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Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And the story I have for you today is
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one of the ones that will leave you furious because there should be a conclusion. Police think that they know
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who did it. But because of a technicality, prosecutors won't prosecute. So, two families are left
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wondering what to do when the people in charge throw their hands up and say there's nothing they can do because the
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cracks in the system have left a predator out there walking free among us. This is the story of Kayla Williams and
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Heather Higgins. There are plenty of things that parenting books just can't prepare you
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for. I had literal classes as an adult, like to be a foster parent. Nothing actually
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ever truly prepares you. 100%. And I guarantee you what's not in the book is how to talk to your
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12-year-old after they discover human remains in the woods. Oh, that is exactly the scenario one father
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found himself in on Mother's Day 2012 after his son came running home telling him that he and his two friends found
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something in the woods by their house in Spokane, Washington. Now, what dad and later the police that he calls in find
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in that wooded area just off of a narrow walking path in a small ditch is the upper part of a body peeking out from
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between torn black trash bags. Soon, the area is swarming with officers. Investigators are there, crime scene
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technicians, you name it. And one officer, as he is standing over the remains, spots another bundle of trash
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bags half-hazardly hidden underneath a pile of sticks and branches about four to 5 ft away. And although he can't see
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what's inside, it's the right size to be the other half of their victim. Now, there isn't any blood anywhere around,
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which tells them that whatever happened to this poor person, it probably didn't happen here. This is just a dump site.
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But there's more to collect than just the bags that the victim was found in. Investigators also find a bloody hand
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towel, a blanket, a black camera strap with teeth marks on it, but according to police documents, those teeth marks look
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to just be from animals. But the whole thing is it smells heavily of decomposition. So, while they
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meticulously collect evidence from the forest floor, their victim is sent off piece by piece for an autopsy. And at
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the examiner's office, the remains are carefully unwrapped layer by layer. They realize that the victim is young. It's a
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female in her like early adulthood. She's white with long blonde hair and her body has been cut in half at the
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waist. Now, starting with her upper body, they find a towel knotted around her neck, covering her lower face with
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strands of black electrical tape, like entangled in it. And her clothing, a sweater, t-shirt, and chamisil, have
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been cut vertically from the bottom up and shoved around her shoulders beneath her body. Her bra, which was also cut in
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between the cups, is beneath her. Then found in the layers of plastic is her underwear. also cut. And her clothing is
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discolored. Not from the blood, though. It looks like her clothing is discolored
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from bleach. Like, that's what the stains look like. Oh, that's not good news. They're going
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to be screwed getting any sort of evidence or samples off of her body then. I know. And it's not much better for her
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lower body. So, her lower body, which was in that second bundle, is wrapped not just in plastic bags and the tape,
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but also an orange sleeping bag with a plaid interior. Now, it is zipped closed with more of that black electrical tape
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wrapped around it. And in between all the bags layers are more towels, a pair of boxer shorts, and some sort of black
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strap material. And then they find a pair of men's size 36 jeans with a black synthetic belt. Now, whereas her top
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half was still clothed, even though it was cut, her lower half is completely nude, save for the sock still on her
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feet. It's not immediately apparent how long she's been out in the woods or even
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when she died. I mean, it's been pretty cool in Spokane as winter turns to spring. So despite some decomp and some
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animal activity, she is relatively well preserved. And it's because of that preservation that they're able to
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quickly identify her via fingerprints as 20-year-old Kayla Williams. Kayla's not
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completely unknown to police in Spokane. She'd been arrested before, although I can't really find out exactly what for.
