Murder suspect arrested in Wyoming

Banks is contesting that he is the person wanted in Vermont and an identity hearing is scheduled for April 12 in U.S. District Court in Wyoming by Chief Magistrate Judge Kelly H. Rankon, court records show.

Greg Davis, 49, of Danville was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds on the side of Peacham Road in nearby Barnet on Jan. 7, 2018, Vermont State Police said at the time. He was shot in the head and torso.

His wife reported that a man claiming to be a U.S. marshal, wearing law enforcement gear including handcuffs and carrying a rifle, arrived at the family’s home at 884 Hawkins Road on Jan. 6, 2018, and claimed to have an arrest warrant, newly released court records show.

Melissa Davis told her husband, who was in a first-floor bedroom about the “marshal.” The two men left in a four-door vehicle that had red and blue lights, according to his wife of 14 years and the couple’s 12-year-old son.

The “marshal” claimed the federal arrest warrant was for racketeering and they were headed to Virginia, court records note.

Davis was apparently never heard from again until 4:30 p.m. the next day when a passerby spotted his body partially covered with snow off the side of the road in a pull-off area, State Police said.

After the body was found and the family notified, the story from the day before began to unfold. The kidnap charge alleges the unlawful confinement may have been “for reward or otherwise.”

Authorities told the public very little at the time about Davis and did not explain why the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office was immediately interested in a homicide.

Then-Caledonia County State’s Attorney Lisa Warren, now a judge, sought a sealing order from Judge Thomas Devine, for search warrants and other documents obtained in the case. State Police did say it was not a random incident.

Now with the arrest of Banks, the impersonation claim of a federal law enforcement officer committing a kidnapping and homicide is reflected in the public court paperwork filed in federal courts in Wyoming and Vermont.

FBI Special Agent Patrick Hanna, who is assigned to the bureau’s office in Colchester, filed a 12-page affidavit supporting the criminal complaint and arrest warrant for kidnapping.

Davis was from Engelwood, New Jersey, and spent much of his life in New Jersey. He had worked for an environmental cleaning company and had moved his wife and six young children to Vermont about two years before the shooting. The couple had home schooled their children neighbors reported at the time. The family attended the Concord Community Church on Main Street.

The Davis family mysteriously disappeared from their home right after the abduction/shooting.

Hanna’s affidavit notes that Banks bought a prepaid phone at a Walmart in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. the day before the abduction. Only two calls were made on it: one to the Pizza Hut in St. Johnsbury and another to 911 at 8:42 p.m., about 15 minutes before the abduction. The call was bogus with a man claiming he had shot his wife and was about to shoot himself, Hanna wrote. When state police arrived at the scene less than a mile from the Davis residence, nothing was found, Hanna said.

The investigation showed the day after the kidnapping police determined Banks was headed back west. The Kansas Highway Patrol stopped him on Interstate 70 in Alma and he appeared nervous, Hanna reported. There were several law enforcement items, including guns, tactical vests and other police-related equipment spotted in the vehicle, Hanna said.

Banks was arrested at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming on Wednesday where he was working and did appear in U.S. District Court in Wyoming on Thursday. Magistrate Judge Rankon advised him of the charge in Vermont, records show. She ordered him held pending the hearing next week.