Hopkins County inmate investigated in cold case

PARIS – Our news partners at KETK report that a recent development in a murder case from 1996 has led to a Hopkins County Jail inmate being under investigation. According to the Paris Police Department, a DNA analysis reportedly reveals that it was likely that David Davy, a current inmate of Hopkins County Jail on unrelated felony charges, was present during an aggravated assault that resulted in a death in 1996.

According to officials, on Aug. 18, 1996 Mary Searight, 81, was beaten inside of her own home, and succumbed to her injuries in the hospital three days later.

Authorities said Davy was initially considered a person of interest in the case due to an unexplained injury on his right hand. Paris PD said that Davy did not have consistent explanations of the injury.

According to Paris PD, in September 2023 Lieutenant Leigh Foreman was reviewing the evidence of the cold case and submitted swabs of Davy’s injury that were taken in 1996, the result of DNA analysis indicated a “very high probability that Searight’s DNA was present on Cady’s injured right hand on the day of the aggravated assault.”

Officials said that the case will be reviewed by a Lamar County grand jury and the District Attorney’s Office.