September 16, 2025 • 24 mins
In March 2018, Central Michigan University went into lockdown after reports of gunfire inside a dorm. By the time police reached the scene, two parents were dead — and the suspect was their own son. The killings left the campus reeling and raised urgent questions about mental health, warning signs, and how quickly a crisis can spiral out of control.
In this episode of Murder U, we follow the lives of James Eric and Diva Davis, their son Eric Davis Jr.’s sudden unraveling, and the troubling signs of paranoia and disorientation he displayed before violence tore his family apart. This case revealed not only the heartbreak of a double parricide but also the gaps in how universities respond to students in psychiatric crisis.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u--6152042/support.
In this episode of Murder U, we follow the lives of James Eric and Diva Davis, their son Eric Davis Jr.’s sudden unraveling, and the troubling signs of paranoia and disorientation he displayed before violence tore his family apart. This case revealed not only the heartbreak of a double parricide but also the gaps in how universities respond to students in psychiatric crisis.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u--6152042/support.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Abnormia. From high school hallways to expansive college campuses and
the sanctity of their homes, These once secure spaces have
transformed into hunting grounds for sinister individuals seeking to inflict
harm on the unsuspecting. Join me Maddie each week as
we delve into the bone chilling stories of senseless murders
(00:26):
occurring in and around our centers of education. Welcome to
Murder You, an abnormia original. Welcome back to murder You.
(00:59):
I'miraus Mattie, and the case we have for you today
is a particularly heart wrenching one. Like the Sidney Powell case,
it deals with a Central Michigan University student who violently
targeted their parent were in this case parents, Yes you
heard that right. Eric Davis Junior murdered both of his parents,
and like Sidney Powell, he eventually pled insanity. But unlike
(01:24):
the previously mentioned case, the killer's state of mind was
much less controversial. Based on his actions leading up to
the attacks. Most agree that Eric was suffering from mental
illness when he killed his parents, But what could have
possibly triggered him to attack his family. Before we go
into the detail of the deaths of Eric Senior and
Diva Davis. Let's take a look at their lives. James
(01:48):
Davis Senior, who often went by his middle name, Eric,
and Divas Smith met after Eric had enlisted in the U. S. Army.
They both worked at the Motorola Company in the early
two thousands and eventually got married. Things were going well
for them, Diva a real estate agent and Eric in
the military. However, like many American families, the nine to
(02:10):
eleven tragedy affected their home. Shortly after marrying, Eric was
deployed to fight in the Iraq War, leaving his loving
wife behind while he defended the US. He served from
two thousand and three to two thousand and eight, even
becoming an army recruiting officer. He loved kids and wanted
to help shape young people's lives. Recruiting for the army
(02:31):
was the ideal way for him to do that. He
was such a beloved member of the military that he
was even honored by former President George W. Bush in
two thousand and eight for his achievements. Between deployments, Eric
and Iva had three children, Russell, Eric Junior, and Alexis.
Once the kids got older, Divers shifted her own career
(02:52):
from real estate to being a flight attendant, discovering eleven
passion for travel, and when Eric came home for good,
he worked as a police officer. Talk about a power couple,
Am I right? So accomplished and so passionate. They had
affected so much positive change in the world already and
were undoubtedly going to achieve even more. Diva was a
(03:15):
loving mother, not only caring for her children while her
husband was deployed, but supporting them in their passions as well.
She nurtured Eric Junior's interest in baseball and Alexis's love
of cheerleading. She planned family vacations and was an active
member of her community. And get this, Throughout all of that,
she even fought breast cancer and won. What a power move.
(03:38):
There seemed to be nothing the Davis' parents couldn't do. Now,
parents like that must have done an excellent job raising
their children. Right By all accounts, the answer was yes.
But that's what makes the events on March second, twenty
eighteen all the more tragic and baffling. As I mentioned,
James Eric Davis Junior was the middle child. Like his father.
(04:02):
He went by his middle name Eric. Eric Junior played
baseball and was described as quiet, polite, and respectful by
family friends. Eric Junior began attending Central Michigan University in
twenty seventeen, and by twenty eighteen was a sophomore. CMU
is a university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, with about twenty
(04:22):
three thousand students, so it's a fairly small school, but
with tall brick buildings surrounded by lush greenery, it's easy
to see why someone would want to go there. The
campus is beautiful and idyllic, but as this case will prove,
some things are not as perfect as they may seem.
Despite having a reputation as a quiet kid at home,
(04:46):
Eric Junior gained a different reputation at school. Like many teenagers,
his Twitter profile featured some crass language, but no one
regarded him as a troublemaker, at least not outwardly. It's
not on her for young people to get wrapped up
in the wrong crowds or rebel once they leave home
to attend college. But I think a less relatable experience
(05:08):
is having a police officer for a father and bragging
to your peers about the guns you get to be
around as a result. That's right. An anonymous acquaintance from
school stated in an interview that Eric Davis Junior would
quote always talk about guns and his interest in them.
