SAPD: We 'believe that King Jay is deceased'; 3 charged in case, including father

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police have charged the father, grandmother and a cousin in connection with the disappearance of 8-month-old King Jay Davila, who is feared by investigators to be dead.

Police Chief William McManus said they are charging three family members with tampering with evidence in the missing baby case, which are third-degree felonies.

McManus said King Jay's father, Christopher Davila, and the baby's paternal grandmother, Beatrice Sampayo, have all been taken into custody. Davila's cousin, Angie Torres, is still in custody after she was arrested Monday on an unrelated aggravated robbery charge.

"We have statements from multiple witnesses that lead us to believe that King Jay is deceased," McManus said. "We charged (Davila, Sampayo and Torres) with tampering with evidence because we believe that they participated in staging the kidnapping to hide King Jay's body so we couldn't find it to determine what happened to him."

Davila is believed to have "severely injured" King Jay and police are still looking for the baby's body, McManus said.

McManus said Sampayo is believed to be involved by disposing of the baby's car seat and dropping off Torres, who was seen on surveillance footage taking part in a staged kidnapping.

"Angie described the route she and Beatrice took where they disposed of the car seat and Angie said she learned from Beatrice that Christopher had severely injured King Jay," McManus said.

On Friday night, Davila drove to a West Side convenience store and left his car running and the driver's side door unlocked while he went inside to make a purchase. 

During that time, Torres was seen getting into Davila's car and driving off, police said. Shortly after, she was seen walking down a street with a baby carrier that police believe was not carrying King Jay, McManus said.

Because King Jay was not in the car seat during the staged kidnapping, McManus said detectives do not know where he was last seen and working to gather that detail.

Police are still searching several locations and the recent arrests do not indicate the completion of the case.

McManus said the more detectives get information, they more they firmly believe it was all a scheme.

"Case is unraveling thread by thread," he said. 

McManus said new charges may be added for Davila, Sampayo and Torres. There could also be additional arrests in the case.

The mother of King Jay, Jasmine Gonzales, is still under investigation.

"Every parent out there, everyone understands 'how can someone do that to a child?'" McManus said. "This kidnapping was used as a ruse to cover up we believe early on was foul play. What other purpose would you fake a kidnapping other than to hide something?"