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And I know at one time she had been reported missing by her brother, which was like a little over a month ago. He
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reported her missing on April 2nd, but they think that she might have actually been missing for a little while by that
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point. You see, her family had gotten worried when she didn't meet her mom, Martine, for church a few weeks in a
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row. Like, the two of them had this routine. Kayla didn't live at home, but she and her mom always made sure to
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attend church twice a week with one another. Like, this was the thing that provided stability in what was otherwise
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a pretty turbulent time for Kayla because she'd been struggling with substance use disorder. So, when they
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finally realize she's gone to report her missing, there had been a little bit of
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a police search for her, which didn't result in much of anything. And the TLDDR of all of it is basically that she
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had been living with a few people in an apartment. Um, one of those people was including her like maybe current maybe
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ex-boyfriend, this guy named Matt. And he was obviously one of the first people that they wanted to talk to. But one of
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the guys that they were living with said that Matt had moved out of state right around the same time that Kayla went
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missing. Now, you'll see that if you go out and read about this, but that turned
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out actually not to be true. They ended up tracking Matt down at the apartment that they all shared just a few days
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later. So Matt said that he hadn't seen Kayla since around the end of March, but
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he made it clear that he wasn't interested in having her in his life anymore. He allegedly also struggled
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with substance use disorder, and the last time that he'd seen her, he had been trying to avoid anything or anyone
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triggering. And Kayla was still using at the time. So I guess he told her to leave the apartment. And that, he says,
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is the last time he saw her. So because they didn't really get anywhere, the search for Kayla ultimately stalled. But
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her family never stopped looking for her. So on May 13th, that same family is watching the news. Kayla's mom has it on
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as her husband is getting ready for work. And when she sees a news segment about the body of a young woman being
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found, she says she like knows instinctively that it's her daughter. And later that day, in another moment
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that no parenting book can ever prepare you for, she opens the door to investigators there to give her the
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worst news of her life. And they have so many questions like when, why, who. I mean, it's something Martine can't stop
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thinking about as they're finishing her daughter's autopsy. She and investigators are hoping that the
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results will answer at least some of the questions, but ultimately it doesn't. In
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fact, it only results in more questions because despite police telling the public that Kayla had signs of
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significant trauma, despite the fact that she was dismembered, despite noting cut-like defects on her hands and a stab
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wound on her thigh, despite looking as though she had what looks like bleach poured on her, Dr. John Howard can't
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determine exactly how she died. So he rules her cause and her manner of death as undetermined
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which I get I get cause if you can't determine the cause of death but manner I know
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okay my mind is reeling but does he at least determine if it's actually bleach on
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her? So, as far as the bleach though, not early on according to the documents we have. I know testing does happen
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later. Okay. But in that moment, I don't know how much they're even taking the bleach into
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account, which is like a bananas thing to say. And basically, at first, I guess this
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guy is like, well, she might have overdosed and maybe someone she was with might have disposed of her body,
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which is still a crime, by the way. It is not a homicide though and also not even like something worth picking apart
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in my mind because like hi you can test for drugs so like let's just do that. Let's stop guessing. So fast forward to
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when the talk screen comes back. It shows that while she did have meth in her system there wasn't nearly enough to
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have killed her. Yet for some reason this isn't enough to change anything for the me. Okay. No overdose but he still
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doesn't know the cause. So he doesn't think he can rule on manner, which I have seen trip up so many cases. A lot
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of times it becomes this like fingerpointing game where investigators will kind of wash their hands of it.
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They're like, "Well, if there's no crime, like we can't investigate, right?" But at least this time around, no one in
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charge of the investigation, like or at least on that side of things, has any doubt about what this is. According to
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an episode of the show Still a Mystery, titled Depths of Depravity, to them this
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is a homicide. Yeah. And thankfully at the autopsy, swabs were taken as well as fingernail
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clippings. So they asked for those to be sent off for DNA testing along with all
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those other items from the scene. And while they wait for results, the investigation keeps moving forward,
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albeit slowly. They did some initial canvasing around where Kayla's body was found. I don't know what you were
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picturing initially, but this wooded area isn't remote. We're talking about like a pretty residential area. So,
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there were some initial hopes that maybe someone witnessed a person disposing of
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two large trash bags, but unfortunately, whoever brought Kayla there got lucky. The only thing they took away from their
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door knockocking was the knowledge that this is a pretty quiet spot with the occasional disturbance from teenagers
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partying in the area. Although, for the last couple of months, the usual gaggle of teens haven't been coming around.
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Some neighbors also mention this older man who they say they've seen before and he like makes some people in the area
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uncomfortable, but spoiler alert, they end up finding the guy and end up ruling him out. So, they decide to focus on the
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people they know who were connected to Kayla, starting with Matt. [Music] Two branches of the same tree,
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two pieces of a soul. Where one sister goes, the other will be. For she is but half
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of the whole. Matt mostly repeats what he said when Kayla first came up missing, that he
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hadn't seen her since like late March, but he clarifies that it wasn't that uncommon for her to leave for days at a
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time. So, not seeing her for a few weeks didn't raise too many red flags for him
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at first. Even though, by the way, might be worth mentioning, I have her cell phone. That's what he tells police.
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According to an article in the spokesman review, he tells the police that she had
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left it at the apartment, likely because she had run out of minutes and then just
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didn't take it with her. A search warrant allows investigators to take a look at her calls and text messages, and
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they read that one of the last messages she sent was on March 18th to a friend and mentor. This friend says that she
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last saw Kayla on March 18th as well, and she had been living on the streets after a fight with Matt. The friend told
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police that Kayla hadn't been doing well, but she was going to try to patch things up with Matt.
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And did she? Well, that's unclear cuz I don't know the exact date Matt last saw her. He
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just says late March. And we tried to talk to him for this episode, but like all of our attempts to reach out to him
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have been unsuccessful. And was her phone really like out of minutes or disconnected or whatever?
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Oh, girl, I wish I had more details around her phone. I just don't have anything. Like nothing beyond the
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information I just gave you has been reported and anyone we spoke to for this episode couldn't tell us if there was
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anything else of interest on the phone if they looked if they did like a full forensic sweep. Like I got nothing.
