A 911 call that sent Vermont State Police troopers on a search for a nonexistent man claiming to have shot his wife was a big clue that helped detectives unravel an international murder-for-hire plot.
FILE — A Vermont State Trooper, center, speaks to a homeowner, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2018, near an area on Peacham Road, in Barnet, Vt., where the body of Gregory Davis was found. Los Angeles biotech investor Serhat Gumrukcu pleaded not guilty Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, in a transcontinental murder-for-hire conspiracy that led to the 2018 abduction and killing of Gregory Davis.
Davis, who was born in Englewood, New Jersey, moved to Vermont about three years before his death at age 49. Davis, his wife, and their six children, were renting a house in Danville, about 30 miles northeast of the capital, Montpelier. Melissa Davis described the man as having handcuffs, a rifle, and wearing a jacket that had a U.S. Marshals emblem. Their 12-year-old son told investigators the man drove a white, four-door car with red and blue emergency lights on the dash.
Melissa Davis has filed a civil suit against Gumrukcu. In court Tuesday for Gumrukcu's arraignment, she declined comment. Not long after Davis’ death, the investigation entered what prosecutors described as a “long covert stage.” The charges against Gumrukcu, Eratay and Banks carry a potential death sentence or life in prison, but attorneys say the Justice Department will not seek the death penalty. As part of Ethridge’s plea deal with prosecutors, the attorneys are going to recommend he be sentenced to 27 years in prison.
In a request for bail filed in Los Angeles in June, Gumrukcu said he received medical training at Dokuz Eylul University in 2004 in Izmir, Turkey, and completed a residency in Russia.