UPDATE: Jessie Davis case

Ohio sheriff: Found baby is not missing woman's

POSTED: 10:59 p.m. EDT, June 22, 2007

Story Highlights
• NEW: Pastor says he's praying with woman's boyfriend every day
• Adult admits leaving newborn on stranger's doorstep, sheriff says
• Missing woman's mom says she suspects boyfriend, a police officer
• Davis, 26, near term, hasn't been heard from since June 13

UNIONTOWN, Ohio (AP) -- A baby girl found on an Ohio doorstep does not belong to a missing pregnant woman, the Wayne County Sheriff's Department said Friday.

The baby was discovered about 45 miles from the home of Jessie Davis, who was nearly nine months pregnant with a girl when she disappeared last week.

A woman who said she concealed her pregnancy from her family admitted leaving the newborn on the doorstep, Wayne County Sheriff Thomas Maurer said. That case has been turned over to the county prosecutor's office.

"This incident is not related to the ongoing investigation by the Stark County Sheriff's Office in the disappearance of Jessie Davis," Maurer said in a news release.

Davis, 26, was reported missing one week ago Friday after her mother found the young woman's bedroom in disarray, the furniture overturned and Davis' young son home alone.

The 2-year-old boy, who may be the only witness to his mother's disappearance, told investigators: "Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy's in rug."

On Friday, some 250 volunteers lined up for a second day to help search surrounding fields and woods for any sign of Davis. More than 1,800 volunteers had turned up Thursday to scour backyards, vacant fields and a Christmas tree farm.

Davis' mother, Patricia Porter, was the last person to speak to Davis on June 13 and said she's focused on finding her daughter.

"We are not stopping, and whoever's done this, I hope they don't think that we're going home," she said Friday. "No one's going home and we are not stopping until we find her and find who did this to her."

When Porter was asked Friday by NBC's "Today" show if she considered Bobby Cutts Jr., the father of Davis' 2-year-old son and possibly of her unborn baby, a suspect, she replied: "Yes, he's a suspect."

"I still pray that it's not him," she said. "That doesn't mean that I don't think he's a suspect, as well."

Her attorney, Rick Pitinii, said later that her comments about Cutts were based more on her emotions than on any evidence in the case.

Authorities have talked with Cutts, a Canton police officer, and searched his home, but investigators have repeatedly said he is not a suspect. Cutts, 30, says he had nothing to do with Davis' disappearance.

The pastor of the church Cutts attends has been praying with him every day, and said Friday that Cutts, as a police officer, understands why the boyfriend of a missing woman would be under scrutiny.

"He understands what goes with the territory," said the Rev. C.A. Richmond Sr., pastor at Logos Baptist Assembly. "Of course he is anxious for a resolution and disposition of the whole matter and he is confident they will find he had nothing to do with her disappearance."

One of the people searching for Davis on Friday, Karrin Herberghs, 38, of Plain Township, said Cutts was the assistant coach for her 5-year-old daughter's soccer team this year.

"He was at every game," Herberghs said. "He was very pleasant and very good with the kids."

One of Cutts' two children with his wife, Kelly, was also on the team. Cutts has said they are separated but have not filed for divorce and that his wife knew he had a relationship with Davis.

Davis' father searched with volunteers on Thursday, but her family is no longer participating.

"It's too stressful every time a dog comes across something," her sister Whitney said.

Scott Wheeler, 39, of East Canton, volunteered to search Friday for 2½ hours before work. He brought a flashlight and insect repellent, and organizers cautioned searchers to be ready for rough terrain, saying shorts and sandals would not be sufficient.

Some searchers had chest-high walking sticks and golf clubs to check the underbrush.

Porter said Friday that Davis' young son, Blake, was keeping everyone motivated and displaying many characteristics of his mother. She described Jessie Davis as her best friend, a woman without enemies who "always had a big smile on her face."

Blake "has periods where he just lays his head down on the couch and has this horrible look of sadness, and then the next moment he'll have this big, beautiful smile. He really is what keeps us going," Porter told ABC's "Good Morning America."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/22/missing.woman.ap/index.html