Independence couple could have more victims

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two suspects in the videotaped rape and assault of a 41-year-old woman whose body was later found, may have had other victims as well, the Jackson County prosecutor's office said.

"The investigation is continuing. But one of the items of the investigation is possible links to other missing persons," Ken Evans, spokesman for Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders, said Saturday.

"We don't have anything to report right now, but additional charges are likely," Evans said. He would not say what missing persons cases authorities were investigating.

Richard D. Davis, 41, and Dena D. Riley, 39, were hospitalized after being taken into custody Thursday in Barton County, ending eight days on the run. Davis was released from the hospital and turned over to Independence police. Riley was in a Joplin, Mo., hospital.

With them when they were arrested after wrecking a red truck they were driving was a 5-year-old girl. The girl, who was taken from a town near Pittsburg, Kan., was thought to be hospitalized Saturday in Kansas City with serious injuries. A hospital spokesman would not say if she was there.

The FBI has initiated a kidnapping investigation into the girl's abduction. Davis and Riley could face a federal kidnapping charge, because the girl allegedly was transported across a state line.

Davis and Riley are charged with killing Marsha Spicer, 41, who was seen being beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled on a videotape found at Davis' and Riley's apartment in Independence.

Spicer's body was found May 15 in a shallow grave near Bates City, Mo., in Lafayette County. Authorities went back to the site on Thursday and conducted a wide-ranging search for several hours. They would not say what they were looking for and apparently found nothing.

In the small town where the girl was abducted, a neighbor, Heather McBride, described the child as a bouncing, blond blur of energy.

"She's a real sweet girl," McBride said. "This is something you don't just get over. It will be with her for the rest of her life."

McBride said she had met Davis on Wednesday. He was in her backyard, where McBride's daughter and other children from around the neighborhood were playing. It was the last day of school.

Davis told McBride he was looking for the girl.

"I had no idea who he was," McBride said. "When I found out, I almost kicked myself in the head. I could have prevented this."

Pittsburg police said the girl's parents told authorities that their daughter had ridden Thursday to a restaurant with Davis and a female companion. After several hours had passed and the girl was not returned, the parents called police.

The manhunt involved law enforcement officers in Crawford County, Kan., and Barton County, Mo., which are along the state line, about 120 miles south of Kansas City.

After the girl's parents reported her missing, the Barton County Sheriff's Department in Lamar got a 911 call from Riley. She told a deputy that she and Davis were going to harm themselves. Deputies later found the wrecked truck -- as well as the couple and the girl -- in southern Barton County.