Officer Mabe followed Wendi’s car as Marshall drove it over to the Davidsons’ spread. Marshall climbed into the police car and rode back to the cemetery to retrieve his vehicle before going to the police station.
Texas Ranger Shawn Palmer pulled his pick-up truck into the parking lot at the San Angelo Police Department on Beauregard Avenue at 7:30. He lengthened his stature with the traditional Texas Rangers cowboy hat. His boots gave a longer stride and a cocky staccato to his walk. With his brush-cut reddish-blonde hair, ruddy complexion and strong jaw, he could have been typecast in the role of a lawman in a western movie.
He went to an interview room and joined Detectives Dennis McGuire and Brian Elkins. They weren’t getting any answers from Wendi. Elkins left when Palmer entered the room.
When Palmer asked the first question, Wendi smirked and said, “I want an attorney.” McGuire and Palmer left her alone in that interview room and went two doors down the hall to speak with her brother.
Marshall Davidson reiterated the sequence of events that evening, telling the investigators that his sister had discovered her husband’s dead body in the veterinary clinic on Saturday, January 15, 2005. He said that Wendi insisted that she was not the murderer, but since she knew many of her family members hated Mike, she believed one of them had killed him.
When directly asked if he believed that Wendi had murdered Mike, Marshall said, “It looks real bad when someone moves a body.”
Palmer asked Marshall if he believed that Wendi could have transported Mike from the clinic and dumped him into the water without help. “She can pick me up, and he was my size. She didn’t have to move him very far to get him in there. Yeah, it’s possible she could do it.”
At the end of the interview, Marshall asked if he could speak to his sister. McGuire and Palmer exchanged a glance and nodded. “Just make sure you leave the door open a crack,” McGuire instructed.
The two investigators empathized with their fellow law enforcement officer. No doubt about it, Marshall was in an awkward position. He had done his duty and reported the information about his sister to authorities. But here in the police station, he was balking at answering any other questions. His family loyalty now seemed to be stronger than his promise to uphold the law. Palmer and McGuire felt sorry for him then—but not for long.
In another room, Wendi waited. She yelled at Marshall when he entered. “How could you?”
Marshall held out his arms in the universal sign of entreaty. “Wendi,” he said.
“How could you turn me in? I am your sister.”
“What you did is what you did.”
“How could you?”
“You need to settle down, Wendi,” Marshall said.
Wendi continued to rant at him about family, loyalty and her innocent desire to protect her parents. Marshall brushed her off. “Here’s what’s going to happen. They’re going to book you in, and, at some point, take you to the county jail. The kids will be taken care of, so you don’t have to worry about them. What do you need us to do with the clinic and everything?”
Wendi ignored his questions and lit into another tirade. After ten minutes, Marshall gave up and left the room.
At the moment, McGuire and Palmer had no body and were not ready to make the legal assumption that the missing Air Force staff sergeant, Michael Severance, had died as the result of homicide. They did have all they needed, however, to charge her with a different felony. McGuire had heard her admit that she’d disposed of the body of a man who’d died under suspicious circumstances. Both of the investigators had heard the corroborating testimony from Marshall.
Palmer went to his office in the Texas Department of Public Safety building out on the Loop and prepared an affidavit for an arrest warrant on a tampering with evidence charge, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The affidavit claimed that the deceased body was evidence or contained evidence. When Wendi Davidson transported and concealed the body, she’d prevented investigators from having access to it.
He presented the document to Judge Eddie Howard, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4, and swore to its honesty and accuracy. Howard signed the warrant and set bond for $500,000. Sergeant Palmer arrested her at 11:31 P.M. and turned over her custody to San Angelo Police Department Officer David Kahn, who transferred her to the Tom Green County Jail.
Palmer called Terrell Sheen and told him about the recent developments in the missing persons investigation of Michael Severance. He informed the property owner that officers had secured the area of the pond on Sheen’s 7777 Ranch on Sutton Road. Sheen agreed to meet with Palmer at the location the following morning to grant his permission for a search of the property.
Palmer went home to get a few hours of sleep before he had to relieve the officers securing the ranch overnight. At 5:30 the next morning, he went through the gate at 7777 Ranch, drove down the one-lane caliche road through fields where cattle roamed, and parked next to a barn.
He was joined at the pond by Investigator McGuire. Together, they awaited the arrival of the others. The scrubby land, filled with prickly pear cactus and stunted trees, came to life around them with the rising of the sun. Bird song filled the air and a breeze blew through leaves, churning up dust. Palmer videotaped the area.
At 9, people began to arrive at the gate. The first two were San Angelo Police Department evidence technician Rosalind Hinds, and ranch owner Terrell Sheen. Fifteen minutes later, they were joined by United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations Special Agents Greg McCormick and Arch Harner and their evidence tech Julie Lecea. Soon after, Terrell Sheen signed a consent-to-search form and Hinds videotaped and photographed the ranch entrance, the one-lane road and the pond.
Around 10, another influx of officers arrived: Sergeant David Jones with the special crimes division of the Texas Department of Public Safety, investigators from the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office and the San Angelo Police Department along with the state trooper dive team. In half an hour, the underwater crew was ready to explore the depths of the pond in their search for the missing Michael Severance.