JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man who was sentenced to death after videotaping the sexual torture of two women before killing them has died in prison, the Missouri Department of Corrections said.
Richard Davis, 56, formerly of Independence, died Tuesday of natural causes. He had been imprisoned at the Potosi Correctional Center and was hospitalized for more than two weeks before his death, a department spokeswoman said.
Davis was sentenced to death following his August 2008 convictions in the death of 41-year-old Marsha Spice. Davis and his then-girlfriend, Dena Riley later pleaded guilty to murder and other charges linked to the killing of 36-year-old Michelle Huff-Ricci.
Prosecutors said the two videotaped themselves assaulting the two women to fulfill Davis' sexual fantasies.
Spicer's nude body was found in a shallow grave in Lafayette County. Authorities said Davis and Riley tortured and raped Huff-Ricci and then set her body on fire in a Clay County field.
In 2016, the Missouri Supreme Court rejected Davis' appeal of his conviction and death sentence.
Riley is serving multiple life sentences. She is also serving a federal life sentence in Kansas for kidnapping a 5-year-old girl during the eight days she and Davis were on the run before their capture in southwestern Missouri.