Bryan Lee Davis Convicted of Murder in Mother's Shooting Death in Banning

A man who spent the past 14 months behind bars was convicted last week of murder in the shooting death of his mother in a Banning mobile home community.

Bryan Lee Davis, 53, remained locked up Wednesday night at Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, according to inmate records.

On Friday afternoon in Riverside, jurors deliberated about two hours and returned a unanimous verdict, finding Davis guilty of murdering Carol Davis, who was in her 70s.

The killing came to light Dec. 11, 2010, when Bryan Davis called a mortuary home to report his mother's death, and requested transport of her body, Banning police said.

Mortuary workers found the request unusual and called Banning police. They went to 3800 West Wilson Street, Space #307, in the Mountain Springs Mobile Home Community.

"An initial investigation by police officers revealed irregularities in the initial statement given by Davis," police said. "Upon further questioning, Bryan Davis refused to provide any other information to investigators on scene. Carol Davis, the victim, was shot multiple times."

The death seemed unusual from the beginning, Banning police Det. Rob Merritt told Banning-Beaumont Patch in December 2010.

"Davis called a mortuary in Colton and asked them to take away the victim's body, but he had never called 911," Merritt said. "As required by law in the case of an unattended death - one where medical personnel aren't present - the mortuary notified us, and police and fire personnel went to the Wilson Street address. . . .

"Things didn't seem right to them," Merritt said. "Davis was completely unemotional, and when they tried to ask him very basic questions, such as when he had seen the victim last and whether she had any medical conditions, Davis asked for a lawyer."

Merritt became involved after responding police officers detained Davis. The scene in the mobile home that he encountered did not make sense and seemed staged.

"The victim was on the floor in the master bedroom," Merritt said. "The place looked as if there had been no crime at all, but things were out of place. Apparatus that she needed for medical reasons were not where they should have been."

An investigating coroner at the scene found suspicious wounds on the victim, Merritt said. A subsequent x-ray revealed "projectiles" in the victim. She had been shot.

The coroner estimated the victim died 20 to 24 hours before police arrived on the scene, Merritt said.

Davis remained unemotional while detained in the back of a squad car at the crime scene, and he was "nonchalant" at the Banning police station when taken into custody, Merritt said.

At the time of his arrest Davis was a college-educated, unemployed man who had been living in the mobile home on West Wilson with his mother "for more than a year," Merritt said.

"It was a nice mobile home - two bedrooms and a den - and the victim seems to have been a typical small town little old lady," Merritt said. "She was a church-going person."

Sentencing for Davis is scheduled April 6 in Riverside. He faces a maximum of 50 years to life in prison.