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Where we do find something of interest is in all those results that come back from the lab. Now not everything they
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sent in for testing resulted in something usable. Like none of the swabs gave them anything that they could work
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with at the time. The boxer shorts found at the scene however are a different story. They come back with a full DNA
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profile that is a match to a 42year-old man named Robert Davis. What? And Robert
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is a bad dude. He has a string of past convictions and allegations behind him, including a really violent sexual
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assault from 2007. Apparently that April 2007, he had gone into the apartment of
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a woman named Dawn. And she reported that he choked her into unconsciousness and sexually assaulted her. According to
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Thomas Klaus's reporting for the spokesman review, she survived and a sexual assault kit proved his DNA was
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all over her. But for some reason, he was never officially charged with anything.
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How is that even possible? I don't know because some of the reporting on this is
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like conflicting. Like I've seen some reports saying that Dawn didn't want to push forward and then I've seen others
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where the investigators and the prosecutors just dropped the ball. Okay. But now they've got his full DNA
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profile on these boxers in Kayla's case. Yeah. And not just the boxers. So here's
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the other thing. They found two major DNA profiles under Kayla's nails, too. And a direct comparison proves that one
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of those is this Robert guys. Okay, but then who's the other? Well, the other profile belongs to Matt,
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which might not be all that surprising. I mean, remember she'd been talking about patching things up with him to her
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friend. Like, we know they have a relationship or had and we still don't know when she died. So, if it was right
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after she saw him, that might explain it. I mean, having Robert's DNA under her nails and his boxers and knowing his
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history, like they're much more interested in him. Even more so when a bunch more from the scene gets tested
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and it all keeps coming back as a match to him. The black electrical tape around
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her neck, those jeans, that camera strap found near her body, it all has his DNA
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on it. Now, I do need to mention that there is one other profile found on the fly of the boxers. That profile does get
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matched to a guy named David, but as far as I can see, his DNA isn't anywhere else on her body or the other pieces of
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evidence. And based on the police docs that we have access to and the interviews that our team conducted for
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this case, it seems like he's never been considered a person of interest in Kayla's death.
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He's just like a blip in the DNA evidence. Yeah, it is all about Robert Davis. So, on July 25th, this is more
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than 2 months after Kayla's body was found, they track him down and speak with him. Robert explains that he does
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know Kayla, but not very closely. He says that he only knows her through Matt. He would purchase drugs from Matt,
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and the few times that he did so, Kayla was there, too. But that was it. He says
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they never hung out. They never had sex. Although he does admit that he probably
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wouldn't tell police if they had had sex. So cool. I mean, it's honest, but like whatever.
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Here's where it gets weird. If investigators confronted him about his DNA being freaking everywhere,
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it is not in the documentation I've seen. And so he's not arrested. What? Because, and this is where we get our
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hiccup that comes back to bite us. And even though they have linked all this stuff in and around the bags with her
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dismembered body to a very bad guy known for very bad stuff, it's not a homicide
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death. Technically, there isn't a murder, right? Which makes no sense to me. Like,
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we can put you with her before she died when you're saying you weren't like we got you.
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Yeah. But apparently it's not enough for them. Though they aren't totally walking away
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either. At one point, I guess they go talk with Robert's mother, Reel. He had like lived with her off and on, but
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according to a timeline published by the Spokesman Review, she claims she doesn't
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know anything either. So, like I think they're at least trying to dig and like build something. But they don't get
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anywhere like at first. But it was worth going to talk to her cuz a few days later on August 1st, she contacts police
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like out of the blue and she says, "Listen, I don't know anything about Kayla's murder. But a couple of years
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ago, my son came home and he confessed to disposing of a different body. So maybe I should tell you about that."
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Yeah. You think? She says that two years ago, which would have been in 2010, Robert
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came home acting really anxious. And eventually, he told his mom that these two guys had killed a woman named
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Heather Higgins and forced him to help dispose of her body. So, he put her body in a sleeping bag and dumped her down a
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steep hill somewhere north of Spokane. And a sleeping bag feels like a really important detail here.
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That's what Kayla's found in too, right? her lower half. Mhm. Now, Reel tells police that she didn't
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come forward then because she frankly just didn't believe him at the time, like because of his substance abuse.
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Like, she didn't trust a lot of what he said, and she kind of just chocked it up
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to him being worked up over nothing. But the thing is, 39-year-old Heather Higgins really did go missing back in
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2010, and she still hadn't been found by the time they're talking to this woman.
