SAN ANTONIO – For the past eight years, KSAT 12 has closely followed the case of a missing toddler from New Braunfels. This week on South Texas Crime Stories, we take a look at all the details surrounding the mysterious case of Joshua Davis.
Feb. 4, 2011
It was a very cold night, and 18-month-old Joshua Davis was inside a trailer home in the 2600 block of Savannah Hill Circle in New Braunfels.
According to Sabrina Benitez, she and her son Davis were in a room watching "Toy Story" when he walked out toward the front of the home where six other adults and another child were.
What happened next, we may never know.
Benitez claims after about 10 minutes of the toddler being gone she got up to look for him and he was nowhere to be found.
Apparently nobody else in the home at the time saw him either, and 911 was called after they couldn't find him outside.
Investigation
Several different agencies helped the New Braunfels Police Department in the search for Davis in the days after his disappearance.
Nothing could be found.
Police would not issue an Amber Alert, because there wasn't enough evidence that an abduction took place.
They soon would further question all of the family members in the home at the time.
They started to suspect that someone in the house had something to do with or knew something about Davis' disappearance.
Authorities say time was spent getting rid of drugs in the house prior to calling 911 to report the boy missing.
In 2012, police released a statement saying, "Their child is probably deceased," but had not made an arrest or offered an explanation as to why they believed the boy was deceased.
The family constantly denied any wrongdoing.
The case would go cold.
5 year anniversary
In 2016, Davis' mother Benitez spoke with KSAT 12 and said she believed her son was still alive.
RELATED: Joshua Davis still missing after 5 years
As for the drugs that were in the house that night, she did comment saying there was marijuana in the home and that the delay only took 10 minutes because they were looking for him outside.
"I want people to stop pointing the finger at me," Benitez said. "Just like the cops don't know, nobody else knows what happened."
May 2019
It has now been 8 years since Joshua Davis was last seen.
Police say it is still an open case that they are investigating, but family say they aren't doing their job.
Davis' grandma, Natalie Vargas, said in a statement that investigators' focus was too narrow.
“They've already made up their minds that they know what happened and that my grandson is deceased, that there was an accident in the house or that somebody was responsible. Basically, what they've said is, 'You all need to tell us something,'” Vargas said.
Police also recently released a 911 call that came in the night Davis disappeared that was made by his grandfather.
Davis' family believe he's still alive. Police say he's deceased. So many questions remain unanswered but the biggest is if Davis will ever be found.
**The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children released a new photo earlier this year of what Davis may look like now, eight years after disappearing from his family's New Braunfels mobile home.
Anyone with information in Joshua's disappearance should call New Braunfels police directly at 830-221-4100, or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 830-620-TIPS.