While an interest in guns is certainly not a crime,
(05:29):
Davis's tendencies to make it a conversation piece was frequent
enough to become troubling to his peers. Look, I'm not
saying this acquaintance should have snitched, but I'd rather be
wrong about someone who I thought was dangerous than to
say nothing. You never know when the person you might
have a weird feeling about could start exhibiting erratic behavior. Now,
(05:53):
aside from the gun thing, another troubling thing about Davis
was that he'd seemingly stopped focusing on school. This same
acquaintance stated that Eric Junior had stopped going to class
and smoked marijuana constantly. He said, I know he dropped
all of his classes because he'd just chill in his
room and smoked weed all day. He had no ambition.
(06:16):
None of this is particularly abnormal for a college student.
University can be stressful for many. It's understandable that a
student might feel overwhelmed by their workload and isolate themselves
instead of working through these challenges. But this was uncharacteristic
of Eric Junior. His parents were well regarded and instilled
(06:37):
a respect for education in their children. Eric Junior's older brother, Russell,
was a doctorate student in divinity at a different university,
exemplifying the high standard for academic work ethic their parents held.
So you have to ask what happened to Eric Junior
and how did it spin out of control. This kind
(06:59):
of behavior maybe typical for someone on track to drop
out of school, but isn't necessarily a warning sign for
a potential killer. All of these factors meant that Eric
Junior's behavior wasn't scrutinized until after the events of March one,
twenty eighteen. Let me paint a picture for you. Spring
Break was on the horizon for Central Michigan University, so
(07:22):
many students were leaving for vacation and some parents were
getting ready to pick up their students and bring them home.
Midterms were wrapping up, so it was already a tense
time for students and staff alike. That day, nineteen year
old Eric Junior began exhibiting erratic behavior. He approached the
campus police officer assigned to Campbell Hall, claiming someone was
(07:44):
trying to kill him. CMU police chief Bill Yeagley recounted
that Davis appeared terrified and said that someone with a
gun was going to hurt him. Well, that's a scary claim,
right Naturally, the campus took this very seriously and conducted
a thorough investigation. However, by the end of the investigation,
(08:07):
they found no immediate threat to Davis or anyone else.
In fact, the very person that Davis named as a
threat had been seen on security cameras having a normal
conversation with Eric Junior earlier in the day. The two
were even laughing together. Needless to say, this seemed like
a bizarre mis understanding. At the very least, They dismissed
(08:31):
the report and let Davis go back to his dorm.
He told him his cousin was going to come the
next day to pick him up for the break and
he was going to get some sleep. They assured him
that that would be a good idea. However, at one am,
Eric Junior was seen in the hallway of his dorm
with his luggage, once again acting erratically. Police approached him,
(08:54):
noticing he'd appeared disoriented. He told him he was under
the influence of drugs. They asked if he was on marijuana, LSD, mushrooms, etc.
He answered yes to all of them. This time, they
detained Eric Junior and sent him to a nearby emergency
room to be evaluated and treated. They figured maybe he
(09:15):
was overdosing or having some sort of bad reaction to
a recreational drug. They called his parents, telling them of
their suspicion, and Diva agreed on the phone. She was
also concerned that drugs may be causing her son to
behave so uncharacteristically. That morning, Eric Senior and Diva got
in the car and drove four hours from Plainfield, Illinois
(09:37):
to Central Michigan University to retrieve their son from the hospital.
Before they could get there, CMUPD officers hurt over their
radio that a patient had escaped from the same hospital
they sent Eric. Of course, they feared the worst. The
young man was in a disturbed state and now on
the loose. By the time the officers arrived at the hospital,
(10:00):
Davis had been apprehended and taken back into the hospital
to await his parents. Eric Senior and Diva got there
mid morning, and Eric Junior was promptly discharged in their care.
He was clearly going through something troubling, so you'd think
the safest place for him would be in the care
of his parents, but no one imagined his parents needed
(10:21):
to be kept safe from Eric Junior. When they got
back to his dorm, Eric Junior was still disoriented. He
reportedly couldn't even remember the number of his dorm. His
father had to bring him to the reception desk to
ask the front desk worker. After learning the room number,
Eric Senior and Iva took Eric Junior up to his
(10:42):
dorm room to grab his belongings. While they were with
him in his dorm room, surveillance footage shows that Eric
left the residence hall to go to his parents car.
