Detroit mom's world 'turned upside down' after daughter's killing. She fears others slain
Detroit — Elauntra Sutton said her worst fear was realized Tuesday when Detroit police detectives confirmed that her 9-year-old daughter, Ayva Sutton, was one of the three victims whose bodies were found Sunday inside an incinerated vehicle on the city's west side.
"My world has just been turned upside down," the grieving mother said outside her east-side home, shortly after receiving the gut-wrenching news.
Sutton and Detroit police officials said they believe the other two victims were Sutton's sister, 23-year-old Kourtney Davis, and their mother, Sandra Davis, 44. Investigators have named 29-year-old River Rouge resident Edward Redding, Kourtney Davis's boyfriend, as a suspect in the triple homicide, according to federal records.
"Today, with my daughter’s dental record, (Detroit Police) confirmed that it was my daughter that was one of the bodies that was in the car," Sutton said through tears. "They still haven't confirmed that it was my mom or my sister, but I'm pretty sure it's them, too."
Detroit Police Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald said investigators also believe Kourtney Davis and Sandra Davis were the other victims, although he said Tuesday there has not been official verification.
"We’ve still not confirmed the two adult victims, although we suspect they are Kourtney Davis and Sandra Davis, since they’ve been missing," Fitzgerald said. "But we're still waiting for an official positive identification, which will most likely involve dental records.”
Fitzgerald said the adult victims had been shot, while Ayva had been stabbed in the neck in an undisclosed location before the three bodies were driven to an alley near 30th and Milford streets between Boxwood and Woodrow. Sandra Davis had been caring for Ayva and another 4-year-old boy, whom police found unattended and unharmed in a house on Detroit's east side.
Police arrested Redding Monday, following a police chase in which officers allegedly found a gun inside his vehicle.
A criminal complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Tuesday, charging Redding with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The complaint identified Redding as a suspect in the three Detroit killings and said police found a black Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver inside his vehicle after the chase on I-75 and Fort Street in River Rouge.
Redding crashed his vehicle and ran away before police caught him. The suspect claimed someone had put the gun in his car, according to the complaint.
Sister: 'They fought ... a lot'
Sutton said Kourtney Davis and Redding had been in a volatile relationship for about two years. Redding was released from prison in July, following a carjacking conviction in 2011, and he's on parole until July 9, 2026, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.
"They fought and argued a lot," Sutton said of her sister and Redding. "On multiple occasions, she tried to leave him, but he wouldn’t (let her); he’d always find his way back. He was on parole, and she kept saying she didn’t want him to go back to jail, so she didn’t want to call his parole officer.
"The last time I (talked to her) about their relationship, I told her if she wanted to be done, if she was really, truly, scared of him, tired of him, didn’t want to be with him, that she would have to do the unfortunate thing and call his parole officer," Sutton said. "And she didn’t. She didn’t. She said that she would try to coexist with him."
Kara Davis said her cousin, Kourtney Davis, credited Sutton with saving her life by stopping Redding from allegedly choking her.
"(Kourtney Davis) was in the house being strangled, and (Sutton) came in to kind of break the fight up," Kara Davis said. "Kourtney swore she'd have died that day if Elauntra didn't go inside the house and break the fight up."
Sutton said she had left her daughter in the care of her mother and sister last week while she was on vacation.
"My mom and my sister purposely were trying to not contact me a lot because I supposed to be on my break," Sutton said. "The last time I was talking to the both of them was around 2:30 (Saturday). And I told my mom that my flight was delayed, so I would be coming back later on Sunday.
"I didn’t talk with them that Sunday morning. Once I got to the airport and got back with my connecting flight, I got a call from my sister’s friend asking if I talked to my sister, and that I needed to call them. That’s when everything just unraveled, and I found out that they were missing."
Sutton said she frantically phoned friends and relatives, trying to locate her missing daughter, mother and sister.
"I asked my daughter's friend if she was there, I called her dad ... no one had heard from anybody," Sutton said. "I'm constantly calling my mom ... she just wasn't answering. I asked (someone to) check my house, check the apartment my mom was staying in, and the car wasn't there."
When she returned to Detroit, Sutton said she got a sinking feeling when she saw television news reports about three bodies being found in a burned-up vehicle in a Detroit alley.
"Once I actually saw the car (on the news), I didn’t know it was them, but I knew it was the car," Sutton said. "And it’s just kind of piecing things together, hoping that it wasn’t them. But as time went on and calls still weren’t being answered … you kind of sit with the reality that it might be them."
Sutton said she learned for sure Tuesday that her daughter was one of the victims, although she said there's still a lot she doesn't know about the case.
"I feel like the police are doing their job, but they're telling us it's a lengthy process, so it's just the waiting, the wondering ... everything is up in the air right now," Sutton said. "I keep trying not to think about what actually happened to them."
How cops caught suspect
Redding made a brief appearance in federal court in Detroit on Tuesday afternoon, shuffling into the first-floor courtroom in a beige jailhouse jumpsuit, handcuffs and ankle chains, his right hand heavily bandaged in a white medical dressing. Redding bit his lip and cast his eyes toward the floor, a blank look on his face, while waiting 10 minutes for his case to be heard.
He said nothing beyond his name and answered “yes” several times to basic questions.
Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge David Grand ordered Redding held without bond until a Thursday detention hearing. Redding’s court-appointed lawyer, Senad Ramovic, could not immediately be reached for comment.
A federal felon in possession of a firearm charge is among the most straightforward counts that prosecutors can file in a short amount of time. Any additional charges related to the homicides could be filed in state court after the ongoing investigation.
The criminal case filed Tuesday provides a chronology of events after investigators discovered the bodies Sunday. Detectives reviewed information from license plate readers installed across the city and focused on license plate scans associated with the burning vehicle to determine if another vehicle was traveling nearby prior to it being set on fire, Timothy Madison, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, wrote in an affidavit.
Detectives managed to identify the color, make and model of a vehicle traveling nearby about 25 minutes before the bodies were discovered early Sunday morning.
The vehicle, a 2009 Saturn Vue, was spotted leaving the area where the burning SUV was later discovered.
After identifying the Saturn Vue and learning it was registered to Redding, investigators started hunting for the vehicle.
Detroit Police investigators soon found the silver Saturn and started surveilling it near River Rouge. Then the driver fled, according to the affidavit.
Soon after, a Michigan State Police trooper spotted it on southbound I-75 on the River Rouge Bridge.
“The trooper then attempted to initiate a traffic stop on the silver Saturn, however it accelerated away fleeing from the trooper,” the special agent wrote. “The silver Saturn started to take the exit for north Schaefer Hwy, before veering back onto I-75 southbound at the last second, driving through the shoulder to do so. The silver Saturn then passed a car in the right lane by driving on the shoulder and took the next exit for south Shaefer Hwy, driving approximately 50 mph through the tight corners on the exit ramp.”
Redding ran two red lights along Fort Street, crashed into the median and led investigators on a short foot chase, according to the court filing.
"Redding stated that he bought the silver Saturn after he was released from prison," Madison wrote. "Redding initially stated he ran from the police because he’s on parole, and claimed he didn’t know the gun was in the car. However, Redding then later admitted to seeing the gun on the floor of the car and agreed with detectives that the gun was why he fled from the police.
"Redding said he was going to give the gun back to whoever put it in his car," Madison added. "He also agreed with detectives that he touched the gun when he tried to push it under the seat, and therefore his DNA would likely be on the gun."
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit mom's world 'turned upside down' after daughter's killing. She fears others slain
