KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers neighborhoods in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.
—
A Kansas City, Kansas man was found guilty Friday of murdering one woman in the late 1990s but acquitted in the death of another, delivering mixed results in a decades-old cold case that finally reached trial.
Gary D. Davis Sr. was convicted of murder in the second degree in the death of Sameemah Musawwir in 1996 but found not guilty in the murder of Christina King.
Both women were killed in Kansas City, Kansas in the late 1990s.
The Wyandotte County District Attorney's Office charged Davis in 2023, nearly three decades after Musawwir's death.
"I knew he was guilty,” said Shaya Zachary, Musawwir's granddaughter. “I just feel like it came 30 years late. Since 1996 we've all been waiting."
Zachary said the family learned Davis was charged in 2023, but it wasn't until the trial that they felt certain of his guilt.
"Once we started going to the court dates, preliminary all the way up to the trial, especially during the trial, when we got the details and clearly see that he was the one who murdered her," Zachary said.
The jury deliberated for three hours before reaching their verdict after a trial that began with jury selection Monday and concluded Friday.
"I'm happy with the verdict 'cause I believe he was guilty," said Alia Muhammad.
Musawwir was Muhammad’s step mother in law and is Zachary’s mother.
Muhammad described Musawwir as more than just family.
“I really like to leave off the ‘step,’” Muhammad said. “She was really more of a friend. She used to teach me a lot of things. How to make the bean pies."
She says Musawwir was an Air Force veteran who lived in Kansas during the last years of her life. Muhammad said she was an entrepreneur who made and sold bean pies.
"She was a real good mother, a good worker," Muhammad said. "She was like her own little entrepreneur."
Muhammad said the wait for justice has been agonizing for the family.
"It took too long…1996?" Muhammad said. "It was just, very haunting. He mutilated her. He tortured her."
For Zachary, who was 16 when her grandmother was murdered, the crime created lasting trauma.
Mussawir had two daughters and a large extended family.
"It was scary as a kid, knowing that she got killed like that, and nobody knows who did it," Zachary said. "I just remember everybody being scared to go to sleep, being scared to walk around outside, being scared to talk to anybody or go anywhere, even in the house, because she got killed in her house."
The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department credits its cold case unit with securing the conviction after nearly 30 years.
Muhammad questioned why it took so long to bring the case to trial.
"I feel like the family, especially the girls, should have gotten some justice before now," Muhammad said.
Despite the guilty verdict, both women said their family won't feel complete closure until Davis is sentenced.
"I really won't be fully satisfied until this guy is sentenced and behind bars," Muhammad said.
Davis faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison and will be sentenced February 26 at 9 a.m.
However, Zachary said she doesn't feel the case is truly over.
"I don't feel like we're at the end," Zachary said. "We're told he has a right to appeal, so that starts it back over. So in my mind, when is the end of this?"
The lengthy wait for justice has had lasting effects on the family.
Muhammad said Musawwir's daughters now live in different states, and Zachary said the family struggled to get support during the trial process.
They know the road ahead is a difficult one, but they’re taking it head on.
"It's a lot of relief that finally after all this time, that they have the right person, and he's going to be sentenced," Muhammad said. "We can feel safer, we can feel that we'll receive justice for Sameemah Musawwir."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
—