From the car, he retrieved a handgun that was registered
to his father and used to see mu Id to
regain access into the residential hall. It suspected that with
(11:04):
all the commotion of students leaving for the spring break,
Davis was able to re enter the residence hall gun
in hand, undetected. There was one eyewitness, though, a student
named Evan Ballinger, who saw Davis rush past him. He
made a note of his awkward body language, seeing how
he held his arms stiff at his side, but did
(11:26):
not see the gun and therefore had no reason to
be alarmed. Shortly after Eric Junior re entered Campbell Hall,
campus police responded to reports that gunshots had been fired.
They determined the shots had come from Campbell Hall, passing
frightened students and families who had heard the shots. Campus
police rushed to the residence hall. They had no way
(11:48):
of knowing if there had been a misunderstanding or if
they had an active shoot around their hands. By the
time they arrived in Eric Junior's dorm room, his parents'
bodies were found bleeding. They were too late. The Davis's
parents had died from their fatal wounds only a half
(12:10):
hour after Eric Junior was released from the hospital. His
parents lay dead in his dorm room. To think something
so drastic could have happened so quickly as heartbreaking, and
this is something I was shocked to learn in my research.
Davis lived with three roommates, and at least two of
his roommates were present during the attack. Trayvon Williams was
(12:33):
one of them, and he stated he was in his
room when he heard five gunshots. He then texted his mother,
I think my roommate shot his mom. Imagine being that
parent receiving that text, I just know her heart dropped
when she read that. His mother got in her car
and rushed to the university to see if her son
(12:54):
was okay. By the time the Mount Pleasant Police Department
arrived at the dorm room, there were two other black
Blackmails Williams and another roommate, Brian White, who had been handcuffed.
While CMU PD officers secured the scene, which they stated
with protocol whenever there was an active shooter. There were
two roommates, the bodies of the parents and the gun
(13:15):
at the scene, but no Eric Davis Junior. He had
fled on foot. This prompted a one hundred plus officer
manhunt for Eric Junior as CMU entered a campus wide lockdown.
Evan Ballinger, the student who noticed Davish rush pasted him
once again, saw Eric Junior hurriedly exit the hall, and
(13:36):
once he heard a gunman was loose on campus, he
realized he likely came face to face with the killer.
Ballinger gave Eric Junior's description to the campus police, describing
him as a black male nineteen years old, about five ten,
wearing mustard colored pants. Students received automated text alerts informing
them of a violent threat on campus, and Davis's description
(14:00):
was shared across campus. All campus events and classes were
canceled for the day, and arriving parents were redirected to
a nearby hotel during the lockdown. CMU President George E.
Ross said in an interview, I never envisioned it could
happen at Central Michigan University. We are a safe community,
(14:20):
we are a safe campus. I can imagine this entire
thing was a chaotic frenzy, terrified students and staff, terrified parents,
and Davis was still considered armed and dangerous since they
had no way of knowing if he had any other
weapons on him. They did, however, assure the students this
(14:40):
was a domestic dispute and stressed that the campus at
large was likely safe. Blease Chief Bill Yakley stated it
was a mother and father and a son involved in
this initial confrontation that ended up with tragically losing two people.
But knowing someone was out there potentially armed and had
already harmed two people earlier that day must have been
(15:04):
harrowing for everyone on campus, and they didn't know that
Eric Junior was mentally disturbed and possibly still a danger
to others. Adding to the chaos. The lockdowns didn't stop
at CMU. All schools in the Mount Pleasant area had
to be locked down to That includes elementary, middle, and
high schools. The entire town of Mount Pleasant was on edge,
(15:28):
and I dare to say on March second, twenty eighteen,
Mount Pleasant was anything but a pleasant place to be.
After checking surveillance cameras, Davis was seen fleeing Campbell Hall
and heading north. The man hunt lasted all day until
witnesses on a passing train saw Davis running alongside the
tracks and reported it just after midnight. Within two minutes,
(15:53):
police were on the scene unarrested Eric Davis Junior. He
was naked, freezing, visibly exhaust and still disoriented. Officers asked
him where he'd been and he said he'd climbed in
a storm drain and fell asleep. They asked him where
he was going when he was walking on the train tracks,
(16:13):
and he replied, I was going home. Eric clearly wasn't
in his right mind. He was taken into custody without incident.
In a statement, Detective yeaglely reassured Mount Pleasant the danger
that our community has experienced over the last twenty four
hours or so is now over. The community was no
(16:34):
doubt relieved to hear that. Now. I'm sure you're asking
what on earth went down in that dorm room that
resulted in the murder of a boy's loving parents. What
could have possibly prompted Eric Junior to exit the dorm,
get his dad's gun from the car, and then use
it on his mother and father. Unfortunately, Davis's account of
(16:56):
what happened hasn't been made public. Once he was taken
into custody, he was promptly hospitalized and remained so for
some time. He appeared in court via video from his
hospital bed for his arraignment, where he seemed lucid but anxious.
