Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990 TAG: 9006190361
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: BY MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Mickey W. Davidson, 33, was being held in lieu of $500,000 bond in the Smyth County Jail in Marion.
He faces three counts of capital murder.
The bodies of his wife, Doris Davidson, 36, and her daughters, Mamie and Tammy Clatterbuck, were found Thursday in their home.
All three victims appeared to have been killed by blows to the head with a crowbar found in the house, said Chief Deputy Kenny Lewis.
Doris Davidson's body was found on the living-room floor, covered by a mattress.
Lewis said it looked as though she had been hit twice on the head.
The children's bodies were found in a bedroom.
Mamie, 14, was stretched out on a bed with a plastic garbage bag over her head.
Tammy, 13, was lying across a mattress on the floor and had been covered by blankets.
Mamie and Tammy Clatterbuck were students at Northwood Middle School in Saltville.
Their father, William David Clatterbuck, lives in Front Royal.
The slayings occurred between 10 and 11 a.m. Wednesday, but the bodies weren't found until about 1 p.m. Thursday after police received a tip, Lewis said. He did not elaborate.
Lewis said he went to the Davidsons' home with Steve Server, assistant chief of the Saltville Police Department, but there appeared to be nobody home and they couldn't see anything through the windows.
They went searching for Davidson and found him driving through Saltville. He gave police permission to search the house, Lewis said.
The motive, we feel like, was family problems. In fact, we know that," Server said. "From evidence we've gotten in the investigation, apparently Mrs. Davidson and the children were packing to leave.
Server said he has known the family for years and has known Mickey Davidson most of his life.
He said the Davidsons - both of them born and raised in the saltville area - had been married for about five years. They moved two years ago to Mickey's parents' house in the Government Plant section of Saltville, an older section of town.
Server said he had arrested Davidson a few times in recent years on drunk-in-public charges. "But never anything major," he said.
This was the first killing in Saltville in Server's 16 years with the police department, he said.
Davidson is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Smyth County Juvenile and domestic Relations District Court. A preliminary hearing was set for Aug. 15.
Lewis said Davidson was a Smyth County native and worked as a laborer. Doris Davidson worked as a part-time housekeeper, he said.
by CNB