Naman Shrestha
In 2012, an 83-year-old army veteran named Maurice Colly was found dead during a welfare check at his house. This resulted in a nationwide hunt for the prime suspect as investigators moved heaven and earth to capture the perpetrator responsible for the gruesome murder. The entire case is covered in a detailed manner in the episode titled ‘Murder on the Gulf Coast’ of ‘Oxygen’s ‘Sins of the South,’ which also includes exclusive interviews with the victim’s loved ones and others involved in the case.
Maurice Colly Was Found Murdered in the Trunk of His Car
Brought into the world by Evelyn Brandenburg Colly on December 6, 1928, Maurice Lawrence Colly was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating with flying colors from Tech High School in Atlanta, he moved to Mississippi to attend the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. After that, he returned to his homeland and joined the Atlanta Law School. During the summers, he used to visit his family property at Lakeshore. He even served his country during the Korean War as a paratrooper in the US Army.
In 1998, he made a permanent move to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and became a faithful member of Main Street United Methodist Church in the city. When the real estate developer and businessman Maurice Colly did not respond to calls for a few days, one of his friends became highly concerned about his well-being. He called 911 and requested a welfare check at the residence of the 83-year-old war veteran. On March 8, 2012, when the police visited the apartment complex on Second Street in Bay St. Louis, they noticed that his car was parked in the garage, but nobody answered the door.
Thus, the officers decided to inspect the car, and when they popped open the trunk, the churchgoing businessman’s body was found inside. Upon closer inspection, the detectives found several abrasions on his elbows while his hands were bound, and a plastic was wrapped around his head. As they searched for pieces of evidence in and around the property and the vehicle, they discovered the potential perpetrator’s shoe prints on the plastic beneath the body.
The authorities also found fingerprints on the car’s handle. In the house, a display case appeared to be missing a few items, and there was an uneaten bowl of oatmeal in the kitchen. The investigators then sent the body for autopsy, which revealed that the real estate developer had died of multiple blunt-force trauma injuries and asphyxiation approximately 48 hours before his body was discovered.
Maurice Colly’s Former Lawnmower Came Back to Haunt Him
As the interrogation process began, a couple of Maurice Colly’s neighbors, one of whom had a criminal history, were suspected and taken into custody. When they were brought in for questioning, they stated that they had planned to fly to their Louisiana home way before the murder and that the timing was merely coincidental. So, when their DNA and shoe prints didn’t match the samples extracted from the car, their name was cleared. The friend who had called the police requesting the welfare check was also a person of interest in the beginning, but not for long.
Before his demise, Maurice’s debit cards were reportedly active and used to withdraw money from several ATMs. When the investigators examined the security footage of the banks, it did not show the individual behind the wheel of Maurice’s car, as the driver concealed his face by covering it with a sun visor. On March 6, 2012, the man made three consecutive withdrawals, totaling $1,400. A few days later, on March 9, another withdrawal was made at The First Bank in Gulfport. After six weeks of interrogation, the police could not find any more leads and untaped the Bay St. Louis house, releasing it back to the victim’s relatives, who wanted to sell the house.
The nephew, Wally Colly, noticed that several valuables from his uncle’s collections of silverware were missing. A Kmart bag, consisting of gloves and cleaning supplies, and a receipt were found in the house. This led the police to a Kmart store, where they checked out the security footage and identified Glen Davis as the individual who purchased the items. Digging deeper into the background of the new suspect, the investigators learned that he was hired by Maurice for mowing his lawn for numerous months. But Maurice ended up firing him when he damaged a lawn statue and did not even cover the charges for the damage.
During their pursuit of Glen, the detectives were tipped by a woman who claimed to have been dating the suspect at the time of the murder. They found out that he had borrowed her silver Honda Accord, which was captured on the ATM surveillance footage. In order to aid their search for Glen, who was on the run, the authorities took the help of the FBI, US Marshals, and America’s Most Wanted. Soon, the fugitive was nicknamed the “Gulf Coast Casanova,” as he was dating multiple women at the same time. As he had been on the run ever since he became the prime suspect in Maurice Colly’s murder case, he was listed on the National Crime Information Computer System.
The police had also extended their search into other states, including Tennessee, Kentucky, and Michigan. The detectives got a break in the case when Glen’s cell phone activity showed he was in Michigan on May 5, 2012. There, they questioned his father and asked him to give them a pair of his shoes. Upon testing the tread prints against the ones found at the crime scene, they found a match. A few months later, on August 5, 2012, a Crime Stoppers tipped the investigators and told them that he had plans to meet a woman at a fast-food restaurant that day. Finally, after months of chasing, they arrested Glen Davis and extradited him to Mississippi, charging him with murder and grand larceny. However, he maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty.
Glen Davis is Incarcerated in a Mississippi Prison
Three years later, Glen Davis’ trial began on August 12, 2015, for the murder of Maurice Colly. The prosecution presented several incriminating pieces of evidence in front of the court that proved that he had “bound, beaten, and killed a defenseless 83-year-old man.” After a 6-day trial, the jury returned with a guilty verdict for him on August 18, 2015. Deeming him to be a habitual offender, the court gave him life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. After the sentencing, he filed an appeal claiming that his lawyer failed to present the testimony of a crucial witness that could have proved his innocence. However, his conviction was upheld by the court. Currently, he is serving his sentence behind bars at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution at 22689 MS-63 in Leakesville, Mississippi.