He nervously touched his face and gave simple one word
answers to the judge's questions. After the hearing, Judge Paul
(17:20):
Chamberlain stated he was being charged with open murder and
felony firearm charges. The debate about whether or not Davis
was criminally insane played out in court in the following weeks.
On March twenty third, he was found incompetent to stand
trial due to his still wavering mental state. In April,
(17:42):
about a month following the shooting. He was declared competent
by Judge Eric James three erics in one case I know,
to stand trial after he'd completed a competency hearing at
a local psychiatric hospital the following January. With the information
received from the evaluation, Davis and his legal team pleaded
(18:03):
not guilty by reason of insanity, and that plea was
granted to him, sentencing David to be reevaluated after sixty
more days. Like we saw in the Sydney Powell case,
a child on parent killing, especially one where mental health
is involved, is extremely hard on the family. Not only
are they greeting the loss of loved ones, but also
(18:24):
struggling with the complex emotions that come with a family
member being the perpetrator. Eric Junior's older brother, Russell, took
to Facebook soon after the attack to announce the death
of his parents to their friends and family. He had
this to say, never thought I'd have to post this
type of post, but unfortunately the news is true. My
(18:46):
mom and dad both rest from their life of labor
and stress in a very tragic event. It's so surreal.
I'm in shock and even in denial. It's a hard
pill to swallow. A heavy load to bear. I can't
wrap my mind around this nor make any sense of this,
but I love my mama and my dad. I'm going
(19:06):
to miss them. I still love my brother. I want
him safe, supported and prayed for, just like my sister
Alexis Davis and I. He went on to add one
thing I must add to the media and opinionated people.
Please don't make a villain of my brother. That is
(19:26):
not who he is. And despite the circumstances, he also
lost a mother and father, and I love him. Consider
that Davis remained hospitalized and received frequent visits by Russell
and their younger sister Alexis. I just let him know
that I loved him, Russell stated in an interview. All
(19:50):
I could do was be there for him and let
him know that I loved him and have forgiven him.
It really is so heartbreaking to now that these people
have not only lost their parents, but also have to
cope with a family member undergoing serious psychiatric treatment. The
Davises seemed to be taking it as gracefully as they can,
(20:12):
though As for Central Michigan University, the school has obviously
been heavily affected by the shooting. However, school officials have
turned this tragedy into a learning opportunity. Immediately following the
March second shooting, the school began reworking campus procedures around
security and in case something like this happens again. They
(20:34):
now have a new resource in the form of a
crisis website. A handful of emergency management committees worked over
the summer of twenty eighteen to improve campus safety, focusing
on areas like communication. The university received a lot of
constructive criticism from the community about how they could improve
communication during lockdowns. With these new changes, they mandated that
(20:58):
information would be readily available to students and staff via
a central alert, so no one would be out of
the loop during an emergency. Campus PD began partnering with
other schools to share what they'd learned from the experience
as well. Associate Vice President of CMU Facilities Management, Jonathan Webb,
made plans to improve the school's emergency management plan that
(21:21):
all students and staff could reference in order to be
well prepared for incidents. CMU had already been improving its
safety protocols, but the Davis case reinforced the need for
more work to be done to ensure everyone on campus
felt safe. The campus's Care Team, which specializes in student
mental health, has also been vocal about their efforts to
(21:43):
prevent these kinds of emergencies. CMUPD Lieutenant Larry Clause is
involved with the Care team and had this to say
regarding their efforts to intervene with student mental health emergencies.
We've got a very robust intervention team that tries to
get information and prevent these things from happening. There's a
lot that goes on, but you can't prevent them all.
(22:07):
With a case like this one, it's important to remember
that there weren't many warning signs. Eric Davis Junior had
become less focused on his schoolwork, he lost the drive
and ambition that got him to CMU, and self medicated
with marijuana. But those were the only indicators intervention might
be needed. That said, slacking off and smoking weed are
(22:28):
common activities among college students. The fact that Davis's mental
decline happened so quickly and drastically is an extremely harrowing thought.
One day, he was preparing for spring break, likely hoping
to bring his grades up. The next day, he was
in a psychiatric hospital, having just killed his parents. Eric
(22:49):
Davis Junior has remained in a psychiatric facility since the murders,
and his family has understandably kept a low profile. They've
had a lot of grieving to do. So what do
you think about this case? It's strikingly similar to the
Sydney Powell case we covered, but notably different in regard
to the level of the killer's mental illness. These are
(23:11):
two similar cases with completely different outcomes, and there are
still so many unanswered questions as well. Had Eric Junior
really been on a copious amount of drugs like he
told the police, was it a bad trip that had
lasting effects on his brain? And what role did that
play in the deaths of his parents. All involved are
extremely tight lipped on this case. One thing is for certain,
(23:34):
and it is that James Eric Davis Senior and Diva
Jeannine Davis were killed by their own son when they'd
come for him in his time of need, and it
is truly a family tragedy. Thank you for listening, and remember,
if you or anyone you know is struggling with mental illness,
please call or text nine eight eight, go to the
(23:55):
nearest emergency room, or reach out to a twenty four
hour crisis center. Or Noble crisis outreach team in your area.
