At courthouse rally, family and friends demand answers in deaths of two Spokane-area women

About 30 people gathered outside the Spokane County courthouse Monday afternoon, demanding answers for the deaths of two women who are believed to have been killed by the same man, KHQ reported.

Detectives have linked Robert G. Davis, a 47-year-old felon with a violent past, to both the 2010 disappearance of Heather Higgins and the 2012 killing of Kala Williams.

Williams’ body was found in a forested area in southwest Spokane, cut in two and stuffed into garbage bags that were concealed with debris. Higgins was never found but is presumed dead.

But investigators have clashed with Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. John Howard over his 2012 finding that there wasn’t enough evidence to rule Williams’ death a homicide. Without such a ruling, prosecutors can’t charge Davis with murder.

KHQ and The Spokesman-Review reported on the cases last week. Howard has not commented publicly on the dispute with investigators.

“Our hearts are aching,” Williams’ aunt, Julie Beauchanie, told KHQ at the rally Monday. “Aching for justice, aching for peace, aching for those that aren’t found.”

The demonstrators, mostly family and friends of the slain women, wore purple shirts and waved signs at passing cars.

Davis, a transient, has been convicted of burglary and assault with sexual motivation in a separate case. He’s serving a 15-year sentence in a Boise prison but will be eligible for parole in June 2018.