RICHLAND CO., Ill. - While many people are now mourning the (still-unexplained) passing of 30-year-old Dave Davis of Olney while he was on a job in the East St. Louis area, others aren't so quick to follow suit.
Many remember that Davis was part of the reason young Danielle Anderson died in 2006.
We covered the situation after Davis was sentenced for his part in her death, which amounted to providing the girl with a couple of six packs of beer.
The rest of it is recounted in this article which until now has only been available in the print version as we didn't have an online presence in 2007, when the article was produced. It was entitled What really happened hours before fatal crash made clear, and while it might piss off Dave Davis supporters, remember: Kids are kids. You don't buy alcohol (or Xanax, for that matter), for them, if you're the adult, end of story.
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Dave Davis
RICHLAND CO.— An Olney man who delivered alcohol to an underage teen—who subsequently died in a car crash— began serving 365 days in the county jail recently.
According to court documents, David A. Davis, 23, was sentenced December 19, 2008 after he pleaded guilty to Unlawful Delivery of Alcohol to a Minor in 2006.
Davis admitted to delivering alcohol to Heather Zollars, 18, of Olney and Danielle Anderson, 17, of Noble on the night of October 14, 2006, in the city parking lot, also known as the Eagle’s club parking lot at East York St. in Olney.
Nearly all media reported the single-vehicle fatality involving Anderson in the early morning hours of October 15, but few recounted the hours leading up to the tragic accident that claimed the life of a popular youngster and scarred the lives of those left behind.
Alcohol delivery
According to statements gathered from witnesses, Anderson and Zollars had just gotten off working their regular shift at Ty’s Family Buffet in Olney at approximately 9 p.m.
“Danielle and I were stressed out about how things in our lives were going with guy situations, so while we were at work we decided we were going to go get messed up, (our way of coping),” Zollars wrote in a statement. “She said she knew of a party. So when we got off work we headed to my house to get cleaned up. We were looking for someone to get alcohol for us, so I decided to try to call and get Dave Davis to.”
“Heather called me wanting alcohol and I said ‘No,’” Davis said in his statement. “Even though I told her No she kept calling and finally I went and got her two six packs.”
“At about 9:30 p.m. Danielle drove us to the Eagle’s parking lot where we met up with David,” Zollars stated. “Danielle and I both put our tip money together (to pay for it).”
“Heather got out of the vehicle and came to my van,” Davis said. “She gave me the money and I gave her the alcohol.”
Police reports indicate a six-pack of Bud Ice was delivered for Anderson and a six pack of Smirnoff Ice was delivered for Zollars.
Zollars handed Davis $12 for the alcohol.
“Then we headed for Wal-Mart,” Zollars said.
Anderson’s mother, Laura L. Bradham, said she received a phone call from her daughter at about 9:30 p.m. asking if she could stay out with friends until midnight.
Bradham said she gave her permission to do so, insisting that her daughter bring Bradham’s Chevy Tahoe they were driving home by midnight.
Purchased Xanax from 40-year-old
According to Zollars, on the way to Wal-Mart, Anderson asked her if she still had some of the Xanax the pair had apparently pooled their money for and purchased a week or two prior from 40-year-old Michelle Chance for $4 a pill.
“I told her I did and we both took 1.5 mg and our first drink of alcohol at about 9:45 p.m.,” Zollars said.
Zollars said she and Anderson left Wal-Mart and stopped by McDonald’s before continuing on to 20-year-old John Faulk’s house where they arrived at approximately 10:30 p.m.
Zollars said Anderson told her there was going to be an “anniversary party” held at Faulk’s house.
“I’m not sure if Danielle consumed any of their alcohol or not, but before we left John’s around 11:30 p.m. she had consumed five Bud Ice,” Zollars said.
Mom thought she was with dad
Zollars said she and Faulk left his house to pick up Anderson’s father’s car and then all three of them went to Anderson’s mother’s house to return her Tahoe they had been driving.
“We arrived there at 12:30 a.m. and she gave her mother the keys,” Zollar said. “She came back out and asked for a beer and I told her she only had one left and I asked her what happened to all the others and she said she drunk all of them at John’s. I told her she didn’t need any more and that I was driving.”
Bradham said she heard a knock at her door and got up to let her daughter into the house because she had forgotten her key.
She said Danielle was using the bathroom when she asked her if she had been drinking.
“She said ‘yes, no, not really’,” Bradham told authorities.
Bradham said she was angry but allowed her daughter to leave because she thought she was with her father, Gregory Anderson.
Zollars said once back in the car, Anderson then tried to talk her into getting her some more beer and Xanax.
“I told her I was not going to and she said she would pay for it or get it herself, so I went to a couple places to get it off her mind,” Zollars said.
Zollars said she and Anderson made a trip to a nearby Amoco station and later to the Taco Bell.
“I left her at the Taco Bell at about 1 a.m. with Clay Seals and some other friends I trusted her with while I took John home because Danielle and John kept arguing,” Zollars said.
