The Buckingham

Photo Credit: www.blogs.dallasobserver.com

A Texas man has been charged of murdering a 16-year-old girl to prevent her from testifying against him in court.

Franklin B. Davis, 30, was charged on Sept. 9 with capital murder for the death of Shania Gray.  Gray had las been seen alive on the afternoon of Sept. 6 at Hebron High School.  Her body was later found on Sept. 8 in a secluded area near the Trinity River.

Davis confessed to arranging a meeting with Gray by creating a fake social media account and pretending to be someone else.  He called the girl, and arranged to meet up with her after school, then drove her near the river to shoot her twice with a .38-caliber pistol.

Davis is believed to have killed Gray to prevent her from testifying against him in court.  Gray had previously babysat his two children, and when the teen began to decline requests to babysit, Gray informed her grandmother that Davis had raped her.

The crime was reported to police, and Davis ended up being charged with four counts of sexual assault of a child.  The trial was supposed to start next month.