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[Music] By this point, the news that parts of Kayla's body had been placed in a sleeping bag wasn't known to the public
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either. And investigators don't think it's a coincidence. Yeah. And that's not the only similarity
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between Heather and Kayla either. The investigation into Heather's disappearance was just as lackluster as
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the police search for Kayla had been, if not more so. Just like Kayla's mom had realized something was wrong, it was
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Heather's mom, Jackie, who first sounded the alarm. Heather was also going through some turbulence in life when she
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vanished. She'd recently been hospitalized and returned home to find that the money that she was going to use
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to get a new apartment had been stolen. So, she had been working on getting a loan when she just vanished like into
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thin air. And when her mom realized that she hadn't heard from Heather in a few days, she went over to find her cats
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alone in the apartment. So on September 27th, 2010, Jackie reported her daughter
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missing. But the response made her feel like police just didn't care. According to her mom, they looked at her recent
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hospitalization for bipolar disorder and a previous DWI that she'd gotten and basically said that Heather could just
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leave if she wanted to. And in a public statement about her disappearance, one detective said that she was an
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alcoholic, which just by the way wasn't even true, at least according to her mom. And this is like this little stuff
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that bothers me. Instead of using her nice college ID photo, which was recent because she was currently in school for
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journalism, the photo that police decided to use for her missing person's flyer was a mug shot from a prior
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arrest, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how the police
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viewed her like as the person that they were looking for. Exactly. I mean, it all made Jackie feel
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like police were saying that her daughter wasn't worth finding. Yeah. So, she started looking for
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Heather herself. And Jackie spent years doing what police should have, even putting her and her loved ones in
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dangerous situations to try and track her daughter down. A daughter that she believed was still alive. But almost
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from the beginning, according to her mom, police didn't actually share that belief. In fact, they were confident
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early on that she'd been killed, possibly by Robert Davis, whose name came up early on. The thing is, they
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didn't share any of that with Jackie. They kind of allowed her to go on believing that Heather might just come
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home. Like, they let her believe this for years. Wait, how early on are we talking here?
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Like, within a like a few months, possibly even the first few weeks. So, you see, they learned that the day she
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went missing, the loan that Heather had been trying to get fell through. So, she
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decided to go into town and pawn some res. Now, she couldn't drive at that moment, so she went across the street to
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her neighbor Dawn's apartment to see if she knew of anyone who could give her a ride. Now, if the name Dawn feels
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familiar, that's because the Dawn that lived across from Heather was the same Dawn that said she had been assaulted by
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Robert Davis back in 2007. Oh my god. I know. And I don't know why, but Dawn gave Heather Robert Davis's
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phone number. And the last anybody saw of Heather, she was getting into Robert's minivan. Now, I don't know why
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Dawn still had Robert's number after what he did to her or why she felt okay giving it like that contact info to
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someone else, but Dawn has since passed away, so we couldn't ask her. And no one
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our team talked to could explain it. It sounds like the nature of their relationship was complicated. Obviously,
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like that's probably a massive understatement. But regardless, when Robert was eventually interviewed by
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police, he admitted to giving Heather a ride that day, but he claimed that she got angry with him, so he left her on
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the side of the road in town. The end. So, okay, I'm I'm kind of getting a little twisted on this. In this time
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when they find this stuff out about Robert being with Heather, are they still holding the position with her mom
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that she just walked off on her own? Yeah, this is what's so weird. Um, so this is early on,
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but they don't give Jackie any updates about this. So, so like I think they probably told her early on that they
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thought she was a runaway. Jackie is like on her own to do her own thing. They learn this stuff about
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Robert Davis, but they don't tell her mom this or or that they've like if their thinking has changed, they don't
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tell her. They just let her keep on believing that her daughter might still be out there. And it's not like they
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aren't in contact with her. She told our team that she called investigators every
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single day because she was investigating on her own. So, they could have told her, I mean, countless number of times
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that they didn't believe Heather was still out there. But for some unknown reason, they didn't. Now, by the time
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they got around to talk to Robert, it was months after Heather went missing. And by then, he'd conveniently sold his
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minivan and had it straight up crushed. Oh, so not just like sold it to someone.
