KCK man found guilty of murder in stabbing death, closing 30 year cold case
After nearly 30 years, a Wyandotte County cold case has been solved.
A Wyandotte County jury found Gary Dion Davis Sr. guilty of second-degree murder Monday in the 1996 stabbing of Pearl Barnes, according to a press release from Jonathan Carter, a spokesperson for the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office.
Davis, who was a long-haul trucker at the time, fatally stabbed Barnes, also known as Sameemah Mussawir or Pearl Davis, on Nov. 22, 1996, according to an information document filed in Wyandotte County on Sept. 15, 2023. Davis was found in a vacant house in the 700 block of Lafayette Avenue in northeast Kansas City, Kansas.
He was also charged in the fatal beating of Christina King on Christmas Day 1998, but the Wyandotte County jury found the man not guilty, despite 2003 DNA evidence found at the crime scene allegedly connecting Davis to the crime. King was found behind an abandoned building at 27th Street and Sewell Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas.
Davis was arrested in Sept. 2023, around 26 years after Barnes’ death. The arrest came on the heels of the creation of KCKPD’s cold case unit. At the time of his arrest, detectives suspected Davis of killing more people.
Before his arrest, Davis lived near Interstate 635 in Kansas City, Kansas’ Turner neighborhood, according to court records. He worked in logistics in Lee’s Summit at the time.
Davis is set to appear for a sentencing hearing at 9 a.m. on Feb. 26, Carter said. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The Star’s Luke Nozicka and Bill Lukitsch contributed reporting.
This story was originally published January 12, 2026 at 4:48 PM.
