May 8, 2012
Matthew Davis arraigned in Bradberry homicide case
By Rick Pfeiffer
Niagara Gazette




LOCKPORT —


When Robert Bradberry walked into a Niagara County courtroom Tuesday afternoon, he was surprised by the man he saw in shackles and an orange jumpsuit.



“I didn’t know who he was,” Bradberry said.

But as the defendant rose and faced County Court Judge Matthew J. Murphy III, he answered to the name of Matthew Davis.

It was the end of more than seven months on the run for Davis and a moment that Antoine Bradberry’s parents had been waiting for.

“I’m still a little bit overwhelmed,” Janice Bradberry said. “We are relieved that we know where he’s at and he’s not going anywhere.”

Murphy ordered Davis, 36, held without bail after a public defender entered a plea of not guilty for him on two counts of second-degree murder along with charges of first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Seaman told Murphy Davis should not be given the opportunity for bail. The prosecutor pointed out that Davis had been arrested by federal marshals in a West Virginia trailer park a week ago.

He had been living there under an alias and had dramatically changed his physical appearance. In a mugshot released by Falls police, Davis appears with a shaved head and a closely trimmed beard.

As he stood in court on Tuesday, Davis had a long scraggly beard and a full head of dreadlocks.
“Well they found him in West Virginia, in the mountains,” Janice Bradberry said, “and he looked a little like Bin Laden to me.”

Seaman told Murphy that in 2000, Davis was charged in connection with an assault in the Falls and then went on the run for two years before he was finally captured.

Davis, who investigators say was the mastermind in the murder of Antione Bradberry, had been the target of an intense manhunt that stretched up and down the East Coast.

Much of the hunt for Davis had been centered near Atlanta, an area were he had friends and family members. Investigators would not say what specifically drew them to the West Virginia trailer park other than to say “technology” played a role in Davis’ capture.

In an effort to help locate Davis, the Bradberrys had put up a $5,000 reward. Police have not said whether anyone may be eligible for that cash.

Prosecutors handling the case said Bradberry was killed in his Rainbow Boulevard apartment on Aug. 23, after being held down on his sofa and asphyxiated with a shirt. Investigators said the slaying was the result of a botched robbery attempt by Davis and two women accomplices, Teara Dominique Fatico and Chasity Lee Wilson.

Bradberry’s apartment showed evidence of a violent struggle and his body was lying on the floor in the living room. Because there was no sign of forced entry into the apartment, Falls detectives began reviewing video from security cameras at the apartment building.
That gave them their break in the case.

The video surveillance showed Fatico opening an outside door to the building and letting Davis in. Investigators said Fatico, who was acquainted with Bradberry, was Davis’ girlfriend.

Investigators moved quickly to pick up Fatico and Wilson, who also knew Bradberry and was in the apartment at the time of the murder, but who insisted she “saw nothing.”

Fatico, 22, and Wilson, 21, were each charged with second-degree murder and first-degree robbery.

In November, they both pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree burglary and agreed to testify against Davis.

Both admitted that they played a role in the murder, but each fingered Davis as the killer.
Fatico and Wilson are now each serving 13-year prison terms.