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A few weeks before Halloween, the festive fall season turned into a true-life terror for one Atlanta family
Ayesha Turner, a 28-year-old single mother of two, was reported missing by her mother, Faye Turner, on October 11, 2012.
Linda Looney, a former news anchor for WVEE radio, reflected on the family dynamics in the “House of Horrors” episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta, which airs Saturdays at 8/7c p.m. on Oxygen. She recalled, “They were a close-knit family. Everyone lived together under one roof.”
Faye reported to authorities that she had last seen her daughter six days prior and had been searching door-to-door in their Cascade Heights neighborhood since her disappearance.
Police learn more about Ayesha Turner and her inner circle
Investigators began looking into Ayesha’s life, discovering more about her through those who knew her. Her daughter, Jana’ Turner, described Ayesha as someone with a talent for making others “laugh or smile.”
Faye reported “there were no mental issues” with her daughter, said A.B. Calhoun, now retired as a homicide detective with the Atlanta Police Department.
Police interviewed Ayesha’s inner circle, starting with her current boyfriend Norman Gotel. “He told them that he last saw her the night before she disappeared on October 4,” said Looney.
It was a typical night, he said. “We went to the bar, had a couple of drinks,” Gotel told The Real Murders of Atlanta.
Detectives found no evidence to suggest that Gotel was involved with Ayesha’s disappearance. He was crossed off the suspect list. The fathers of Ayesha’s children and a former boyfriend who now lived in North Carolina were also eliminated.
Key clue emerges in Ayesha Turner case
Police turned to the media to generate leads. The story topped the news in Atlanta, and tips poured in. On October 17, 2012, a particular caller got investigators’ complete attention.
“This tipster tells police a man told him that he had killed Ayesha Turner and buried her underneath the house,” said Looney.
The message raised several red flags. “The police didn’t know if they were talking to a legitimate tipster, if they were talking to someone who just wanted attention, or if they were talking to a possible suspect,” said Special Assistant District Attorney Titus Nichols.
The caller’s name was Damani Gordon. Police checked Gordon’s background and found nothing suspicious. “The information from that original phone call is sufficient to pique an interest to do a face-to-face,” said Brett Zimbrick, now retired as a homicide detective with the Atlanta Police Department
Detectives interviewed Gordon at his home, where he lived with his family. The tipster declined to divulge the supposed killer’s name.
He did share the address of an abandoned residence where the murder allegedly occurred, and the body was allegedly buried. It was on Cascade Road, close to the Turner home.
Police search reported crime scene
The alleged crime scene was in disrepair. “There’s no electricity, there’s no running water,” said Zimbrick. “Windows have some kind of covers on them. You just got that feeling that evil was in this house.”
Detectives found blood on a carpet, in a bathroom and on a metal bar near a dumbbell. “The thing that got me the most about the bathroom, was the smell of bleach,” Calhoun said.
Investigators were convinced they were in the middle of a crime scene. Gordon then told the police that the body was supposedly buried in the basement, said Nichols. A cadaver dog signaled an alert in a crawlspace.
Body found in the basement of abandoned home
“We uncovered what we suspect are Ayesha’s remains,” said Calhoun. “We got the head and the legs. It’s likely that there are other remains throughout the property.”
A torso was found outside the house under a window, where soil had recently been disturbed. “The dog kept alerting at this area,” said Sherri Schwartz of Alpha Team K9 Search and Rescue.
The torso had tattoos, which were photographed by detectives, and the victim was a Black woman. “Her head is beaten so severely that they can’t determine from the photos if it’s actually Ayesha,” said Looney.
Gordon Davis becomes a suspect in Ayesha Turner’s murder
Faye identified the photographed tattoos on the found body as ones that matched her daughter’s. “She had her children’s names tattooed on her body,” said Calhoun.
When investigators shared where her daughter’s body was found, Faye told them that when she had canvassed the area, she had gone to that home. A man named Gordon answered when she knocked.
Pressed by detectives, Damani Gordon identified the alleged killer as Gordon Davis. He then told investigators that Davis had been working at the home on Cascade Road for almost three months.
Police did a background check on Davis. They found he had been convicted of a 1981 homicide in which the victim was beaten to death. He served 16 years, said Zimbrick.
From photo arrays that included pictures of Damani Gordon and Gordon Davis, Faye identified Davis as the man she’d spoken with at the Cascade Road home.
What happened to Ayesha Turner?
The medical examiner found that Turner died from blunt force trauma to her head and that she’d been dismembered after she was dead. Crime lab results showed that the dumbbell weight and rod from the crime scene had Turner’s blood on them.
Damani Gordon agreed to a polygraph test, which yielded results showing that he wasn’t involved in the crime. “He was ruled out in the murder and dismemberment of Ayesha Turner,” said Looney.
Gordon Davis arrested for Ayesha Turner’s murder
A source informed police that Davis was living in a wooded area about six miles from the crime scene. On November 22, 2012 — Thanksgiving Day — Davis was arrested and charged with murder.
“Gordon Davis’ relationship with Ayesha Turner was nothing more than a neighbor that he knew from down the street,” said Calhoun. “What I learned from talking with him was that he wanted to have some romantic involvement with her.”
Nichols said, “Gordon Davis claimed that he and Turner were in the house, and they were about to have sex. He had walked out of the bathroom and noticed that $80 that he had on the dresser had gone missing.”
Davis accused Turner of taking his money, and she angrily denied it, he claimed. “He said he then snapped,” said Looney.
Davis brutally struck Turner with the dumbbell. “He just started to hit her more and just kept doing it and doing it until she didn’t move anymore,” said Calhoun. “It wasn’t about the money; it was about the fact that she was defiant.”
Detectives questioned Davis about how he hid the body. “I did a lot of stuff to her, man. I did all kinds of stuff,” Davis said in the recorded police interview.
Despite his confession, Davis pleaded not guilty and decided to take his chances at trial. The District Attorney filed it as a death penalty case.
In June of 2014, shortly before proceedings were to begin, Davis pleaded guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
To learn more about the case, watch the “House of Horrors” episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta. The show airs Saturdays at 8/7c p.m. on Oxygen.