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Like, there's no getting in that minivan. Got it. But the thing is, if they had done just a little more digging, they
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would have found that the rings that she was going to sell that day, those had in
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fact been pawned. Except they weren't pawned by Heather. They were pawned by Robert. But that link wouldn't be
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connected for years. At the time, police didn't even check the pawn shops. They just let Heather fade. Even when her
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student ID and a butcher knife were found submerged in a river three and a half blocks from where Robert was living
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at the time, they still did nothing. And they still, even then, didn't tell Jackie anything. And now there are two
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women, one still missing, one murder directly tied to Robert Davis. But there is no arrest. And both Kayla and
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Heather's families are left to try and fit together the pieces. By now, according to Kayla's mom, Martin,
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they're at least aware of each other, but they never really connect. They're trying to navigate their grief and a
00:25:04
system that feels like it's not on their side. That is until early 2013 when a new detective is assigned to Kayla's
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case. His name is Mark Burbridge. And as he's reviewing her autopsy, he can't believe what he sees. The autopsy report
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is sparse. And as Detective Burbridge is comparing the report to the photos that
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he is seeing of Kayla's body, he can't make sense of it because the original report doesn't contain any mention of
00:25:35
the dozens of sharp force wounds that he is seeing. or by the way the shoe prints
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on her chest and leg or the defensive wounds or the bruising around her wrist like she had been restrained. So he's
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confused to say the least and frustrated. So according to police docs, he tries to
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go to Dr. Howard like wanting clarification. I mean probably really an explanation,
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but it takes months before Dr. Howard will even speak with him. And when they're finally face to face, Dr. Howard
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is super defensive. He even says that Detective Burbridge is being rude and goes so far as to ban him from the
00:26:18
medical examiner's office. What? Yeah. Which is not the reaction Burbridge was expecting, but he's not
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going to give up. Something isn't right here. So, he meets with the Spokane County prosecutor, this guy named Jack
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Driscoll. But Jack isn't much help either. He basically says that he's not going to go against what Dr. Howard
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ruled because if he goes on to say that Dr. Howard drooling on Kayla's case was wrong, like that's going to call into
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question all of his other rulings and like open up this can of worms. Am I the only one who thinks that's
00:26:50
maybe like a good thing? Yeah. I mean, if if only if it were that straightforward, right? Like so to me
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and you, yes, this is a good thing because making mistakes or doing things in error like we should correct those
00:27:04
things. Yeah. I mean, if you're missing stab wounds, like you would think Spokane
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County would want to, I don't know, take care of that. Yeah. But doing that unravels god knows how
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many convictions, which again, they might be convictions that are actually like needed. I mean, no one's saying
00:27:20
this is going to be easy to do, but to Detective Burbridge, like it needs to be done.
00:27:25
Yeah. And he thinks that all of this like they're just more interested in protecting their people, securing their
00:27:31
convictions, their image, whatever, than actually protecting the general public,
00:27:36
doing their job. So, he decides to pay a doctor from Seattle to review the autopsy results.
00:27:43
And in the meantime, on July 8th of 2013, he conducts a follow-up interview with Robert Davis. At this point, Robert
00:27:51
has moved to Cordelane, Idaho. And he says pretty much the exact same thing. He never had sex with Kayla. He didn't
00:27:58
kill her. And he did not dispose of her body. He's still saying this even when he's finally confronted with all of the
00:28:05
DNA. Still denies killing her. Still denies disposing of her body. Even denies being at the crime scene. Like,
00:28:12
this dude doesn't give an inch. So, they let him go. Now, on December 31st, 2013,
00:28:17
the autopsy results from Seattle comeback, and this one could not be more different. We actually got our hands on
00:28:25
both Dr. Howard's original autopsy and the new report, which was done by a guy named Dr. Carl Wigran. And Brit,
00:28:32
comparing these two reports, it's like they're not even talking about the same body. On her upper body alone, Dr. Wigan
00:28:39
notes four abrasions, including what looks like a shoe print on her chest and parallel marks consistent with bindings.
00:28:47
There are 18 sharp force wounds, 16 of which are concentrated on her hands and lower arms as if she was trying to like
00:28:55
defend herself. And there are 50 contusions also consistent with defensive wounds, including a black eye.
00:29:04
And on her lower half, he notes six abrasions, including a shoe print on her left thigh, nine sharp force wounds, and
00:29:12
48 contusions consistent with defensive wounds, which is like wild to me that we're still saying
00:29:20
undetermined undetermined manner of death. It It like defies logic to me. And like listen, Dr. Howard's report
00:29:29
talked about like some defects like on her hands and fingers. He points out some like cut like defects on her left
00:29:38
hand and thumb like four of those. And then obviously he like notes like her the wound where she's cut in half. And
00:29:45
he makes a note of a stab wound on her thigh which which appears in both reports.
00:29:48
But there's like shoe prints on her thigh, shoe prints on her chest. Dude, he had nothing about her having a
00:29:55
black eye. He had nothing about her, like the injuries on her lower arms or her legs. And what sticks out to me is
00:30:02
like the sheer enormity of the wounds in this second autopsy compared to the first. Like again, it feels like you're
00:30:10
looking at reports for two different victims. Yeah. And this second doctor, he also
00:30:14
notes that he sees no documentation showing like internal exams to like fully rule out sexual assault. Oh, and
00:30:22
by the way, they did eventually do like some testing um to see if the stuff that
00:30:26
the staining was actually bleach, but ultimately that came back inconclusive. Like it doesn't really fall into these
00:30:31
reports, but it's worth noting. And the second doctor, he couldn't he he like the first, he couldn't determine a
00:30:37
specific cause of death, but based on everything he's seeing, the second doctor, this Dr. Wigrren says there's no
00:30:44
way this isn't a murder. Right. So armed with this new report, Detective Burbridge goes to the deputy
00:30:52
prosecutor who in turn brings the findings to Dr. Howard, the first Emmy. But Dr. Howard refuses to change the
00:31:02
ruling. And his reasoning is that he can't rule out an overdose as her cause of death. Hold up. He's legit still
00:31:11
holding on to that. Like he did the talk screen. There wasn't a lethal amount of
00:31:15
drugs in her system. It actually can't be an overdose. I know. And like literally this makes no
00:31:23
sense to anyone in the police department. Like for for Detective Burbridge, this should be an openandsh
00:31:29
case. Yeah. And in 2014, his supervisor agrees and he gives him permission to write up
00:31:35
charging documents for Robert Davis for murder. Which quick question, did they ever go looking for Heather's body after
00:31:43
Robert's mom talked to them? Um, so, okay, so there were a few searches done by her family. Um, and like like the
00:31:53
area that Robert alluded to, I guess is super difficult to search. Like it's all
00:31:57
these really steep cliffs. So, there were some searches done. Again, like most by her family, nothing was ever
00:32:03
found. So even even now, but still even without Heather's body or a confession, the escalation of Robert's
00:32:11
alleged crimes feels super clear to Detective Burbridge. So like even if they can't get Heather, like they know
00:32:17
what they're dealing with in Kayla's case. Like let's at least get him for that.
