BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A two-day search for a missing Alabama mother of four has ended after her body was found in southwest Birmingham, authorities said.
The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Birmingham Police Department's Crime Reduction Team found 40-year-old Nakita Chantryce Davidson's remains on Friday, al.com reported.
“It’s sad. It’s a sad day. And it bothers us deeply because Nakita had four children who will be without a mother,” Sgt. LaQuitta Wade said.
Dozens of Davidson’s relatives waited near the crime scene for hours Friday afternoon, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. They erupted into cries of anguish when their worst fears were confirmed, al.com reported.
Meanwhile, Davidson’s boyfriend, Cedric Dewayne Robertson, 37, was taken into custody by U.S. marshals. He was moving from an abandoned house on the city's southwest side to another abandoned house when he was captured, authorities said. He was arrested on a charge of first-degree kidnapping but more charges are expected now that Davidson's body has been found. Information on whether he has an attorney who could speak for him and bond information was not immediately available.
The investigation began when police were dispatched at 2:11 a.m. Thursday on a report of a two-vehicle wreck near Elmwood Cemetery. Robertson is believed to have taken Davidson from the scene. When officers arrived, they found evidence of a possible assault/shooting, but no one was present.
Court documents show that a witness claims to have seen Robertson shoot a woman before putting her into the trunk of her own car — a 2008 burgundy Saturn Outlook — and driving away. Davidson was found in that vehicle Friday afternoon, authorities said.
Robertson also reportedly left his cellphone at the scene.
Davidson’s brother, Lederrius Swain, told the news site that his sister and Robertson had been dating for less than a year.
“Her plan was to get away from him,” he said. “That's what she was trying to do that night.”
Swain described his sister as “one good-hearted person.”
“She would give you the shirt off her back,” he said.