Jayne Elizabeth Winship Davis
Jayne, circa 1993
- Missing Since 04/30/1993
- Missing From Houston, Texas
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Sex Female
- Race White
- Date of Birth 07/26/1968 (56)
- Age 24 years old
- Height and Weight 5'6, 130 pounds
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Jayne has a scar on the bridge of her nose, between her eyes. She has birthmarks on her hip and right calf.
Details of Disappearance
Jayne was last seen in Houston, Texas on April 30, 1993. She planned to travel to Brenham, Texas, about 75 miles away, to pick up her two-year-old son from his grandmother's house. She never arrived there. She has never been heard from again.
Jayne had moved to Brenham in the late 1980s and rented an apartment leased by Amy Davis, and in 1990 she married Amy's son, Steven Clay Davis. In 1990, the couple moved to Houston, and Jayne gave birth to their son in October. Less than a year later, on September 12, 1991, Jayne and Steven separated. According to Amy, Jayne had left her husband for another man.
On October 24, a judge granted Jayne sole custody of her and Steven's son, and Steven was given visitation rights and ordered to pay child support. A week later, on October 31, Steven went to Jayne's apartment in Houston and her at gunpoint. He was charged with felony sexual assault, then released on bail pending his trial, but arrested again in 1992 on a drug charge. He pleaded guilty to the drug charge and no contest to the sexual assault, and and sentenced to ten years in prison. He entered prison in March 1993.
In spite of what had happened with Steven, Jayne still allowed his relatives to have visits with their son. Her mother gave her a check for $200 before her disappearance, because Jayne needed the money to get to Brenham and then get herself and her son back to Houston. The check was never cashed, however.
According to Amy's office manager, on the day of her disappearance, Jayne asked her to relay a message to Steven's brother, John Alan Davis, to come to Houston and pick her up and take her to Brenham so she could get her son. Jayne's vehicle was broken at the time of her disappearance and she needed other people to give her rides. John, however, said he didn't speak to Jayne or give her a ride on the day she disappeared.
Amy's office manager is the last person known to have spoken to Jayne. John stated he was on a business trip in Austin, Texas, 200 miles away, on the day Jayne disappeared, and that he didn't see or speak to her that day and there had been no arrangement for him to give her a ride. It's unclear whether she ever left the Houston area that day.
Many of Jayne's loved ones stated she adored her son and they don't believe she have abandoned him. Amy raised the boy after Jayne disappeared, and when he grew older she told him that Jayne had abandoned him because she "needed a break."
Police interviewed Steven in prison about Jayne's disappearance, but he said he knew nothing about it and wouldn't tell them if he did know. He was released from prison in October 2002 and went to Honduras, where Amy had moved to sometime after 1993. He was killed in a car accident there a few weeks later, in November 2002.
Police believe Jayne was murdered and possibly buried on Amy's property on Doe Run Creek Lane in Brenham. In 1997, Amy gave authorities permission to search the property, but the police were unable to do so, because it turned out Amy had earlier transferred the deed to the control of Steven and John, and they refused permission to search.
The Davis family has always maintained Jayne simply left of her own accord, possibly with a boyfriend, although Amy admitted Jayne "never gave any indication that she wanted to abandon" her son. There has been no indication of her whereabouts since April 1993. Her case remains unsolved. Both Houston and Brenham police are investigating.
Investigating Agency
- Houston Police Department 713-731-5223
- Brenham Police Department 979-337-7369
Source Information
Updated 2 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated September 9, 2019; details of disappearance updated.