How GRPD found a suspect decades after fatal stabbing
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The prosecution will soon begin against a Grand Rapids man who was arrested this week, nearly four decades after a fatal stabbing.
Ronald Davis, 68, is charged with felony murder for the 1985 deadly stabbing of 48-year-old Burnett Frierson. If convicted, Davis will spend the rest of his life in prison.
GRPD: Man arrested 38 years after deadly stabbing
Frierson was stabbed to death in his own home on Sheldon Avenue SE. Even though police had DNA of a suspect, it took decades to figure out who he was.
“Any homicide, whether it be from yesterday or 30 years ago, we understand there are victims’ families that are tremendously impacted by it,” Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said. “We’ll do everything we can to make sure we do this appropriately and seek justice, because it causes tremendous pain to have a loved one die in a horrific fashion.”
The investigation always stayed open as police held out hope that they would one day find answers.
Police on scene collected blood droplets found throughout the home belonging to an unknown suspect. They later put the suspect’s DNA in the nationwide Combined DNA Index System, a database filled with DNA profiles.
“CODIS is almost the first line, if you will,” Becker said. “That’s the traditional one we’ve used for years.”
Decades passed without a match — until recently, when Davis was arrested for an unrelated charge. His DNA was taken, and GRPD confirmed through Michigan State Police that it matched that of the killer.
“We’ve had several sets of eyes on it throughout the years,” Grand Rapids Police Department Deputy Chief Kristen Rogers said. “Sometimes it’s a waiting game until somebody such as Mr. Davis that then gets himself into a situation that then his DNA is taken by law.”
Becker said that DNA can degrade over time, so it’s important to make sure it’s properly stored. He also said DNA can give victims’ families hope, and he hopes to form a dedicated team focusing on these kinds of cases.
“We ideally would like to have a cold case unit,” Becker said. “We’re fighting to keep our heads above water in terms of our current cases through the system. We had a cold case unit for a little bit and solved some big cases, but I think having devoted investigators, prosecutors to really dig into these cases and maybe find some of the DNA or even do something different, that would be ideal.”
Detectives wrote in a probable cause affidavit that when police found Frierson’s body in 1985, his wallet had been removed and his pockets had been turned inside out. It led them to believe he had been robbed. Investigators say they interviewed Davis, and he eventually admitted he was there when Frierson was killed and acknowledged the killing was over a robbery.
Becker said they wouldn’t be able to solve these cases without DNA.
“I just don’t know how you do this without some sort of physical evidence, DNA and science,” he said. “The cold cases are virtually impossible to solve without some tie in the physical evidence like this.”
Traditional DNA matching like this isn’t the only tool police have to break open cold cases. Some are hiring third-party companies that specialize in forensic genetic genealogy, which combines DNA analysis with samples submitted to public ancestry databases. This tool helped solve the 1988 cold case murder of Cathy Swartz in Three Rivers.
Left in blood: The Cathy Swartz murder
“It’s more tools in the toolbox,” Becker said. “That’s always a good thing, because you do want to provide justice for these families. I can’t imagine what it’s like waiting 10, 20, 30 years and not knowing how a loved one was killed.”
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