Nakita Chantryce Davidson

In the spring of 2024, a tragic series of events led to the death of Nakita Chantryce Davidson, a 40-year-old mother of four from Birmingham, Alabama. The investigation into her disappearance began in the early morning hours of April 11th, when police responded to a two-vehicle wreck near Elmwood Cemetery. At the scene, officers discovered evidence of a possible assault and shooting, but no one was present.

A witness at the scene reported seeing a man, later identified as Davidson’s 37-year-old boyfriend Cedric Dewayne Robertson, shoot a woman before forcing her into the trunk of her own car and driving away. Robertson's cell phone was reportedly found at the scene of the crash. This prompted a two-day search for Davidson, which came to a heartbreaking end when her body was found in her 2008 burgundy Saturn Outlook in a wooded area in southwest Birmingham. She had been shot multiple times.

While family and friends waited anxiously near the crime scene, their worst fears were confirmed, leading to outpourings of grief. Davidson’s brother indicated that his sister had been dating Robertson for less than a year and had been planning to end the relationship.

U.S. Marshals and the Birmingham Police Department's Crime Reduction Team apprehended Cedric Dewayne Robertson as he was moving between abandoned houses in the city. Initially arrested on a charge of first-degree kidnapping, the charges against him were upgraded to capital murder after Davidson’s body was discovered.

During a preliminary hearing in May 2024, a Birmingham police detective testified that a witness heard a crash and gunshots and saw a man put a woman into the trunk of a car. Investigators found spent shell casings and a pool of blood at the initial scene. The vehicle left at the crash site was registered to Robertson’s mother, and his wallet containing his ID was found inside. Robertson's defense attorney noted that his client has an intellectual disability and is unable to read or write. The case was then sent to a grand jury, and Robertson remains in the Jefferson County Jail with no bond.