Georgia State sophomore got face tattoo like her boyfriend's before he 'murdered her'

Publish date: 2024-05-04

Graphic new details have emerged during a preliminary hearing for a Georgia man accused of murdering his 19-year-old girlfriend possibly by sitting on her chest after forcing her to get a face tattoo like his.

Emmett Davis, 21, was arrested earlier this month in connection to the death of Georgia State University sophomore Silling Man, whose decomposing body was discovered inside a vacant eatery at Gwinnett Place Mall in late December 2017.

Investigators believe the psychology major had been killed by asphyxiation about a month before a maintenance worker discovered her remains.

Boyfriend charged: Emmett Davis (left), 21, is accused of murdering his girlfriend, 19-year-old Georgia State University student Silling Man (right), and dumping her body at a mall

Crime scene: Police described finding Man's partially mummified body lying inside a blood-spattered vacant eatery at Gwinnett Place Mall in December 2018, a month after her death 

Crime scene: Police described finding Man's partially mummified body lying inside a blood-spattered vacant eatery at Gwinnett Place Mall in December 2018, a month after her death 

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On Thursday, Davis appeared in court for a hearing, during which Gwinnett police detective Brian Dorminy testified about the state of Man's body and the crime scene.

Dorminy said the first thing he noticed upon entering the abandoned Subway sandwich shop at the mall on December 21 was 'blood and hair all over the floor.'

The victim had four broken ribs, and a finger on her right hand was mutilated and fractured, reported Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Police believe her boyfriend, Davis, cut off Man's air supply by sitting on her chest, killing her.

They suspect the copious amount of blood observed at the crime scene came from injuries to her finger, which appeared to have been 'stomped on,' her bruised nose and lip.

Dorminy told the court there were finger marks indicating that Man had been dragged through her own blood coating the floor, and her shoe prints were also in the blood.

The college sophomore had four broken ribs and injuries to her finger and face, but police say she died of asphyxiation 

The college sophomore had four broken ribs and injuries to her finger and face, but police say she died of asphyxiation 

‘Her fingers had been mummified and she was not recognizable,’ Dorminy said.

Man's family told police that she had been in an 'unhealthy' relationship with Davis.

Dorminy testified, based on his interviews with witnesses, that Davis had been beating Man in the weeks leading up to her death. He allegedly made her wear the same clothes as him, and even talked her into getting a tattoo on her left jawline to match his own body art.

The 19-year-old was first reported missing on October 8, 2017, before returning home when police opened an investigation.

Two days later - after her missing person case was closed - Man vanished a second time.

Between November 10 and 21, the pair had bounced from one hotel to another. One hotel manager called police after noticing what appeared to be bruising around the woman's eyes. When officers responded to the scene, Man refused to talk.

On November 20, she picked up her final paycheck from her work at the Michael Kors store at Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody.

Her co-workers said Man appeared 'unrecognizable,' sporting a thermal jumpsuit and aviator sunglasses, beneath which her eyes appeared swollen, Dorminy told the court.

A store manager was so unsettled by her appearance that he contacted the police, but by the time officers arrived, the woman had left.

Police say Davis had been an abusive and controlling boyfriend who made Man (pictured with a family member) wear the same clothes as him and get a matching face tattoo

Police say Davis had been an abusive and controlling boyfriend who made Man (pictured with a family member) wear the same clothes as him and get a matching face tattoo

Cellphone and Uber records indicate, according to police, that Davis and Man used the ride-sharing service together to reach Gwinnett Place Mall shortly before 4am on November 30.

Two days after the woman’s body was found at the mall in December, Davis sold her iPhone at a pawn shop and went to stay with his mother in New York, Dorminy said.

After Man was identified as the victim found at the mall in January 2018, police called Davis, who reportedly told them that he last saw her a couple of weeks ago, reported WSB-TV.

Dorminy said that would have been impossible because Man had been dead longer than that. Police also said they found Davis' fingerprint in Man's blood on a door frame at the crime scene, reported 11Alive.

Davis returned to Georgia in May and settled in Lawrenceville. On June 14, he was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and felony murder, and ordered held without bond.

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