"48 HOURS" INVESTIGATES A DOUBLE MURDER IN A MILLIONAIRE'S MANSION THAT FOLKS IN TEXAS HAVEN'T STOPPED TALKING ABOUT FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS
"Murder in the Mansion," Saturday, May 13, 10:00 PM ET/PT
It was one of the most notorious cases in Texas history - an ambush in a lavish mansion that left two people wounded and two people dead, one of them a child. To this day, no one has been held accountable.
Maureen Maher and 48 HOURS investigate the ambush and the search for the shooter in "Murder in the Mansion" to be broadcast Saturday, May 13 (10:00 PM ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
On the night of August 2, 1976, former college basketball star Stan Farr and his date, Priscilla Davis, a petite soon-to-be-divorcee returned to her home after a night on the town with friends and met a man dressed in black and a hail of bullets. When the gunfire ended, Farr was dead, while Priscilla Davis and one her friends was wounded. Also dead was Andrea Wilborn, Priscilla's 12-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, who was believed to have been shot before the adults got home.
Who was the man in black and why did anyone want them dead? It's a case that has rocked Texas since bullets flew on that night in Fort Worth.
"This is a case that involves wealth, that involves sex, that involves vengeance and that involves murder," says Christy Jack, a former prosecutor turned attorney.
At the time Priscilla Davis was shot, she was going through a brutal divorce from her husband, oil millionaire Cullen Davis. She wanted $50 million to settle the divorce. While they battled it out, a judge ordered Cullen out of their mansion. Priscilla Davis had taken up with Farr. After the shootings, Priscilla and her wounded friend both identified Cullen as the man in black.
"The DA's office theory of the crime was that Cullen committed these crimes because of the divorce," says Jack. "His hatred of Priscilla was so intense that anybody else who stood in the way would just be collateral damage."
Cullen Davis, then worth an estimated $500 million, hired Richard Haynes, the most famous defense attorney in Texas at the time, who was nicknamed "Racehorse."
"You always have something to work with when you have an innocent man," Haynes said at the time.
Haynes took what may have been an open and shut case and turned it on its head. And that was just the beginning.
"I don't think of it as a case as being unsolved," says Jack. "I think of it as a case as being unproven."
Davis, 83, tells Maher he didn't kill Farr and Wilborn, nor did he shoot Priscilla and her friend. He describes himself as a born again Christian.
"Does a man of God have to confess his sins publicly?" Maher asks.
"That's kind of a crazy question," Davis tells Maher. "The only admission a person has to make is to God. The Bible does not require a confession of sins to anybody."
48 HOURS: "Murder in the Mansion" is the second part of a Saturday night double feature. At 8:00 PM, CBS will broadcast an encore of 48 HOURS: LIVE TO TELL: "My Name is Victoria," which focuses on the extraordinary story of a woman who survived being kidnapped, tortured and left for dead and the 18-year-hunt that led to the arrest of an "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" actor.
48 HOURS: "Murder in the Mansion" is produced by Chuck Stevenson and Gail Abbott Zimmerman. Lucy Scott and Claire St. Amant are the development producers. Gary Winter, Michelle Harris, Michael McHugh and George Baluzy are the editors. Judy Tygard is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.
48 HOURS: LIVE TO TELL: "My Name is Victoria" is produced by Peter Shaw and Anthony Venditti. Lauren Clark is the field producer. Michael McHugh and Doreen Schechter are the producer-editors. Jud Johnston and Grayce Arlotta-Berner are the editors. Judy Tygard is the series creator and senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.
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