FBI Looking For IL, MO Victims Of Suspected Serial Killer

ILLINOIS — A suspected serial killer who died in 2012 may have left undiscovered bodies scattered across Illinois, Missouri and many other states during his travels over the course of five decades, according to the FBI.

Through DNA and other forensic analysis, federal investigators linked Richard William Davis to the 1973 attempted abduction of an 8-year-old girl in Bath, New York, and the murder of 5-year-old Siobhan McGuinnes in Missoula, Montana, a year later, officials said.

McGuinness was abducted near her Missoula home, and her body was found two days later in a culvert off Interstate 90 near Turah, Montana. Investigators said she had been beaten, stabbed and sexually assaulted.

Investigators said they are now looking for similar abduction or murder cases Davis may be responsible for.

According to a news release from the agency's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, Davis — who often went by Nash or Dick — was 6 feet tall, known to smoke menthol cigarettes and drove a Nash Rambler in the late 1960s, an Oldsmobile 98 in the early 1970s, a blue pickup truck from the late 1970s to early 1980s, and a truck with a sleeper cab until the early 2000s.

He lived in Pennsylvania in the early 1960s; South Dakota in the late 1960s; Bath, New York, from the late 1960s to the early 1970s; North Little Rock, Arkansas, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s; and Cabot, Arkansas, from the late 1980s until his death in 2012, officials said.

He held various jobs and traveled extensively cross-country, through Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and perhaps other states.

He was known to carry a folding knife and a handgun, officials said.

According to the FBI, Davis worked as a missionary on a Sioux Reservation in the early 1960s, in a South Dakota mine in the late 1960s and as a security guard at a bar in Bath, New York, in the mid-1970s. He drove a school bus in Alaska from 1974 to 1975, worked as a security guard at the Arkansas School for the Deaf and Blind sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, and drove a truck in the early 2000s.

Officials said he also volunteered at the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program in Arkansas in the late 1970s or 1980s.

Davis died Aug. 24, 2012, in Cabot, Arkansas, and was never charged with a crime while he was alive. According to his obituary, he was a "loving husband, father and grandfather" who "enjoyed the outdoors and loved caring for animals."

"Richard was a born again Christian who believed in the word of faith and he was ready to be with Jesus," the obituary states, mentioning that he "worked many years in Arkansas as a truck driver."

Anyone with information about Davis or any additional killings or abductions he may be responsible for should call 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit tips.FBI.gov.