshall Davidson back in the field as a Texas Game Warden?
Lloyd definitely was a tenacious man. And Ranger Palmer was not the only person in his sights. He placed blame on all but the one person who really deserved it—his daughter, Wendi Davidson. “They never had proof. No motive. No time frame. They really have nothing.” But by 2008, he was no longer mentioning the possibility of her innocence.
On March 13, 2008, the Texas Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied Wendi’s appeal, upholding her conviction. Justice Jan Patterson wrote:
Because AFOSI agents had an independent military purpose for their investigation, they did not violate the Posse Comitatus Act and were authorized to and did comply with their rules and regulations to install and monitor the tracking device. The record does not show that the trial court abused its discretion in determining that the police did not violate appellant’s reasonable expectation of privacy by monitoring the tracking device on Sheen’s property and the evidence obtained through use of the device was properly admitted. Having overruled the appellant’s sole issue, we affirm the trial court’s order denying appellant’s motion to suppress and the judgments of conviction.
The defense took their case to the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals. On September 3, 2008, they denied a rehearing of the case. Wendi had exhausted her line of appeals in the state court system.
In between the two decisions, Wendi wrote a letter pleading her case:
I swear, I did not murder my husband. I did not interview with the police, I did not go to trial, and never, ever have I told my version of anything. Basically, upon poor advice, I plead “no contest,” assuming upon more bad advice, I would be freed within a few short months on appeal.
Despite the fact that her license had been revoked, she signed the letter: “Wendi Davidson, DVM.”
AFTERWORD
Lloyd Davidson urged me: “Do your best to sift lies from the truth.” I believe I’ve honored that request.
I traveled a long and circuitous route to reach this point. I now believe, with reasonable certainty, that Wendi was the sole perpetrator in the murder and disposal of the body of her husband Michael Severance. Do I think there are others who bear some moral culpability for contributing to this crime and the cover-up? Yes, I do. But I think that Wendi acted alone.
There are many who will disagree with that conclusion. Some have said that the wrong person is in prison. Despite evidence to the contrary, some still believe that Judy Davidson committed the murder. Others have said that Wendi should not be the only one behind the bars. They think that a member of Wendi’s family—Judy, Lloyd, Marshall or one of her cousins—helped her dispose of the body. Some even suggested that the person who helped her with that gruesome task was the hired hand at 7777 Ranch.
What happened in the courtroom played a huge role in creating an environment where multiple scenarios flourished. Wendi did not plead guilty; she pled no contest, owning up to none of her actions. The judge warned her that that plea meant the court would find her guilty of murder, yet she went ahead with it anyway. The end result was no trial, no open forum for the public release of documents, evidence and the giving of testimony from those who’d uncovered the crime.
That complication made it difficult and time-consuming for court watchers to do a complete analysis of the crime. Throughout the city, a crazy quilt patchwork of impressions, theories and conflicting stories created confusion for area residents and out-of-town media alike. In many ways, Wendi’s case defies expectations. A rural upbringing is usually envisioned as a wholesome one, producing All-American kids with old-fashioned values. On top of that, the image of a professional woman is hard to reconcile with the kinds of responses to problems that Wendi demonstrated. But once those obstacles are overcome, the path of logic and evidence made her culpability clear.
The next question was, how did she get here
? What influences molded her into a woman with sociopathic intent?
She was raised in a place that was isolated from the rest of the world in a household where no one had ever traveled outside of the state of Texas. There seemed to be an underlying hostility toward outsiders in that home, as evidenced by the lack of social interaction in their community and their refusal to extend hospitality to Les Severance on his first visit. But surely that was not sufficient to shape a criminal mind.
Other contributing factors were at play. When Wendi got pregnant, her parents stepped up to take charge of the problem, disparaging the other half of the relationship as they did. When she lost two jobs in a row, they set her up with her own clinic. Her parents rode to her rescue at every sign of trouble, teaching her not to accept responsibility for her own actions, and to blame others for the problems in her life while, at the same time, pushing her to excellence.
Judy’s negative attitude toward and constant criticism of the men in her daughter’s life, with Michael in particular, had to have an impact on Wendi’s view of others. Judy’s constant expression of hostility, disdain and paranoid thinking toward her son-in-law and his family had to have insidious, water torture-like effect on Wendi’s thought processes.
Lloyd was not blameless, either, in the molding of his daughter. Listening to the audiotape Wendi recorded, it was obvious that this was not the first rant of this nature he’d directed toward one of his children. It sounded like a practiced, lifelong habit of emotional abuse.
But was there more? Drifting through San Angelo was a meandering stream of rumor and innuendo that suggested childhood sexual abuse in Wendi’s past. Psychologists saw evidence of that in her promiscuity and poor social skills, among other things. Criminal behaviorists, however, looked at it differently, seeing her sexual impulsiveness and lack of discrimination as a sociopath’s quest for power and control.
Without full and honest disclosure from Wendi and her family, there will be no way to know, without doubt, all that contributed to the creation of this killer. These revelations are not likely to happen.
How much did the environment of the area itself contribute to the shaping of Wendi Davidson? The potential for loneliness out in the vastness of West Texas is apparent to anyone traveling the byways. It is easy to wander for miles without seeing another person or a single vehicle on the road, making small towns like Junction, with a population under 3,000, feel like major metropolitan areas in comparison. But many friendly and delightful people live in West Texas. They chose the area because they love the solitude, the wide open spaces and the freedom of living far from governmental and corporate power. They still hold the pioneer spirit close to their hearts.
It is a place that breeds rugged individualism, self-sufficiency and a can-do attitude. It is also an environment where people who want total control over others find it easy to isolate themselves and their subjects from the rest of the world. It is no surprise that the secretive and cloistered FLDS chose nearby Eldorado to built their most elaborate compound. Controlling leaders, parents and spouses find an ally in this environment, one that makes it easier for them to restrict the boundaries of those under their power.
The isolation of West Texas, and the Davidson family’s reaction to it, played a role in the making of their daughter, but it doesn’t answer all questions. Many were stunned and bewildered by the total lack of empathy and the complete absence of sensitivity that the Davidson family displayed toward the grief of the Severance family in Maine. No matter how they looked at it, they could not understand it at all.
Thomas Goff and many others were equally baffled by the decision of Judge Jay Weatherby in granting custody of Shane to Lloyd and Judy Davidson. In fact, after hearing the audiotape and the testimony of the Davidsons’ behavior, they do not comprehend why Child Protective services did not remove both Shane and Tristan from that home. The poison in the atmosphere of that household was more than apparent.
Many told me the reason for that is San Angelo itself. The city is controlled by a select few, and they always get what they want. The Davidsons were not part of this power structure, but they did have an influential ally in Terrell Sheen. More important, they were area natives, while the Severance family was from distant Maine.
Whatever forces created these people and this situation, the end result is the same. Michael Severance, a young man who’d served his country well and grabbed life with both hands is dead. A family in Maine staggers under the loss. Tristan, a sweet little boy, lost the only father he had ever known and now has to grow up without a mother. And Shane, the most innocent victim of them all, will never clutch his father’s hand in his own, will never hear his words of encouragement and praise, and will never grow and mature in the light of his guidance. Instead, he is spending much of his life in the home of people who despise his father and make excuses for his father’s killer.
That, by any measure, is not justice.