Cops catch suspect after woman found burned alive on the side of road
Cops in Texas have arrested a suspect in relation to the horrific death of a woman who was burned alive in an Austin suburb in September.
The body of Melissa Davis, 33, was discovered on the roadside by firefighters who were responding to a grass fire at around 5am on September 29, according to police. Officers were alerted to a "strong odour of accelerant" nearby her body, where a lighter was found.
A police K-9 also uncovered a butcher knife, which is believed to have been "placed with the decadent in an attempt to destroy the evidence with the fire", according to a search warrant. Now, 45-year old Andrew Alexander Cole has been detained on a felony count of tampering with physical evidence with intent to impair for allegedly setting Davis on fire.
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Davis had to be identified by her fingerprints after she was left so "severely disfigured from the fire that the identification of the sex or race could not be made at the scene" according to an affidavit obtained by Fox News. Cole's arrest comes after a four-week investigation into North Texas graduate Davis' tragic death.
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Cole was reportedly connected to the crime via mobile phone data and video surveillance footage. It remains unclear how the pair knew each other, however.
Footage from the night of her death shows Davis' blue Toyota 4Runner following a white Kia belonging to Cole. The two vehicles are then seen entering the parking lot of La Quinta Inn motel. Davis is subsequently seen greeting Cole and another male - who isn't named in the affidavit - before the trio enter the building.
Melissa Davis had to be identified by her fingerprints, such was the nature of her horrific death (Facebook/Melissa Davis)There is no further footage of Davis, but Cole is later seen leaving in her car on several occasions. In the early hours of the following morning, the footage shows Cole appearing to place "an item of some weight" into the vehicle.
Davis' Toyota was later captured on home surveillance footage in nearby Northwest Hills, where her body was dumped. Cole's phone pinged in the area a minute after the footage was recorded, whilst flames can soon be seen in another property's surveillance, the affidavit alleges.
Heartbroken friends and family have paid tribute to Davis, who loved art and one day dreamed of starting a hostel in Cosa Rice. Her best friend Ellie Simmons told KVUE: "We had dreams together with one of our other friends to start a hostel in Costa Rica and we would have an art station. "She painted. She loved art."
Friends and family have paid tribute to the International Sustainable Tourism master's degree graduate (Facebook/Melissa Davis)In her online obituary, she was remembered as someone who "loved traveling and would fully immerse herself in the local surroundings to try and learn about new cultures and different ways of life." Davis obtained a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of North Texas, where she studied abroad in South Africa.
This helped her develop her love of nature, according to her family. "Her college years also helped nurture her love of nature and the Earth as a whole. Sustainability was extremely important to her, and she eventually went on to gain a joint Master of Science degree in International Sustainable Tourism from the University of North Texas."
Her family also said she was a huge animal lover and tragically left behind her dog Dudley. "We can’t talk about Melissa without mentioning her love of animals!" the post said. "This was evident even as a small child when she would hug the family dog shouting, 'Doggy, doggy, doggy, doggy!' and let out huge laughs as he leisurely pranced around the house happy to be her entertainment. She took immense pride in being a dog mom to Dudley who was her constant companion for the past six years - he wanted for nothing!"
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