Cops: Family Staged Baby's Kidnapping for Grim Reason

Police think 8-month-old King Jay Davila of Texas is probably dead
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 11, 2019 9:27 AM CST
Cops: Family Staged Baby's Kidnapping for Grim Reason
Christopher Davila.   (Bexar County Sheriff's Office via AP)

A Texas man and his mother have been charged with evidence tampering, but cops think the true crime is worse: that something terrible happened to the man's 8-month-old son, and that he had something to do with it. "Statements from multiple witnesses unfortunately lead us to believe that King Jay is dead," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Thursday regarding little King Jay Davila, missing since Jan. 4, per MySanAntonio.com. The infant's father, 34-year-old Christopher Davila, told cops he left his car running last Friday with King Jay inside when he stopped at a convenience store. He says a woman hopped in the car and drove away with his son. The car was soon found, with no baby or car seat; Davila was charged with child endangerment.

The case, however, is "unraveling thread by thread," McManus said, per KSAT. Police now say the woman seen on surveillance tape taking Davila's car was his cousin, Angie Torres, 45; she has also charged with evidence tampering. Davila's mother, Beatrice Sampayo Davila, 65, allegedly dropped her off at the convenience store. McManus says King Jay wasn't in the car at the time. "[Torres] described the route she and [Sampayo Davila] took where they disposed of the car seat, and [Torres] said she learned from [Sampayo Davila] that Christopher had severely injured King Jay," McManus says. KSAT notes the baby's mother, Jasmine Gonzales, is also being investigated. Gonzales tells WOAI she hadn't seen her son since New Year's Eve; the Washington Post details discrepancies in aspects of her own story. (More missing child stories.)

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