Be sure to like and subscribe to Murder You on Spotify,
Apple Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Abnormia. From high school hallways to expansive college campuses and
the sanctity of their homes, These once secure spaces have
transformed into hunting grounds for sinister individuals seeking to inflict
harm on the unsuspecting. Join me Maddie each week as
we delve into the bone chilling stories of senseless murders
(00:26):
occurring in and around our centers of education. Welcome to
Murder You, an abnormia original. Welcome back to murder You.
(00:59):
I'miraus Mattie, and the case we have for you today
is a particularly heart wrenching one. Like the Sidney Powell case,
it deals with a Central Michigan University student who violently
targeted their parent were in this case parents, Yes you
heard that right. Eric Davis Junior murdered both of his parents,
and like Sidney Powell, he eventually pled insanity. But unlike
(01:24):
the previously mentioned case, the killer's state of mind was
much less controversial. Based on his actions leading up to
the attacks. Most agree that Eric was suffering from mental
illness when he killed his parents, But what could have
possibly triggered him to attack his family. Before we go
into the detail of the deaths of Eric Senior and
Diva Davis. Let's take a look at their lives. James
(01:48):
Davis Senior, who often went by his middle name, Eric,
and Divas Smith met after Eric had enlisted in the U. S. Army.
They both worked at the Motorola Company in the early
two thousands and eventually got married. Things were going well
for them, Diva a real estate agent and Eric in
the military. However, like many American families, the nine to
(02:10):
eleven tragedy affected their home. Shortly after marrying, Eric was
deployed to fight in the Iraq War, leaving his loving
wife behind while he defended the US. He served from
two thousand and three to two thousand and eight, even
becoming an army recruiting officer. He loved kids and wanted
to help shape young people's lives. Recruiting for the army
(02:31):
was the ideal way for him to do that. He
was such a beloved member of the military that he
was even honored by former President George W. Bush in
two thousand and eight for his achievements. Between deployments, Eric
and Iva had three children, Russell, Eric Junior, and Alexis.
Once the kids got older, Divers shifted her own career
(02:52):
from real estate to being a flight attendant, discovering eleven
passion for travel, and when Eric came home for good,
he worked as a police officer. Talk about a power couple,
Am I right? So accomplished and so passionate. They had
affected so much positive change in the world already and
were undoubtedly going to achieve even more. Diva was a
(03:15):
loving mother, not only caring for her children while her
husband was deployed, but supporting them in their passions as well.
She nurtured Eric Junior's interest in baseball and Alexis's love
of cheerleading. She planned family vacations and was an active
member of her community. And get this, Throughout all of that,
she even fought breast cancer and won. What a power move.
(03:38):
There seemed to be nothing the Davis' parents couldn't do. Now,
parents like that must have done an excellent job raising
their children. Right By all accounts, the answer was yes.
But that's what makes the events on March second, twenty
eighteen all the more tragic and baffling. As I mentioned,
James Eric Davis Junior was the middle child. Like his father.
(04:02):
He went by his middle name Eric. Eric Junior played
baseball and was described as quiet, polite, and respectful by
family friends. Eric Junior began attending Central Michigan University in
twenty seventeen, and by twenty eighteen was a sophomore. CMU
is a university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, with about twenty
(04:22):
three thousand students, so it's a fairly small school, but
with tall brick buildings surrounded by lush greenery, it's easy
to see why someone would want to go there. The
campus is beautiful and idyllic, but as this case will prove,
some things are not as perfect as they may seem.
Despite having a reputation as a quiet kid at home,
(04:46):
Eric Junior gained a different reputation at school. Like many teenagers,
his Twitter profile featured some crass language, but no one
regarded him as a troublemaker, at least not outwardly. It's
not on her for young people to get wrapped up
in the wrong crowds or rebel once they leave home
to attend college. But I think a less relatable experience
(05:08):
is having a police officer for a father and bragging
to your peers about the guns you get to be
around as a result. That's right. An anonymous acquaintance from
school stated in an interview that Eric Davis Junior would
quote always talk about guns and his interest in them.
