'My Right Hand:' Stacey Davis was the voice you heard on The Probable Cause. She will be so missed.
- Jamie Duffy
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
FORT WAYNE, Ind. ---We are mourning the loss of My Right Hand whose name was Stacey Davis. It’s difficult to quantify the impact she had on the criminal justice system. She developed such a level of knowledge of the criminal legal system that the prosecutor’s office started to rely on her when they brought in families of homicide victims. She was there for support and to help translate the process.
The media also relied on Stacey whose main mission was to make those who killed others pay for their crime.
After the shooting death of her son, Codi McCann, only 22, in December 2016, she searched for other families who believed the justice system was moving too slowly and, in some cases, refusing to adjudicate these cases despite good evidence.
Thus JAVA was born with her friend Amy Miller Davis. Soon there was kind of a core group brought together by grief: Stacey, Amy, Theresa Juillerat, Angie Gill Gulley, Nicole Gaunt, Dee Campbell and Lindsay Boice.
Stacey with her son Codi. Left with her partner, Michael Abbott.
Stacey knew the pain of losing someone to homicide and would sit with anyone in court. She took time off from her job in the medical field to sit in court with you and it didn’t matter who you were. After the loss of her son, vacations meant nothing compared to her mission of seeking justice for those whose lives were taken away by another.
In 2018, she co-founded Justice Advocacy and Victim Assistance or JAVA with Davis Miller - no relation - and held monthly meetings. The group hounded the prosecutor’s office if they didn’t believe they were working hard enough to bring a case to trial.
She then teamed up with Katelyn Gustin-Siebert to bring justice for child homicide victims.
Soon this small army of women got out their chalk to write messages on the courthouse stone slab and in front of the Allen County Prosecutor’s office. Although Allen County Prosecutor Michael McAlexander will chuckle about it now, it was a shocking move in this county and caused consternation among the principals in the criminal justice system.
(Left: one of the monarchs released at a angelversary celebration for Codi
JAVA got started right around the same time as the trials Stacey and her family endured to put her son’s killer in prison. After a mistrial in September 2019, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tom Chaille tried the case again and with Stacey’s prompting and that of her mother, Sherrie Davis-Flaig, the prosecutors got more visual with the evidence.
In December of that same year, Quentin Stewart was convicted and sentenced in January 2020 to 70 years.
You can find part of Stewart’s complaint in his appeal found online and it's very telling:
"He also explained that he lied in his earlier statements to the police because he was angry, stating that he was upset with Detective Scott Tegtmeyer, McCann’s mother, and news reports about the case. "
That, to me, says it all.
Stacey is survived by her mother, Sherrie, her daughter Lynsee Wunderlich who was a wonderful beside presence during her mother’s last weeks of life, her dear son, Kyle,and her staunchly supportive life partner, Michael Abbott.
I know a lot of families depended on this woman for all kinds of support, but just read what our Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tom Chaille had to say:
“Stacey was a fierce advocate on behalf of crime victims. She channeled the pain of losing a loved one to homicide into walking with so many other victim families. I was always glad to look back and see her in the courtroom because I knew those families were getting good advice. Our hearts go out to her many friends and family members and I will miss her."
Chief Counsel Tesa Helge said this “It is a rare person who can truly understand both the way a death by homicide takes a forever toll on a family as well as the way a murder case must travel through the criminal justice process.
"Stacey was that person. She was thoughtful, compassionate and an incredibly effective advocate for families and an amazing bridge for them in the justice process. She will be so greatly missed.”
As her reporter friend, I first recall meeting her at a chalking. When I say it was a cold night, it was a cold night. I was looking to interview someone and kept being told “wait until Stacey Davis gets here.” I remember her face under the lamplight, shining and purposeful.
As the weeks went on and JAVA became more active with chalking, with calling out the prosecutors to start charging people, I told the editors at the Journal Gazette, you’ve got to watch for this group. They mean business.
Stacey became a friend. We would spend hours on the phone talking about cases and our lives. One thing we loved to do was pore over the probable cause affidavits, postulating on this or that motive or discussing something that wasn’t clear to us.
Saturday I showed up with four of those affidavits printed on old fashioned paper. When I handed the papers to her, she clutched them and tried to read them, just like she used to. At that point, it had become too difficult. But when I read them to her, she loved hearing the words and reacted as only I knew she would.
Right now, I’ve got the best story to tell her. I'd give anything to call her and say, you won't believe this. But I can't.
Stacey died Monday evening at 7:30 p.m. Those who work in hospice tell me people leave this earth when they see a bright light.
Stacey, I know you’re up there. But just send a sign every once in a while that you’re listening. And God bless. She will always be My Right Hand.