Suspect identified in 1987 cold case murder of Lexington woman
The family of Mary Mathis Davis of Lexington is finally getting closure and answers after she was murdered 36 years ago.
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Davis was last seen May 30, 1987, at a Lexington Lanier’s Ace Hardware store. She worked for a brief period before failing to return after her lunch break. The following day, police told her family the devastating news: Davis had been found dead, strangled.
Mary's body has been found behind the then, Winn Dixie in Lexington.
Investigators at the time of the homicide collected evidence that was not yet able to help in this case.
Lexington police announced Tuesday that technological advancement in DNA helped them identify the suspect in the 36-year-old murder investigation.
The DNA evidence in this case was submitted to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation in 2022.
Russell Grant Wood was positively identified as the offender in Davis' death.
Wood died in 2013. District Attorney Garry Frank reviewed all relevant evidence and issued an official letter stating that Wood would have been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape if he were alive.
Lexington chief of police, Robby Rummage, said that Wood and Mary were not strangers to each other and it's unclear what their relationship to each other was.
Rummage said they do not know a motive saying, "that would be nothing but conjecture."
Davis' family was notified of this new information on Feb. 3.
Her family was in attendance at the news conference.
"We prayed that one day we would find the person who violent murdered our beloved Mary," Lori Martin, Davis' niece. "We now have some answers. Although that won't bring Mary back, it does give us a sense of closure."
Traci Cleary, Davis' daughter, wrote this poem which was read at the news conference:
To my dear angel in heaven, I just want you to know
How much you're in my thoughts and how much I love you so
Though you are in God's care and that's how it should be
But when I get to heaven, he will give you back to me
Mary would've turned 65 this upcoming Sunday. The family is having a celebration of life and memorial for her then.
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