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1983 Nash, Gracie 12/83; East Austin
Topic Started: Jul 15 2006, 08:16 AM (532 Views)
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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/n/nash_gracie.html
Detective hopes to solve 22-year-old slaying, disappearance
Relatives want to know who gunned down John Davis and what happened to his sister.
By Tony Plohetski
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, May 07, 2006

Austin police cold case Detective Rick Blackmore pulled the file of the missing woman and her slain brother from 22 years earlier and began studying the photographs and witness statements.

Gracie Nash, who worked the evening shift at a nursing home in East Austin, vanished shortly after leaving work at 11 p.m. Dec. 26, 1983.

Police found her car in the 2200 block of East 22nd Street two days later and discovered signs of a "very violent assault," including large amounts of blood, Blackmore said.

Six weeks later, Nash's brother John Davis was gunned down outside his house on Blessing Avenue in Northeast Austin as he headed to work. He died a short time later.

Blackmore is convinced that his cases are solvable.

He has a suspect. But he needs more.

At her house in Manor, Barbara Nash prays each night that Blackmore will soon get the evidence he needs to bring charges against the person — or people — responsible for the disappearance of her mother and the death of her uncle.

For more than two decades, Barbara Nash periodically visited Austin police and asked whether there had been any developments in her mother's case. They usually told her that the case had not been closed and that they would look into Gracie Nash's disappearance again one day.

Then, at a family gathering in October, Nash told family members that she wanted to ask detectives again to review both cases.

Two days later, Blackmore showed up at her house.

"I was like, 'God heard my prayers,' " Nash said. "I've been frustrated for years. I sat back and wondered, 'When is APD going to do something?' "

Blackmore worked in the department's missing persons unit in 2001 and a year later was assigned to homicide's cold case unit, where he began looking into unsolved missing persons cases in which foul play was suspected.

He pulled the file for Gracie Nash in October and began reading up on the investigation.

Blackmore learned that two months before Nash's disappearance, another brother, Butch Davis, had been shot and wounded by his girlfriend, Naomi Easley.

Easley later pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and received probation. She was out on bail when Gracie Nash vanished and when John Davis was killed.

Blackmore said he thinks Easley may have wanted to harm Butch Davis and his family because he broke off their relationship. He said Easley had "made numerous threats against him."

In 1990, Easley was sentenced to 75 years in prison after a jury convicted her of murder in the November 1989 shooting death of her husband. Kent Moore was shot five times in his home at 5504 Manor Road.

She is eligible for parole in December 2009 and is being housed at the Murray Unit in Gatesville.

Melvin "Butch" Davis said he first met Easley at a softball game in the early 1980s. The two dated a couple of times, then got reacquainted a couple of years later and began a serious courtship.

In April 1982, Davis said, he and Easley began living together, but their relationship quickly soured. Davis said he is not sure why.

That fall, he was at home — Easley and Davis had broken up, but she kept a key to the house — and he said she came inside the house with a loaded gun. Eventually, he said, he wrestled the weapon away from her and called police.

A few weeks later, on Nov. 18, 1983, Davis had just gotten home from work at Austin Energy, changed clothes and was about to go out for a drink, he said. As he was leaving, he said, he saw Easley at the corner of his house, dressed all in black and covering her head with a scarf.

She shot him once in the wrist. Not long afterward, he lost his brother and sister.

"It's been rough over the years," said Davis, who made a full recovery.

Since Blackmore began trying to solve the case, he has taken DNA samples of Nash's family members, which soon will be loaded into a national missing person's database. He also has interviewed possible witnesses or people who may know something about the crimes.

Blackmore said he thinks whoever is responsible for Nash's disappearance and Davis' killing may have told someone about the crimes or could have had help.

"I think it is very, very close (to being solved)," Blackmore said. "Hopefully, a tip will get us over the hump with it."

Barbara Nash, a Capital Metro bus driver, was 22 when her mother disappeared. She was living with her grandparents and would often wait up for her mother to get home from work.

She said Mother's Day has been the hardest for her each year, when she sees other daughters with their mothers at church or Sunday lunch.

Nash said that the renewed investigation has opened years of suppressed rage about her mother's disappearance and that she finds it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

"I just think cruel thoughts, like what they did to her," she said. "The family says I'm going to wear myself into a heart attack."