00:32:20
But here's what's wild. still with everything they have and no matter how clear it feels to the
00:32:27
detectives, to the people in the police department, you, me, our listeners, prosecutors refuse to press charges,
00:32:34
what else do they want? What else could they possibly need? Ashley, like the word frustrating, like doesn't
00:32:42
even cover it. Like, it doesn't cover it for how I feel. Certainly not for how Detective Burbridge is left feeling.
00:32:47
Like, he is straight up angry. Kayla's family is angry. And that anger only intensifies when on June 21st, 2014,
00:32:57
another woman comes forward saying that she has been attacked by Robert. On the evening of the 21st, a woman we'll be
00:33:05
calling Sasha was alone in her trailer in Celane, Idaho, when Robert entered unexpectedly. Now, she knew who he was.
00:33:13
He had been hanging out with a friend of hers, but him showing up unannounced without her friend was strange. Sasha
00:33:19
said Robert proceeded to attack her, choking her until she passed out several times. And each time she woke up, Robert
00:33:27
was sexually assaulting her. And in her gut, she knew that Robert was going to kill her if no one stopped him. Now,
00:33:34
thankfully, true hero of the story, her dog was there with her. And this dog began attacking Robert, which is what
00:33:42
Sasha believes made him stop. And when she woke up again, according to the court docs, he was running out the door.
00:33:50
Now, thankfully, she didn't suffer any serious physical injuries, and she was easily able to identify Robert as her
00:33:57
attacker. So, he gets arrested and originally charged with first-degree attempted murder and burglary, though he
00:34:05
pled down to burglary and battery with attempt to commit rape. And he ended up getting a sentence of 15 years with the
00:34:12
option of parole much sooner. Now, it's not much time, but while he's in prison, Detective Burbridge has a
00:34:20
little more breathing room to like get this right. And he gets an early win when the deputy
00:34:26
prosecutor tells Detective Burbridge that they're finally going to consider getting another opinion about Kayla's
00:34:33
autopsy. Wait, why can't they use Dr. Wigrin's? Because they say because Dr. Wigan
00:34:40
wasn't an official me. like he runs a private practice called Wigran Forensic. So he like can do autopsies
00:34:48
and he had like he served as the associate medical examiner for Snomish County for like a couple of years. It's
00:34:54
not like he's just like making up his certification. But they want someone with like the
00:34:57
actual legit title medical examiner to give their official stamped opinion. Yeah. Bingo. Which sounds fine. Great.
00:35:07
Whatever. Until 3 days later. That's when the deputy prosecutor says, "You know what?
00:35:12
Actually, never mind. That's not happening." Oh, and don't even bother asking why because the deputy prosecutor
00:35:19
doesn't give a reason. Cool. Yeah. So, in a lastditch effort to try and get something, investigators try to
00:35:27
interview Robert Davis again. However, he asks for a lawyer and refuses to talk. And that ends up being Detective
00:35:34
Burbridge's last attempt to get answers because in 2015 he's taken off the case and moved from major crimes to the
00:35:43
special investigations unit which primarily manages drug investigations. Why he's removed unclear. There is
00:35:52
speculation and rumor mostly stemming from his unyielding pressure on the prosecutor's office. But as with any
00:35:59
change of like leadership in a case, momentum gets lost when he gets moved. Knowledge gets lost. Kayla and Heather's
00:36:07
cases have both had numerous lead investigators assigned to them over the years. Each having varying levels of
00:36:13
success getting new information. And by this point, Jackie, who's Heather's mom,
00:36:18
does know that police believe her daughter was killed. Again, I don't know when it happens or how it happens. By by
00:36:22
this point, she knows. And even though charging documents are again brought to the prosecutor's office for Kayla's
00:36:29
homicide on February 9th, 2017, those charges again do not get approved. And the reason is that the prosecutor's
00:36:38
office sites is a need for more evidence. But all the shadiness, all the dodging of charges, all the protection
00:36:45
of the Emmy's office, that gets challenged in April of 2017 because that's when the Washington Department of
00:36:53
Health launches an investigation into the medical examiner's office. You see, they'd received complaints from numerous
00:37:00
families who claim that Dr. Howard and his co-eme, Dr. Sally Aken have a history of incorrect rulings when it
00:37:08
comes to cause and manner of death. You see, according to more of Thomas Klaus's
00:37:13
reporting, Kayla's case is one of several that are brought up in the complaint. Others include Brenda
00:37:20
Thurman, who was shot by her husband in what was initially ruled an accident. And then there's Dr. John Marshall, who
00:37:27
was found in the Spokane River with what looks like bruising from being beaten. His death originally ruled an accident,
00:37:34
too. Sarah Schmidt was also found in the Spokane River with bruising on her ankles that looked a lot like liature
00:37:41
marks. Her death is ruled a suicide. And then there's Cindy Lou Zeppenfeld Bergen, whose body was found wrapped in
00:37:48
plastic on the side of the road in Idaho after she filed for a protection order to escape domestic violence. Spokane
00:37:56
Emmy did the autopsy and ruled her cause of death as a heart attack and therefore
00:38:01
ruled her manner of death as natural. Just to be clear, she was found wrapped in plastic.