While an interest in guns is certainly not a crime,
(05:29):
Davis's tendencies to make it a conversation piece was frequent
enough to become troubling to his peers. Look, I'm not
saying this acquaintance should have snitched, but I'd rather be
wrong about someone who I thought was dangerous than to
say nothing. You never know when the person you might
have a weird feeling about could start exhibiting erratic behavior. Now,
(05:53):
aside from the gun thing, another troubling thing about Davis
was that he'd seemingly stopped focusing on school. This same
acquaintance stated that Eric Junior had stopped going to class
and smoked marijuana constantly. He said, I know he dropped
all of his classes because he'd just chill in his
room and smoked weed all day. He had no ambition.
(06:16):
None of this is particularly abnormal for a college student.
University can be stressful for many. It's understandable that a
student might feel overwhelmed by their workload and isolate themselves
instead of working through these challenges. But this was uncharacteristic
of Eric Junior. His parents were well regarded and instilled
(06:37):
a respect for education in their children. Eric Junior's older brother, Russell,
was a doctorate student in divinity at a different university,
exemplifying the high standard for academic work ethic their parents held.
So you have to ask what happened to Eric Junior
and how did it spin out of control. This kind
(06:59):
of behavior maybe typical for someone on track to drop
out of school, but isn't necessarily a warning sign for
a potential killer. All of these factors meant that Eric
Junior's behavior wasn't scrutinized until after the events of March one,
twenty eighteen. Let me paint a picture for you. Spring
Break was on the horizon for Central Michigan University, so
(07:22):
many students were leaving for vacation and some parents were
getting ready to pick up their students and bring them home.
Midterms were wrapping up, so it was already a tense
time for students and staff alike. That day, nineteen year
old Eric Junior began exhibiting erratic behavior. He approached the
campus police officer assigned to Campbell Hall, claiming someone was
(07:44):
trying to kill him. CMU police chief Bill Yeagley recounted
that Davis appeared terrified and said that someone with a
gun was going to hurt him. Well, that's a scary claim,
right Naturally, the campus took this very seriously and conducted
a thorough investigation. However, by the end of the investigation,
(08:07):
they found no immediate threat to Davis or anyone else.
In fact, the very person that Davis named as a
threat had been seen on security cameras having a normal
conversation with Eric Junior earlier in the day. The two
were even laughing together. Needless to say, this seemed like
a bizarre mis understanding. At the very least, They dismissed
(08:31):
the report and let Davis go back to his dorm.
He told him his cousin was going to come the
next day to pick him up for the break and
he was going to get some sleep. They assured him
that that would be a good idea. However, at one am,
Eric Junior was seen in the hallway of his dorm
with his luggage, once again acting erratically. Police approached him,
(08:54):
noticing he'd appeared disoriented. He told him he was under
the influence of drugs. They asked if he was on marijuana, LSD, mushrooms, etc.
He answered yes to all of them. This time, they
detained Eric Junior and sent him to a nearby emergency
room to be evaluated and treated. They figured maybe he
(09:15):
was overdosing or having some sort of bad reaction to
a recreational drug. They called his parents, telling them of
their suspicion, and Diva agreed on the phone. She was
also concerned that drugs may be causing her son to
behave so uncharacteristically. That morning, Eric Senior and Diva got
in the car and drove four hours from Plainfield, Illinois
(09:37):
to Central Michigan University to retrieve their son from the hospital.
Before they could get there, CMUPD officers hurt over their
radio that a patient had escaped from the same hospital
they sent Eric. Of course, they feared the worst. The
young man was in a disturbed state and now on
the loose. By the time the officers arrived at the hospital,
(10:00):
Davis had been apprehended and taken back into the hospital
to await his parents. Eric Senior and Diva got there
mid morning, and Eric Junior was promptly discharged in their care.
He was clearly going through something troubling, so you'd think
the safest place for him would be in the care
of his parents, but no one imagined his parents needed
(10:21):
to be kept safe from Eric Junior. When they got
back to his dorm, Eric Junior was still disoriented. He
reportedly couldn't even remember the number of his dorm. His
father had to bring him to the reception desk to
ask the front desk worker. After learning the room number,
Eric Senior and Iva took Eric Junior up to his
(10:42):
dorm room to grab his belongings. While they were with
him in his dorm room, surveillance footage shows that Eric
left the residence hall to go to his parents car.
From the car, he retrieved a handgun that was registered
to his father and used to see mu Id to
regain access into the residential hall. It suspected that with
(11:04):
all the commotion of students leaving for the spring break,
Davis was able to re enter the residence hall gun
in hand, undetected. There was one eyewitness, though, a student
named Evan Ballinger, who saw Davis rush past him. He
made a note of his awkward body language, seeing how
he held his arms stiff at his side, but did
(11:26):
not see the gun and therefore had no reason to
be alarmed. Shortly after Eric Junior re entered Campbell Hall,
campus police responded to reports that gunshots had been fired.
