The Benton County Sheriff's Office received confirmation on Tuesday from the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory that one of the two sets of human remains found over the weekend near Siloam Springs are those of Carol Elaine Davidson, who was reported missing in November.
The other set of remains is pending further testing by the Arkansas Crime Lab, according to a press release from the Sheriff's Office. The release states that it is highly probable that those are the remains of RoseMarry Davidson, the 22-month-old daughter of Carol Davidson, who was also reported missing.
Missing person descriptions
Carol Davidson, 35, is 5-foot-8, weighs 130 pounds and has brown eyes and hair. She has a tattoo on her left upper arm of the names “Dyllan,” “Halley,” “Summer,” with a black curved line above and below them. RoseMarry Davidson is 2-foot-6, weighs 40 pounds and has light brown hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information about these two people is urged to call 911 or 800-843-5678, or reach the Siloam Springs Police Department at 479-524-4110 and tips@siloamsprings.….
Source: Staff report
The Sheriff's Office would not release any more findings of the autopsies because it is an ongoing investigation.
The remains were found Saturday and Sunday near where police searched last November for the mother and child.
The bodies were found near Lookout Tower Road near Siloam Springs, according to the Benton County Sheriff's Office. The area is roughly a mile and a half from where searchers in November found Carol Davidson's vehicle, Chief Deputy Meyer Gilbert said on Sunday after the second set of remains were found.
The bodies were sent to the Arkansas Crime Lab for an autopsy and results came back Tuesday.
"We've got families involved," he said. "You have to be a 100 percent sure what you've got before you release information."
Carol Davidson, 35, and her 22-month-old daughter, RoseMarry, were last seen on Veterans Day at a Siloam Springs recreational park. Davidson's 1999 Dodge Caravan was found a few days later around Lookout Tower Road, an isolated stretch running through the Lake Wedington section of the Ozark National Forest.
A baby bottle, a diaper bag, a box of keepsakes and documents and clothing for both people were inside the van, Siloam Springs police said.
On Sunday, Gilbert said Davidson's family has been notified but didn't provide details.
"Siloam Springs police have had a relationship with that family" since Davidson disappeared, Gilbert said. "Of course they were the first people I called."
A deer hunter found the first body Saturday evening, said Sgt. Shannon Jenkins, spokeswoman for the Benton County Sheriff's Office.
Roughly 50 people searched the area until dark Saturday before returning Sunday morning, Gilbert said. Search and rescue teams found the second body about 1 p.m. Sunday, Meyer said, after crews started branching out from where the first body was found.
Multiple agencies were involved in Sunday's recovery, including the Washington County Sheriff's Office, Siloam Springs police, the FBI, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and several volunteers with dogs, Gilbert said. Crews were set up near Lookout Tower and Martin Pedro roads.
Before Davidson disappeared, she visited an Oklahoma State Park for a holiday, police said.
Holland Hayden, spokeswoman for Siloam Springs, referred questions Sunday to the Benton County Sheriff's Office.
Terri Russo, Davidson's sister and a real estate agent, said the family was convinced someone forced or compelled Davidson to leave, though investigators haven't given a version of what they think happened.
Russo in December announced on Facebook the family set up a GoFundMe campaign and would give several thousand dollars to whoever would bring the pair home before Christmas Day.
"I can't (bear) the thought of seeing my family heartbroken and in tears on Christmas," she wrote. "Please have mercy on our family and let our girls come home."
The fund listed a goal of $7,500, but as of Sunday had no donations.
Russo didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on Sunday.
Washington County Circuit Court records show pieces of Davidson's relatively turbulent life over the past decade or so. She was sentenced to three years' probation for a 2004 possession of ecstasy charge. Two years later, the court gave custody of one of her daughters to her mother, ruling Davidson was unfit because of methamphetamine use.
Michael Reed, RoseMarry's father, sued Davidson in late 2015 for custody of their daughter, claiming Davidson was a habitual alcohol abuser and lived with him until her recent arrest for felony domestic battery in the presence of a child. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor on the charge and received one year of probation.
The court in August gave Davidson primary custody, and Reed received visitation rights. Hayden in November told the Siloam Springs Herald-Leader that Reed and many others had been questioned during the investigation.
Russo described Davidson as funny and warm in a series of Facebook posts since her disappearance.
"This behavior is not like my sister as she depended on her family on a daily basis, so we know she is in need of help wherever her and the baby are," Russo wrote Nov. 17.
Davidson's three other children and the rest of the family have been distraught at her absence, Russo said. On Dec. 9, she wrote that her father went to the hospital because of the strain and worry.
"Every time the phone rings, we all dart to the phone praying that it's Carol," Russo wrote Nov. 27. She added a week later: "We won't give up and we will make sure this monster that has you pays for the pain they are causing our family."
General News on 02/22/2017