Leon Co. missing person case leads to body found and arrest made

LEON COUNTY / WEBB COUNTY, Texas (FOX 44) – Leon County Sheriff Kevin Ellis says an investigation into a 2022 missing person case has led to human remains being found, a missing child being recovered, and an arrest being made.

DNA testing is being used to confirm whether the remains found are the person last seen by family members in July of 2022 when that person and the child were reported missing.

Without disclosing what led to the connection being made in the case, the Leon County Sheriff's Office's Criminal Investigation Division reports executing a search warrant at a property in Buffalo on October 22, 2024, where human remains were recovered. The remains were sent to the Center for Human Identification (CHI) at the University of North Texas to be forensically examined and positively identified.

Sheriff Ellis says the investigation led to a search for a person suspected of involvement. Michael Dean Davis, Jr. was successfully apprehended in Laredo on November 12, 2024 and held on a Murder charge and was transported to the Webb County Jail, where he is currently being held on a $3 million bond.

The child that had been missing has been found safe.

Multiple agencies worked together in order to coordinate Davis's arrest and the safe recovery of a missing and endangered child. Those agencies include: The Leon County Sheriff's Office, Leon County District Attorney's Office, U.S. Marshals' Lone Star Fugitive Task Force-Waco, U.S. Marshals' Gulf Coast Violent Offenders and Fugitive Task Force – Laredo Division, Laredo Police Department and their SWAT Team, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Webb County District Attorney's Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Texas Department of Public Safety- Texas Rangers Division.

Sheriff Ellis says all individuals are to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This investigation is ongoing. No further information has been released.