Nearly 18 years after her death, Gloria Choice's family is still searching for answers
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Nearly 18 years after her death, a North Texas family is continuing their fight for justice in the homicide of 47-year-old Gloria Choice.
Choice was killed on Dec. 9, 2005, in a vacant unit of what was once the Willows of Woodhaven apartment complex located at 5855 Goldenwood Dr. in Fort Worth. Police records state the mother-of-four's body was found lying on a back bedroom floor with her pants pulled down to her feet. She was struck in the head with an unknown object and left in a pool of her own blood.
In a 2022 interview, Fort Worth police detective Thomas O'Brien said the motive was most likely sexual assault; however, nothing can be ruled out.
"Just going there and looking at the scene, that's what logically you would think. But that doesn't mean that's what happened," O'Brien, who's the current detective on Choice's case, said. He also shared that despite the gruesome crime scene, all evidence left behind was inconclusive when it came to DNA testing.
It was a sight her son, Scotti Choice, says he will never get out of his head.
"The condition that they left her in…no human being should be treated like that," he said. "I still have nightmares. I can't watch a lot of shows now about murder…I just can't watch it because it's tough to see your mother like that."
Scotti, 55, still lives in his childhood home, where memories of his mother cooking chitlins, dancing to The Pointer Sisters, and playing with her beloved grandchildren remain.
The East Fort Worth home is intently decorated with family photos and mementos of the past, each with a story waiting to be told.
To the right of a curio cabinet in the living room hangs a gold-wrapped frame with Choice's 1966 graduation picture from Dunbar High School. Doris Valentine said it's photos like these that remind her of the impact her sister had on her life.
"She pushed me on a lot of stuff," Valentine said. "When she would go out and go to a dance that she wasn't supposed to go to, she would tell me to tell Mama that she was somewhere else. We were real close sisters."
Valentine recalled the day she found out Choice was killed, saying she never thought the phone calls telling her to get home were about her sister.
"When I got in there [the family's home], my husband carried me to the kitchen, and he told me what had happened—that they had found her in a vacant apartment, and somebody had killed her. And immediately, I broke down. I wasn't any good after that."
The now 73-year-old said she didn't want to hear much more about it because it was so upsetting.
"I couldn't go to work. And I really couldn't talk to anybody cause I would break down and cry."
THE ARREST
When days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, the family stayed hopeful that one day they would receive answers. And seven years and a new detective later, they got just that.
Michael Leon Davis was arrested for Choice's murder on March 27, 2012. He was 30 years old.
Although the arrest took place years after her death, Davis was no stranger to the investigation. In fact, just days after Choice's body was found, he reportedly flagged down an officer and said he had information on her death.
During a Christmas Eve interview with Jose Hernandez, who was the original detective on the case, Davis stated that around 9 to 10:30 p.m. Dec. 16, 2005, a man known as "Jason" told him that "Dre" killed Choice in the Willows of Woodhaven complex.
The man Davis identified as Dre was later interviewed by detective O'Brien, during which he denied any involvement in Choice's death. He submitted to a polygraph and passed, according to Davis' arrest warrant.
"There was a lot of chasing your tail on this case," O'Brien said. "I probably spent more [time] on this case than any other case I've worked."
Back during detective Hernandez's preliminary investigation, in February 2006, a witness—whose identity will not be disclosed—told him that a few weeks after Choice's death, he heard a man nicknamed "Smokey" say he killed her. Hernandez was unable to identify Smokey at that time, the arrest warrant stated.
On Jan. 29, 2007, that same witness spoke with Hernandez again and told him the same story about the man named Smokey. When given a lineup of 28 photos, the witness identified Davis as Smokey and said he was 90% sure of it.
However, despite this identification, the department lacked physical evidence in the case.
But three years later, a fresh O'Brien wanted to see how he could help. He showed the witness a new lineup that included a different photo of Davis and five other Black males with "similar facial characteristics." The witness again picked Davis' photo, but this time said he was only 50% sure because Smokey looked bigger in the photo than what he remembered, according to the arrest warrant.
O'Brien then called Davis and asked to speak with him in regard to Choice's death. Davis agreed and came in for an interview.
During the interview, Davis reportedly changed his story numerous times, including when he last saw Choice alive and if he'd ever been in the apartment before.
At the end of the interview, Davis told O'Brien that he actually lied and that the "real reason" he turned Dre in is because a woman known by "Star" told him that he was responsible.
Davis said Star told him Dre and Choice went to the back bedroom to have sex, and that she heard a "moan or a scream," before Dre walked out with a tan brick in his hand, shouting profanities.
According to the arrest warrant, Tarrant County Medical Examiner Lloyd White—who conducted the autopsy on Choice—said that a brick is consistent with her head injuries.
On March 11, 2010, Star provided a written statement saying that she knew both Davis and Choice but was unaware of her death prior to speaking with police. She also stated that she never had any conversation with Davis regarding Choice's death, and when shown a photo of Dre, she said he looked familiar but that she had "never done drugs with him or been in a vacant apartment" with Choice.
That same day, Davis went to the Fort Worth Police Department for a second interview with O'Brien, of which he gave more conflicting statements and agreed to take a polygraph examination where he was asked the following questions:
Did you cause Gloria's death?
Are you the one that killed Gloria in December 2005?
Were you in that apartment with Gloria when she was killed?
The test results indicated that Davis was being deceptive, the arrest warrant said.
O'Brien said because of Davis' conflicting stories, his failed polygraph test and the witness picking his photo out of two lineups—he wrote up the arrest warrant.
"I felt very confident that he did it, especially when I had another witness who was a relative of his tell me that he admitted to doing it," O'Brien said. "The only problem with that is there's a high likelihood that family member's going to recant down the road. And sure enough, that happened."
But because of the lack of physical evidence, his relative's recanted statement, and the witness' failure to identify him during a third lineup, Davis was let go two days later and has never faced another charge in relation to Choice's death.
THE AFTERMATH
The news left Choice's loved ones devastated.
"I requested to be his [Davis'] friend on Facebook," Choice's youngest daughter, Tawnya Thomas, said. "He accepted, and every morning I would taunt him, 'Hello, Mr. Killer,' every day I woke up, 'Good morning, Mr. Killer.'"
Choice's youngest child, 48-year-old Billy Thomas Jr., said when he found out about Davis' release, he got angry all over again.
"If she was still here, at least we could hug her or something," he said. "Not being able to hug your mom everyday, or on her birthday, or Mother's Day, or call to say, 'Hey, how ya doing?' I'm so angry."
In the decade since Davis' release, Choice's family and the Fort Worth Police Department continue to search for justice. And even with the success of new genetic genealogy testing and cold cases, O'Brien says the only probable way this will get solved is if a witness comes forward with information.
"Genetic genealogy and things like that are not useful in this particular case because it's not that we have a profile and we just don't know who did it, we don't have the evidence to show us who did it," he said.
Anyone with information on Choice's death is asked to contact the Fort Worth Police Department.
"You can't work on something for this long and just give up on it," O'Brien said. "I'll give up on it when the individual who did this is held responsible for it."