WHITE CO.—The man accused of murdering an Indiana woman in White County, Illinois, was in court this morning for a preliminary hearing.
Thomas Davidson
Thomas M. Davidson, 25, originally of White County but most recently staying with a cousin in rural Posey County, was a lot more subdued today (Monday, September 9, 2013) as opposed to his initial appearance last month on charges of First Degree Murder, Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking and Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm counts.
On August 19, Davidson had outbursts and fits of cussing when he first appeared in front of Judge Mark Shaner, claiming he was “illiterate” and “had an eighth-grade education,” the entirety of which can be found in the upcoming print version as well as online tonight at the e-Edition.
But today saw a much calmer—and even possibly remorseful—Davidson.
During today’s preliminary hearing—where evidence is presented by investigating officers in order to convince the court that there’s enough to bind a suspect over for trial—there were moments during testimony when Davidson actually hung his head; and when he raised it back up, his nose was bright red and he was sniffling, giving the indication that he might even have been crying.
Testimony was provided by only one source: Rick White of Illinois State Police, who was present in Princeton, Ind., when Gibson County authorities were questioning him.
Davidson was taken to Gibson County after being discovered in neighboring Pike County to the north, where he ended up after going on an alleged four-county crime spree in the hours after Sandra Burkhardt, of rural Poseyville (corrected from earlier reports, in which sources advised Disclosure that her residence was on the Gibson/Posey county line and she has been heretofore being called as “from Gibson County,” but in actuality she’s from rural Posey County), was killed.
White described the incident as Davidson laid it out for Indiana authorities while White watched/listened: On the night of Friday, August 16, Davidson, who was staying at an Indiana residence neighboring Burkhardt’s, had been left alone in the residence while the man he was staying with (his cousin Scott “Boomer” Niehaus) had gone fishing with a girlfriend. Davidson took Boomer’s 9mm handgun and went over to Sandra Burkhardt’s after she arrived home with her grandson, and asked her to “drive him somewhere.”
Unbeknownst to Davidson, the woman had just arrived home with her little grandson and had put the boy to bed and had changed into pajamas herself, awaiting the arrival of her daughter Emily to come pick up the little boy.
So Burkhardt had told Davidson she didn’t want to drive him anywhere, as she had already changed clothes and was getting ready for bed.
Noticeably absent from any testimony today was the fact that Burkhardt had apparently not mentioned the little boy’s presence to Davidson…which undoubtedly saved that baby’s life.
Davidson in prison togs, being escorted into the courtroom August 19. More pics to come from today.
Davidson, brandishing the weapon, told Burkhardt that he “wasn’t asking; he was telling” her to take him someplace.
Burkhardt, asking questions about why he had the gun and apparently trying to reason with him, nevertheless did as he said and went out to her car, a silver 2012 Ford Focus, leaving the sleeping baby in the residence, as she knew Emily would be along to pick him up (it was after Emily arrived and found her mother gone that the alert was sent up that Burkhardt was a missing person, prompting the search for Davidson in two states).
Davidson told authorities that Burkhardt got in the driver’s side of her car, and he “got in after her and climbed over her to the passenger seat,” one of many inexplicable, crazy-sounding acts that Davidson told authorities he did over the next 18 or so hours.
He ordered her out to Interstate 64 and told her to drive west, as it was his intention to go to Carmi. They exited on Highway 1 going south. When the arrived in Crossville, Davidson directed Burkhardt to take the north turn at the four-way stop in town, where Maier’s Grocery and Gas sits, as he “wanted to take the back roads into Carmi.”
White’s testimony of what Davidson told him then focused on the moments leading up to Burkhardt’s death.
When they traveled to the rural areas north of Crossville, Davidson began directing Burkhardt to the county roads, then said to her, “Are you healthy enough to walk back if I let you out right here?” Burkhardt told him she was. Stopping the car, Davidson said Burkhardt made to take the keys, and said he told her no, he was taking the car. But, it “had all kinds of buttons; she was pushing all kinds of buttons” and he didn’t know what they were or what they did. Apparently this frustrated Davidson and he forced her out of the car and into a cornfield.
He described that about 15 rows into the field, he shot Mrs. Burkhardt from behind, three times.
As she lay in the field crying, stating that “it hurt” and praying, Davidson told White that he “felt sorry for her” being in all that pain, so he fired one more shot that “put her out of her misery.”
Asking that he explain what he meant by that, White said that later in the conversation, Davidson finally clarified, stating that he’d shot Mrs. Burkhardt in the mouth.
Davidson had initially told White that he’d fired the final shot from a distance of about six feet. Evidence later showed this to be false; the shot left stippling on Mrs. Burkhardt’s face, meaning that the gun barrel was very close, not inserted into her mouth, but very, very close.
While this testimony was being delivered, there were soft gasps and sounds of weeping in the courtroom, as many of Burkhardt’s family and friends were present; the testimony was very upsetting, and these people were visibly distraught. Emily Burkhardt was among them.
Davidson said that after he’d killed Burkhardt and left her body in the cornfield, he’s taken her car and gone on into Carmi, where he met up with Jonathan Cain (this is phonetic; the spelling was not given, and the name could be spelled Cane or Kane) and Anthony Cortes (or Cortez) Bridges. Davidson told the two that he wanted them to fix him up with some “young girls to party with,” so they loaded up in Burkhardt’s car and traveled over to Mt. Vernon. While White did not elaborate much on what happened after that, at some point in time there was another young woman in the car with him (her name, White said, he couldn’t recall) and at about 8 that morning, the girl was out of the car in Mt. Vernon, having been battered by Davidson and shot at, at least according to White, who stated for the record that “she believed she’d been shot in the nose, but it turned out she was only shot at.”
Court documents show that a complainant of a battery that morning was a Kiersten Young.
White’s testimony went on to encompass the next several hours, that involved Davidson allegedly breaking into homes in Warrick and Pike counties in Indiana, finally crashing Burkhardt’s car into a tree—deliberately, it was believed, as attested to by White—while he was on the phone to his mother in Louisiana. The windshield of the car had sustained two shots to it from the inside, presumably from the 9mm, and probably when Davidson was in Mt. Vernon.
Davidson was ultimately captured in Pike County after allegedly stealing a white SUV and taking it out into a rural area. He was transported first to Gibson, where he was checked out at the hospital for “possible drug ingestion,” as one of the break-ins claimes that they’d had prescriptions missing, as well as “any injuries from crashing Burkhardt’s car,” then taken to Posey County for his alleged crimes there. From Posey, he was extradited to White County, where he was charged with the murder of Mrs. Burkhardt.
Davidson is being held on a $2 million bail ($200,000 cash). He was set for formal arraignment Sept. 30. Read the full coverage of the events leading up to his apprehension and arrest in the new print version, set to hit the e-Edition tonight at 8 p.m., and on stands beginning tomorrow, Sept. 10 and continuing through the 11th, at these vendors.