00:38:06
You got it. Got it. Now, of course, the county commissioner makes a statement saying that the county
00:38:12
stands behind its Emmys even before the investigation gets underway, which is like a little wild to me. Like, let's
00:38:17
let the process like do its thing. But the thing about this investigation is that even if it reveals that there was
00:38:24
something wrong with the rulings, apparently there's no way to get them changed because it's up to the medical
00:38:30
examiners to change the rulings, which at least for Kayla's case, we know they've refused to do. Wait, how does
00:38:37
that make any sense? It doesn't. Like the power is still sitting with the ME's office to make the change. And even if
00:38:45
somehow they could have changed the rulings, we know they wouldn't have because by the end of the investigation
00:38:51
in 2017, the Department of Health ultimately finds that doctors Howard and Aken quote met the standard of care,
00:39:01
which if you ask me is a prettying low standard. And it is a slap in the face on top of every other gut punch that
00:39:10
these families have experienced. But Kayla's family's fight and Heather's family's fight, it isn't over yet.
00:39:18
Because come 2019, Robert Davis is up for parole and they're ready to do everything in their power to make sure
00:39:25
he stays in prison. Kayla's mom and one of her brothers go to the hearing. Jackie, Heather's mom, can't go because
00:39:32
she's sick. But she told us that she is so glad both her family and Kayla's family were ready to fight his release.
00:39:38
Because according to Jackie, the parole board in Idaho wasn't even aware of Kayla or Heather's cases until their
00:39:46
families made them aware. Now, how they didn't know this is beyond me. I don't know if it's cuz he wasn't convicted of
00:39:51
it, but once the board finds out, the board asked Robert about Kayla, like in his review.
00:39:58
And according to Martin, Robert got mad when they asked. She told our team that his face like got
00:40:06
bright red. veins were like popping out of his neck. He swore up and down that he didn't know who she was,
00:40:12
which by the way is a brand new story because he admitted to knowing her back in 2012,
00:40:18
right? Ultimately, he gets denied parole, which is a huge win. And Jackie told us that a
00:40:24
woman on the parole board promises her and Kayla's family that they will be notified next time he's up for parole,
00:40:31
which they're all for, right? Like, they're going to fight this. They want to keep him in prison for as long as
00:40:36
possible to keep him off the streets and to give investigators more time to build
00:40:41
their cases and hopefully they can get him once and for all. Well, if they're working the cases, that is, right?
00:40:48
Because the families don't know. By this point, the investigations into both cases have changed hands so many times,
00:40:55
it's difficult for them to keep track of who's in charge and what they're doing.