They determined the shots had come from Campbell Hall, passing
frightened students and families who had heard the shots. Campus
police rushed to the residence hall. They had no way
(11:48):
of knowing if there had been a misunderstanding or if
they had an active shoot around their hands. By the
time they arrived in Eric Junior's dorm room, his parents'
bodies were found bleeding. They were too late. The Davis's
parents had died from their fatal wounds only a half
(12:10):
hour after Eric Junior was released from the hospital. His
parents lay dead in his dorm room. To think something
so drastic could have happened so quickly as heartbreaking, and
this is something I was shocked to learn in my research.
Davis lived with three roommates, and at least two of
his roommates were present during the attack. Trayvon Williams was
(12:33):
one of them, and he stated he was in his
room when he heard five gunshots. He then texted his mother,
I think my roommate shot his mom. Imagine being that
parent receiving that text, I just know her heart dropped
when she read that. His mother got in her car
and rushed to the university to see if her son
(12:54):
was okay. By the time the Mount Pleasant Police Department
arrived at the dorm room, there were two other black
Blackmails Williams and another roommate, Brian White, who had been handcuffed.
While CMU PD officers secured the scene, which they stated
with protocol whenever there was an active shooter. There were
two roommates, the bodies of the parents and the gun
(13:15):
at the scene, but no Eric Davis Junior. He had
fled on foot. This prompted a one hundred plus officer
manhunt for Eric Junior as CMU entered a campus wide lockdown.
Evan Ballinger, the student who noticed Davish rush pasted him
once again, saw Eric Junior hurriedly exit the hall, and
(13:36):
once he heard a gunman was loose on campus, he
realized he likely came face to face with the killer.
Ballinger gave Eric Junior's description to the campus police, describing
him as a black male nineteen years old, about five ten,
wearing mustard colored pants. Students received automated text alerts informing
them of a violent threat on campus, and Davis's description
(14:00):
was shared across campus. All campus events and classes were
canceled for the day, and arriving parents were redirected to
a nearby hotel during the lockdown. CMU President George E.
Ross said in an interview, I never envisioned it could
happen at Central Michigan University. We are a safe community,
(14:20):
we are a safe campus. I can imagine this entire
thing was a chaotic frenzy, terrified students and staff, terrified parents,
and Davis was still considered armed and dangerous since they
had no way of knowing if he had any other
weapons on him. They did, however, assure the students this
(14:40):
was a domestic dispute and stressed that the campus at
large was likely safe. Blease Chief Bill Yakley stated it
was a mother and father and a son involved in
this initial confrontation that ended up with tragically losing two people.
But knowing someone was out there potentially armed and had
already harmed two people earlier that day must have been
(15:04):
harrowing for everyone on campus, and they didn't know that
Eric Junior was mentally disturbed and possibly still a danger
to others. Adding to the chaos. The lockdowns didn't stop
at CMU. All schools in the Mount Pleasant area had
to be locked down to That includes elementary, middle, and
high schools. The entire town of Mount Pleasant was on edge,
(15:28):
and I dare to say on March second, twenty eighteen,
Mount Pleasant was anything but a pleasant place to be.
After checking surveillance cameras, Davis was seen fleeing Campbell Hall
and heading north. The man hunt lasted all day until
witnesses on a passing train saw Davis running alongside the
tracks and reported it just after midnight. Within two minutes,
(15:53):
police were on the scene unarrested Eric Davis Junior. He
was naked, freezing, visibly exhaust and still disoriented. Officers asked
him where he'd been and he said he'd climbed in
a storm drain and fell asleep. They asked him where
he was going when he was walking on the train tracks,
(16:13):
and he replied, I was going home. Eric clearly wasn't
in his right mind. He was taken into custody without incident.
In a statement, Detective yeaglely reassured Mount Pleasant the danger
that our community has experienced over the last twenty four
hours or so is now over. The community was no
(16:34):
doubt relieved to hear that. Now. I'm sure you're asking
what on earth went down in that dorm room that
resulted in the murder of a boy's loving parents. What
could have possibly prompted Eric Junior to exit the dorm,
get his dad's gun from the car, and then use
it on his mother and father. Unfortunately, Davis's account of
(16:56):
what happened hasn't been made public. Once he was taken
into custody, he was promptly hospitalized and remained so for
some time. He appeared in court via video from his
hospital bed for his arraignment, where he seemed lucid but anxious.
He nervously touched his face and gave simple one word
answers to the judge's questions. After the hearing, Judge Paul
(17:20):
Chamberlain stated he was being charged with open murder and
felony firearm charges. The debate about whether or not Davis
was criminally insane played out in court in the following weeks.
