AP News, July 24th, 2007
The mother of a slain pregnant woman said she doesn't want to harbor hate for the police officer accused of killing her daughter.
Patricia Porter said she promised God before any arrest was made that she would forgive the person responsible for the death of 26-year-old Jessie Davis.
Authorities say Davis was killed in her home near North Canton on June 14, and she was reported missing the next day. Her body, still carrying a nearly full-term fetus, was found more than a week later about 25 miles away in a remote area of a park.
Canton police officer Bobby Cutts Jr. has been charged with two counts of murder.
"I don't want to hate anybody," Porter told WEWS-TV in an interview that aired Monday night.
Porter, who is caring for her daughter's 2 1/2-year-old son, Blake, said Cutts and his family deserve prayers. Davis' family has said Cutts is the father of Blake, as well as the father of the baby that was due to be delivered July 3.
"I feel like if God can't forgive Bobby Cutts, then he can't forgive any of us," Porter said.
Davis was reported missing when her mother went to her home and found Blake in a dirty diaper, the bedroom furniture toppled and a pool of bleach on the floor.
Blake provided authorities with the first clues, saying: "Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy's in rug."
Porter said she felt early on during Davis' disappearance that her daughter wouldn't be found alive.
"The moment I walked in that room, there was an overwhelming sense of evil," Porter said. "I knew she was gone. ... A mother knows."
A medical examiner is determining the cause of death.
Cutts earlier this month gave up his right to a preliminary hearing, a move his attorney said will help ensure a fair trial by keeping evidence from the public for now. He is being held on $5 million bond.
Myisha Ferrell, a former high school classmate of Cutts, has been charged with obstruction of justice. Prosecutors accuse her of helping dispose of Davis' body.