"It's been a long, hard 22 years," she said.

tplohetski@statesman.com; 445-3605

Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news...l/05/7cold.html
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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/n/nash_gracie.html

Gracie Nash


Above Images: Nash, circa 1983


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: December 26, 1983 from Austin, Texas
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: April 30, 1944
Age: 39 years old
Height and Weight: 5'5, 112 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes. Nash wears a full set of dentures.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A white nurse's uniform and a gray coat with a large fur collar.


Details of Disappearance

Nash was last seen leaving her place of employment, the Eastfare Nursing Home, in the 2800 block of east Martin Luther King Boulevard in Austin, Texas, after finishing her shift at 11:00 p.m. December 26, 1983. She has never been heard from again. Her green and white 1971 Chevrolet with Texas license plates numbered PPT621 was found abandoned in the 2200 block of east 22nd Street, near Maple, two days after her disappearance. There were signs that a "very violent assault" had taken place inside the vehicle, including large amounts of dried blood.
Six weeks after Nash's disappearance, her brother, John Davis, was shot to death outside his home while he was on his way to work. A photograph of Davis is posted below this case summary. His murder remains unsolved. Investigators believe John's murder and Nash's disappearance may be connected in some way to their brother's girlfriend. Their brother, Melvin "Butch" Davis, was shot in the wrist by his girlfriend, Naomi Easley, two months before Nash disappeared. Melvin survived. Easley pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to probation. She was out on bail when Nash disappeared and John was killed, and investigators stated she had made numerous threats to harm Melvin and his family because he had ended their relationship. In 1990, Easley was convicted of murdering her husband; he was shot to death in his home in 1989. She is currently incarcerated and will be up for parole in 2009.

It should be emphasized that Easley has not been charged in connection with Nash's disappearance or John's murder. Both cases remain unsolved.



Above: John Davis


Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Texas Department of Public Safety
800-346-3243



Source Information
Texas Department of Public Safety
The Doe Network
The Austin American-Statesman



Updated 3 times since October 12, 2004.

Last updated May 17, 2006; picture added, details of disappearance updated.

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Thirty years is a long time to be without your mom. Barbara Nash says everyday she lives with the pain.

"...It doesn't go away...Me and Gracie were close," said Barbara.

So close they were more like sisters than mother and daughter.

"I know she didn't just up and leave us. She had too much love for us."

In 1983, Gracie Nash was a 39-year-old nurse's aide at what used to be the Eastfare Nursing Home in the 2800 of East Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. She was last seen at about 11 p.m. on the night of December 26th.

"Time has gone by, people have information that could be useful," said Detective J.J. Schmidt, with APD's Missing Persons Unit.

He says they're working together with Homicide to try and solve this 30-year-old cold case.

"We've got to pick up the pieces and try and figure out what happened," Schmidt said.

For starters, they're re-looking at evidence from Gracie's car. It was found two days after she vanished.

Schmidt added, "It was obvious signs of a struggle and a violent attack took place."

Investigators discovered blood inside, plus clothing at the scene, on east 22nd Street.

"It's still classified as a missing person," said Schmidt. "Ultimately, hopefully, we'll get there. The families want to know what's being done and if it was my loved one, I'd expect the same thing."

"December's just not a good month for us," said Barbara.

Six weeks after Gracie disappeared, Barbara says her uncle was shot to death outside his home. Investigators believe his murder and her disappearance could be connected to another brother's girlfriend.

Barbara said, "My grandmother got a phone call and it was a woman on the other end of the phone and she said she said to her, 'if you want to see your daughter alive again, you need to tell your son to drop the charges.'"

Their brother, Melvin, was shot in the wrist by his girlfriend two months before Gracie disappeared.

"You a cold-hearted person," said Barbara. "It just makes me so mad, to think what they might have done or what they did do to her. I don't wish them no good. I'm sorry. I can't."

Police found Gracie's car thanks to tips from the community and Barbara's holding out hope it will happen again.

"I just walk on faith every day," she added. "If you know something just call the police department, anything, just to help us out to get closure."

The APD Missing Persons Unit has received more than 3,000 reports so far this year. The detective says the majority of missing people are recovered.

If you have any information about Gracie Nash, please call police.


Read more: http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/24309686/...e#ixzz2ojfyqB2I
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