GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A 55-year-old man is accused of trying to cover up the death of his lifelong friend who had been missing since 2020.
Prosecutors said Monday during a court hearing that the remains found Friday on a property in Lowell belong to Sammy Davis.
[ PAST COVERAGE: Man charged after human remains found in yard of Gaston County home ]
Kenneth Johnson admitted to burying Davis’ body in the backyard of his home on South Church Street.
That was when Davis died.
“I knew something wasn’t right,” said Davis’ sister, Felicia Davis Wilson.
Johnson recently told them Davis had died of an overdose and that he and his roommate, Robin Adair, had buried the body in the backyard, prosecutors said.
Johnson and Adair started stealing from Davis’ bank account, then moved to Florida and kept the secret until police charged them with the crimes.
[ PAST COVERAGE: Family pushing for answers one year after Lowell man disappears ]
Investigators said Johnson confessed last week.
“(He) drew the location of where the body could be found and directed officers to that location,” said Travis Page, district attorney.
Police responded to the Lowell property to dig up the remains.
“Finally means that we have some closure for my brother,” Wilson told Channel 9.
On Tuesday, the medical examiner confirmed the results that the remains were that of Sammy Davis.
Wilson said that Johnson vacationed with her family and that he and her brother were inseparable.
“We feel very much betrayed,” Wilson said. “I hopefully one day can forgive him. I hope God gives him mercy.”
Wilson now wonders if her brother died of an overdose or if it was something else.
She’s waiting for the autopsy results for his cause of death, which have not been released.
Meanwhile, Adair is still in Florida waiting to be extradited to Gaston County.
VIDEO: Human remains discovered in yard of Lowell home
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