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Man Jailed In Fiery Robbery Shot Polk Clerks, Sheriff Says

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By BILLY TOWNSEND, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 16, 2007

Updated: 12/15/2007 11:57 pm

LAKE ALFRED - The five names were mostly unknown to the public and to one another before last week. Pravinkumar Patel and Dasharathbhai Patel. Juanita Luciano and Yvonne Bustamante. Brandon Greisman.

Now they're linked forever by one other name, Leon Davis Jr., who investigators say is the author of one of the worst crime sprees in recent Polk County history, the man who shot or burned them.

Polk Sheriff Grady Judd on Saturday named Davis as the man who shot and killed two immigrants from India execution-style during a Dec. 7 robbery at the gas station where they worked. On Thursday, Judd said, Davis used the same gun in a fiery robbery and shooting in Lake Wales that left two women and a newborn baby fighting for life and Greisman with a gunshot wound to his face.

Davis, 30, was arrested Thursday night in the Lake Wales incident and faces attempted murder and arson charges.

"He left carnage throughout our community," Judd said during a Saturday morning news conference. "But he shall not hurt anyone else." Judd vowed that Davis will "never spend another day outside the state prison system or the county jail."

The key break in the case came Friday night, when Florida Department of Law Enforcement technicians matched ballistics on bullets found in the two men killed at the gas station with a bullet at the scene of the Lake Wales robbery, Judd said.

Detectives on Saturday had not recovered the gun used in the crimes. But Judd said they knew it was a .357-caliber Dan Wesson revolver, and they knew who sold it to Davis, who was a convicted felon and not permitted to own a weapon.

Detectives are not releasing the name of the seller, who is considered a witness in the case, Judd said. A $5,000 reward was offered for recovery of the gun. But Judd said his deputies do not need the gun to prove Davis' guilt in the Patel killings.

In addition to the ballistics matches, a witness has placed Davis' Nissan Altima at the BP station on the night of the killings, Judd said. He said his office will consult with the state attorney's office this week and seek first-degree murder charges against Davis.

Immediate Suspicion
Lake Wales police said Davis walked into the Headley Nationwide Insurance office on Central Avenue through the front door and pulled a gun on employees Juanita "Jane" Luciano, 23, and Yvonne Bustamante, 26. He demanded money and then used gasoline or some other accelerant to set fire to the office and the two women, one of whom was pregnant, authorities said.

The women barely escaped and are in Orlando hospitals. Luciano was about six months pregnant. Her baby was delivered by Caesarean section. All three are in critical condition, police said.

When Greisman, who lives nearby, approached the insurance company, police and a witness say Davis fired at him, hitting him once across the bridge of his nose. Greisman was treated and released from Lake Wales Medical Center.

Before they were flown to Orlando, both burn victims were able to identify Davis as their attacker, police said. He had been a customer of the insurance office, police said.

After a manhunt, Davis turned himself in about 7 p.m. Thursday at the sheriff's Lake Wales area substation.

Judd said sheriff's detectives immediately began to suspect Davis in the killing of Pravinkumar Patel, 33, and Dasharathbhai Patel, 51, during the failed robbery at the BP store. At 6-foot-4 and more than 200 pounds, Davis, resembled the description of the unknown killer. The viciousness of the two crimes suggested a connection between them, Judd and detectives said.

The BP station workers were changing numbers on a gas price sign outside the store when a man ran up and shot them in the head at close range. Autopsy reports indicate the gun barrel was pressed against their heads when they were killed. Surveillance video shows the men had their hands raised as the killer approached.

The clerk inside escaped harm because the killer was unable to break in to the locked store.

On Saturday, Judd said Davis had parked his car north of the store on an unpaved spot along County Road 557 and approached stealthily, then left to the north after killing the gas station workers.

Mysterious Burst Of Violence

Nothing in Davis' significant but nonviolent criminal background suggested he might be capable of such a crime spree, Judd said.

"If you were looking at 100 criminal histories, he'd be in the bottom 10 of any you'd ever look at for this," Judd said.

Davis is five months into a three-year probation term on a grand theft charge. He was arrested Nov. 30 on a new grand theft charge and booked into Polk County Jail.

During a court hearing the day after his arrest, Circuit Judge James Yancey granted bail of $5,000. Davis was released on bail two days later.

Yancey said he had no choice but to grant bail because Davis had not yet been charged with formally violating his probation when he appeared before the court.

The Nov. 30 arrest appears to have cost Davis his job with the town of Eagle Lake, where he had been hired in October as a $9-per-hour maintenance worker.

On Thursday, Fran Branch, a neighbor of Greisman's, said Davis, who lives in Winter Haven, has been a regular in her Lake Wales neighborhood.

"Everyone around here knew Leon," she said.

Syrant Henry, a friend of Davis', said Davis often came to Lake Wales to visit his son.

No one interviewed for this story said Davis was known to be violent.

After his arrest, Lake Wales police say, Davis told investigators, "I swear I hurt somebody, but I don't know." Other than that, Judd said, Davis had not cooperated with investigators.

A trust fund has been established for the Lake Wales victims at Wachovia Bank, and donations can be made at any branch. The trust fund is named "Bustamante/Luciano Family Trust," but donations for Greisman and his family also are being accepted.

Donations also can be dropped off in Lakes Wales at Lake Wales Care Center, 140 E. Park Ave., or First Baptist Church of Lake Wales, 338 E. Central Ave.

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.

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