Vomiting
Zollars said when she returned and picked Anderson back up they drove around for a bit before parking behind Movie Gallery located at 1125 E Main Street, in Olney.
“That’s right behind my house,” Zollars said. “I told her neither of us needed to be driving and I tried to get her to go to my house, her dad’s or her mother’s house but she refused. She kept talking to Mike Easton on the phone.”
Zollars said she continued to try and get Anderson, who was now vomiting, to go somewhere but she simply refused.
“She promised me she would stay there and sleep until 11 a.m. (when she would go to church with her mom) I told her okay and left the keys because it was cold out,” Zollars said.
Zollars said she left at 3:15 a.m. and called Davis who picked her up and they went back to his house.
She told authorities that Anderson tried to call her cell phone at approximately 3:59 a.m., but she didn’t pick up the call.
Zollars said when she came back at 5:30 a.m. to check on Danielle, the car was gone.
Asked not to tell about Xanax
At 7 a.m. Illinois State Police responded to reports of a fatal motor vehicle traffic crash at East Radio Tower Road Lane and County Road 230E.
According to the trooper’s report, it appeared Anderson was traveling westbound on East Radio Tower Road when she drove off the right shoulder, overcorrected traveling across the road, striking the left ditch twice, coming to rest in the eastbound lane facing the northeast.
The trooper indicated it appeared Anderson was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected out the front passenger window landing on the road approximately 43 feet west of where the car had come to rest.
Anderson was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 7:14 a.m. The cause of death was later determined to be from several skull fractures.
There was an open bottle of Smirnoff Ice located in the vehicle on the back seat and a second bottle was found a short distance east of the car in the ditch.
“Michelle (Chance) called after I had heard (about the accident) and asked me if it was true,” Zollars said. “She told me not to say anything about her selling me the Xanax, but I had already decided that Danielle’s family had a right to know the truth about everything.”
Cash over concern
As much of the truth (as can be had) came out.
From all accounts Mr. Faulk never admitted to having any kind of a “party” at which two young girls felt they could “get messed up.”
Davis was convicted and has begun serving his sentence.
He was also ordered to pay $1,000 in fines and fees and make a $1,000 donation to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
What hasn’t come to light is the fact that state’s attorney David Hyde could have possibly prevented some of what took place that night if he had just been doing his job instead of collecting cash for county administration of justice coffers.
Signs and symptoms: Davis
Since Hyde took office Davis had been in and out of enough trouble to have been off the streets—or at least in a position to know better.
On January 5, 2005, Davis was arrested and charged with Possession of Liquor by a Minor for which he received six months conditional discharge and ordered to pay $150 in fines and fees and $180 in court costs.
On January 26, 2005 Davis was arrested and charged with Possession of Cannabis 10-30 grams and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia for which he was sentenced to 12 months probation and ordered to pay $850 in fines and fees and $812 in court costs.
On August 26, 2005 Davis was arrested and charged with Battery/Making Physical Contact and Knowingly Damaging Property less than $300, for which he received 12 months conditional discharge and was ordered to pay $100 in fines and fees and $570 in court costs.
On October 30, 2007, Davis was arrested and charged with Possession of Cannabis, which was dismissed.
Signs and symptoms: Zollars
Heather Zollars was charged in December of 2006 with Unlawful Delivery of a Controlled Substance (with enhanced penalty) for which she was sentenced to two years in the Department of Corrections and ordered to pay $1,406 in fines and fees. Two additional charges of Unlawful Delivery of a Controlled Substance and Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance were dismissed.
Since Hyde has been in office Zollars has also been in trouble with the law.
On February 7, 2005 she was arrested and charged with Assault, Criminal Damage to Property, Resisting a Police Officer, Unlawful Possession of Cannabis and Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
She was sentenced to 12 months probation and ordered to pay $200 restitution.
On April 14, 2005 she was arrested and charged with Possession/Consumption of Alcohol by a Minor, for which she was sentenced to the same 12-month probation but this time fined $150.
In May of 2006, five months before Danielle Anderson’s death, Zollars was arrested and charged with Criminal Damage to Property, less than $300 for which she was given another 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay $100 fine, $36 restitution and $229 in court costs.
Signs and symptoms: Chance
Michelle Chance was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance for which she was ordered to pay $2,376 in fines and fees.
A mere 15 days after Anderson’s death Davis was arrested again.
On October 30, 2007, Davis was arrested and charged with Possession of Cannabis. Continuing to demonstrate his worth, Hyde dismissed the charge, but kept the $100 bond Davis had posted.
All the signs and symptoms for what lead to the death of Danielle Anderson were present. What was and continues to be missing is the proper treatment to prevent such tragedies in the future.
Local media flowering up and glossing over the facts of what took pace in the aftermath of such a tragedy in and of itself just contributes to more tragedy, but the lack of a prosecutor doing his job guarantees it.
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Authorities in Pontoon Beach, Illinois, say they are still investigating the cause of death of Davis, as well as of Duane Logsdon, 31, of Effingham. The two men were found dead in a Super 8 Motel Monday, August 24, 2015.
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