Preliminary hearing set in Davis murder case

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- A preliminary hearing is scheduled in September for a woman accused in the death of a Sikeston, Missouri, man.

Savannah R. Davis will return to Division II of New Madrid County Circuit Court at 1 p.m. Sept. 4 for her preliminary hearing on charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Davis is charged in the July 11 death of John Sharber.

Davis and her lawyer, Mike Hustead, a public defender, along with New Madrid County assistant prosecuting attorney Andrew Lawson, appeared Monday before Associate Judge Joshua D. Underwood, according to online court records.

Sharber was found unconscious with a head injury in the parking lot at Saint Francis Medical Center shortly before 12:30 a.m. July 11. He had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and had internal injuries, according to a probable cause statement.

Because of the extent of his injuries, Sharber was transported to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, where he later died.

An investigation by the Sikeston Department of Public Safety determined Sharber was last seen in the Wal-Mart parking lot. At the time Sharber's vehicle was parked next to a vehicle later identified as belonging to Davis.

In video footage, as Sharber is seen walking away from Davis' vehicle, he is run over by the car, which then backs off him. An officer wrote in the probable-cause statement that the driver got out of her vehicle and approached Sharber. Also two witnesses are seen coming to help and assisted the driver in putting Sharber in the back of the car, which then is seen leaving the parking lot.

Both witnesses stated the driver told them the man was drunk and she was going to take him home to his wife. One of the witnesses later identified Davis from a photo lineup as the driver of the vehicle.

Davis is being held in the Scott County Jail with bond set at $100,000.