Gabriel Michael Davies went from missing person to the subject of a murder investigation.
The Washington state teenager who vanished on his way to football practice last week has been accused of plotting his own disappearance to avoid being arrested for the murder of his mother’s ex-boyfriend,, according to prosecutors.
It started with the 16-year-old being reported missing by his family on Aug. 31 after failing to show up to football practice. Cops would launch a search for the teen when they found his car abandoned with blood smeared inside and his cellphone shattered on the ground close by.
In a strange turn of events, he would be found safe on Sept. 1 under “suspicious circumstances.” However, hours later he and his friend would be arrested on murder charges over the death of 51-year-old Daniel McCaw.
“In a probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE, investigators with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office allege Gabriel Michael Davies’ father called detectives on Sept. 2, and told them “Gabe was involved” in the shooting death of Daniel McCaw.
According to the document, McCaw, 51, was Davies’ mother’s ex-boyfriend. He was killed by a single gunshot to the head. He was also stabbed several times in the abdomen.
Davies’ father allegedly told police “his son was approached by the victim’s ‘biker buddies’ to steal something from the victim’s residence,” the affidavit explains. “He further stated that they threatened his son with harm if he didn’t do it.”
According to the father’s account as outlined in the affidavit, Davies, along with Justin Yoon, also 16, allegedly “developed a ‘plot’ to steal the item from a safe.” According to the father, both boys went to McCaw’s home the night of August 28 — gaining access to the residence through a doggy door.
According to the affidavit, Davies’ father told detectives it was Yoon who stabbed and fatally shot McCaw while his son was in the garage, retrieving the unspecified item from the safe.
Davies allegedly told his father the bikers abducted him days later, and assaulted him inside a Chevy Suburban. “His son told him that the motorcycle club members took his shirt and shoes and then purposely went through his truck, looking for whatever item had been stolen.”
McCaw was found dead on Sept. 2, after concerned cowokers informed authorities he had failed to show up for work for four straight days.
Davies and Yoon are both charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree burglary and two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