00:40:59
Still though, this was one of the first wins they've had in a long time. And then another one comes in 2021 when both
00:41:08
Dr. Howard and Dr. Akin retire. So, a new medical examiner, Dr. Vina Singh, is appointed and she begins revisiting
00:41:17
several of the previous Emmys rulings, including Kayla's. [Music] In possibly the biggest victory her
00:41:27
family has gotten, Dr. thing changes Kayla's manner of death from undetermined to homicide. Finally,
00:41:35
and Kayla's isn't the only case that's amended either. According to Haley Gunther's reporting for KQH, Dr. Singh
00:41:42
has changed the ruling on four of Dr. Howard's cases, which by the way, like huge shout out to Haley. She was a huge
00:41:48
help in setting us up for success on this story. Like, she made a lot of connections for us. Anyway, it's
00:41:53
difficult to describe the feeling of relief that washes over the family when they hear this news. Like, it is the
00:41:59
first step in a long journey ahead of them, but it is the step that they've been fighting for like for years. And
00:42:05
maybe now finally things will start falling into place. Except it's never that easy, is it? Because when charging
00:42:14
documents are again brought forward to the prosecutor's office in 2022, they get denied. And in mid 2024, the
00:42:25
family's worst fears come true. Robert Davis is let out on parole. By the way, they got no warning about that. No
00:42:34
chance to stand before the parole board and fight to keep him off the streets. Right. Since 2024, their cases have
00:42:42
again been reassigned as the most recent investigator retired, and both families
00:42:48
continue to try and fight for justice. Although the fight is getting harder the longer it goes on. Heather's mom,
00:42:55
Jackie, described living with the pain and the unknowns as a life sentence. Like instead of the person responsible
00:43:02
for her daughter's disappearance serving time, she feels like she is. And Kayla's
00:43:06
family worries that they'll never get to see the day when justice is served for everyone who might be involved with
00:43:12
Kayla's murder. Kayla's mom, Martine, believes Robert, was one of the ones responsible. But she can't help but
00:43:19
wonder if someone closer to Kayla may have known what happened and maybe won't come forward for some reason. Like, it's
00:43:27
a question that has haunted her for years. Well, and Robert's mom's story like mentions two other guys. Like, is
00:43:36
it possible that he's like working with other people or other people know more about this?
00:43:42
I don't know. I don't know like if there are other people involved. Again, Kayla's mom seems to think so. I think
00:43:48
the way that like police view at least what I picked up is like they think that he did something to Heather. I don't
00:43:54
think they like think he was just there when a body was disposed of. That doesn't mean that no one else was
00:43:59
involved, but they just think he's far more culpable than just being like a bystander. Now, there have been no more
00:44:05
official searches to find Heather's body. Like I said, it's difficult terrain where he said she was. So, it's
00:44:12
going to be difficult to search. And like that's part of the reason Jackie and her family would be out there doing
00:44:16
more, but they they literally can't. And without concrete answers, she's left in
00:44:21
limbo or that prison as she says. Both moms are answers and justice feel so close but still out of reach and they
00:44:31
have to live with the knowledge that their daughters were killed. But the system that is supposed to get them
00:44:37
justice has just refused to do so. But that grief and frustration is not how either mom wants to remember their
00:44:44
girls. Jackie called Heather the defender of the defenseless. She had a heart of pure gold, going out
00:44:52
of her way to help those experiencing homelessness. Like I said earlier, she was in school for journalism. She wanted
00:44:58
to tell people's stories. And I can't help but wonder where that career would have taken her. And Martine wants Kayla
00:45:04
to be remembered as the vivacious, strong willed young woman with an infectious laugh who dreamed of a career
00:45:11
where she could just help people. When she went missing, Kayla was working on getting her GED with dreams of going to
00:45:17
nursing school. And there was so much she wanted to give of herself, but she never got the chance to. One thing is
00:45:25
clear. Something needs to change. In the family's opinion, it's the prosecutor today. That prosecutor is a
00:45:33
man named Larry Haskell. Now, we tried to get in touch with his office, but since it's an open case, they said they
00:45:40
wouldn't comment. Just about everyone we spoke to for this episode feels that the
00:45:44
prosecutor's office won't take this case because it would mean admitting that the
00:45:48
original autopsy report from Dr. Howard was incorrect, which could call into question hundreds of other rulings.
00:45:56
It would likely cost the city millions, but in my opinion, that's a small price to pay. How many more cases are there
00:46:03
like Kayla's where the ruling was wrong? How many dangerous people are still out
00:46:08
causing harm? And on the flip side, there could be innocent people sitting in prison. Like the problem goes both
00:46:14
ways. Totally. This case is solvable. I said it at the beginning. And enough time has passed
00:46:20
that maybe people who didn't feel like they could come forward in 2010 or 2012 might feel safe to do so today. So,
00:46:27
we're going to have contact information for the Spokane PD in our show notes if anyone out there knows something about
00:46:33
the disappearance of Heather Higgins or the murder of Kayla Williams. And here is my warning to everyone. Robert Davis
00:46:43
is still out there. He is living in Iowa while he's on parole with an ankle monitor. According to Kayla's family, an
00:46:51
ankle monitor that they say they had to ask for, by the way. They live in fear that he will strike again. And they pray
00:46:59
that the right person will do the right thing to get him off the streets. But in
00:47:05
the meantime, crime junkies, this is where you come in. Kayla and Heather's families have been fighting for over a
00:47:11
decade for justice. They've lost trust in the people that are supposed to fight for them. So, if you want to join in on
00:47:17
that fight, my recommendation is to contact the Washington State Attorney General and ask for a review of Kayla
00:47:24
and Heather's cases. Nick Brown and his office oversees all of the prosecutors in the state of Washington. And if there
00:47:31
is one person who can get things moving in the right direction, it would be him.
00:47:35
We'll have a link to that contact form below. You can find all the source material for this episode on our
00:47:41
website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. And you can follow us on Instagram, crimejunkiepodcast.
00:47:46
We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. [Music]