On March twenty third, he was found incompetent to stand
trial due to his still wavering mental state. In April,
(17:42):
about a month following the shooting. He was declared competent
by Judge Eric James three erics in one case I know,
to stand trial after he'd completed a competency hearing at
a local psychiatric hospital the following January. With the information
received from the evaluation, Davis and his legal team pleaded
(18:03):
not guilty by reason of insanity, and that plea was
granted to him, sentencing David to be reevaluated after sixty
more days. Like we saw in the Sydney Powell case,
a child on parent killing, especially one where mental health
is involved, is extremely hard on the family. Not only
are they greeting the loss of loved ones, but also
(18:24):
struggling with the complex emotions that come with a family
member being the perpetrator. Eric Junior's older brother, Russell, took
to Facebook soon after the attack to announce the death
of his parents to their friends and family. He had
this to say, never thought I'd have to post this
type of post, but unfortunately the news is true. My
(18:46):
mom and dad both rest from their life of labor
and stress in a very tragic event. It's so surreal.
I'm in shock and even in denial. It's a hard
pill to swallow. A heavy load to bear. I can't
wrap my mind around this nor make any sense of this,
but I love my mama and my dad. I'm going
(19:06):
to miss them. I still love my brother. I want
him safe, supported and prayed for, just like my sister
Alexis Davis and I. He went on to add one
thing I must add to the media and opinionated people.
Please don't make a villain of my brother. That is
(19:26):
not who he is. And despite the circumstances, he also
lost a mother and father, and I love him. Consider
that Davis remained hospitalized and received frequent visits by Russell
and their younger sister Alexis. I just let him know
that I loved him, Russell stated in an interview. All
(19:50):
I could do was be there for him and let
him know that I loved him and have forgiven him.
It really is so heartbreaking to now that these people
have not only lost their parents, but also have to
cope with a family member undergoing serious psychiatric treatment. The
Davises seemed to be taking it as gracefully as they can,
(20:12):
though As for Central Michigan University, the school has obviously
been heavily affected by the shooting. However, school officials have
turned this tragedy into a learning opportunity. Immediately following the
March second shooting, the school began reworking campus procedures around
security and in case something like this happens again. They
(20:34):
now have a new resource in the form of a
crisis website. A handful of emergency management committees worked over
the summer of twenty eighteen to improve campus safety, focusing
on areas like communication. The university received a lot of
constructive criticism from the community about how they could improve
communication during lockdowns. With these new changes, they mandated that
(20:58):
information would be readily available to students and staff via
a central alert, so no one would be out of
the loop during an emergency. Campus PD began partnering with
other schools to share what they'd learned from the experience
as well. Associate Vice President of CMU Facilities Management, Jonathan Webb,
made plans to improve the school's emergency management plan that
(21:21):
all students and staff could reference in order to be
well prepared for incidents. CMU had already been improving its
safety protocols, but the Davis case reinforced the need for
more work to be done to ensure everyone on campus
felt safe. The campus's Care Team, which specializes in student
mental health, has also been vocal about their efforts to
(21:43):
prevent these kinds of emergencies. CMUPD Lieutenant Larry Clause is
involved with the Care team and had this to say
regarding their efforts to intervene with student mental health emergencies.
We've got a very robust intervention team that tries to
get information and prevent these things from happening. There's a
lot that goes on, but you can't prevent them all.
(22:07):
With a case like this one, it's important to remember
that there weren't many warning signs. Eric Davis Junior had
become less focused on his schoolwork, he lost the drive
and ambition that got him to CMU, and self medicated
with marijuana. But those were the only indicators intervention might
be needed. That said, slacking off and smoking weed are
(22:28):
common activities among college students. The fact that Davis's mental
decline happened so quickly and drastically is an extremely harrowing thought.
One day, he was preparing for spring break, likely hoping
to bring his grades up. The next day, he was
in a psychiatric hospital, having just killed his parents. Eric
(22:49):
Davis Junior has remained in a psychiatric facility since the murders,
and his family has understandably kept a low profile. They've
had a lot of grieving to do. So what do
you think about this case? It's strikingly similar to the
Sydney Powell case we covered, but notably different in regard
to the level of the killer's mental illness. These are
(23:11):
two similar cases with completely different outcomes, and there are
still so many unanswered questions as well. Had Eric Junior
really been on a copious amount of drugs like he
told the police, was it a bad trip that had
lasting effects on his brain? And what role did that
play in the deaths of his parents. All involved are
extremely tight lipped on this case. One thing is for certain,
(23:34):
and it is that James Eric Davis Senior and Diva
Jeannine Davis were killed by their own son when they'd
come for him in his time of need, and it
is truly a family tragedy. Thank you for listening, and remember,
if you or anyone you know is struggling with mental illness,
please call or text nine eight eight, go to the
(23:55):
nearest emergency room, or reach out to a twenty four
hour crisis center. Or Noble crisis outreach team in your area.
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