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Family struggles to understand boy's hanging
By AMY WIMMER © St. Petersburg Times, published August 21, 2000 ST. PETERSBURG -- Daniel Davis dreamed of being a doctor, or maybe a lawyer, or maybe a firefighter. Just a few days ago, the 7-year-old boy wrote his first song -- "about being real cool," he told his older brother -- and decided he wanted to be a singer when he grew up. But his parents also noted that the bright, curly-haired boy occasionally showed frustration in disturbing ways. At age 4, he wrapped his mother's crochet yarn around his neck because he was angry. Just a few months ago, Daniel's brother scolded him when the little boy wound a swing set chain around his neck while playing. For reasons his family is struggling to understand, Daniel died Friday afternoon, the strap of his backpack wrapped around his neck. His mother found his 55-pound body suspended from the bag, which was hanging from a nail in his bedroom. "You would never think," his mother, Vonnie Jenks, said Sunday. "A book bag?" Police are still investigating the death of Daniel Dave Davis III, who lived at 3463 20th Ave. S in St. Petersburg. The Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's Office completed an autopsy Saturday, but the official cause of death will not be known until test results come back in four to six weeks. The boy's family is left wondering: Was he playing? Was he clamoring for attention? Could he have understood the consequences? On Sunday, Jenks sat in her living room, smoking and talking with family about Daniel and funeral arrangements. Her two younger children, Fantasia, 5, and Dave, 4, ran into a bedroom, slamming the door behind them. "Don't you shut that door," Jenks called out. More softly, she added, "Daniel always had a habit of wanting to close his bedroom door." That's what he did when he went into his bedroom Friday, but Jenks, who was preparing to bathe his younger siblings, let it go that time. "I heard him close the door, but I paid no mind," Jenks said. "I get tired of telling him not to close the door." She recalls the afternoon like this: Daniel was planning to pick up his bedroom, and he asked his mother if he could have some yogurt. She told him he could, but then she got distracted with his brother and sister and never got it for him. About 15 or 20 minutes later, Jenks opened Daniel's bedroom door. "At first I thought he was playing," Jenks said. She remembers pushing on his right shoulder, but his body hung limply from the strap. She called for his father, who performed CPR on the boy while Jenks dialed 911. An ambulance took him to Bayfront Medical Center, but doctors couldn't resuscitate him, and he was pronounced dead about 6:45 p.m. Daniel, who loved basketball and playing with his brothers and sisters, would have started second grade at Pinellas Central Elementary on Wednesday. Last year he brought home straight "Ps" on his report cards. That's "P" for perfect, the first-grade equivalent of an "A." His mother recalled their daily routine during the school year, when Daniel would trudge through the door after a day at school. "He would go in his backpack and say, "Look at me, Mommy. Look what kind of grades I got. Ain't I smart?' " Jenks remembered him saying. Still, his behavior worried his family enough that they took him to a child psychologist in Clearwater a couple years ago. His mother said the psychologist found nothing wrong with Daniel except for his occasional ill-tempered outbursts. Now, the family is left looking for a casket, burial site and funeral services that they can afford on a fixed income. Jenks plans to bury him in an outfit she bought him for the new school year. Dealing with what happened behind Daniel's closed door is the difficult part, and Jenks said she will never have all the answers. "I can't think he meant to do that," she said.
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