RICHLAND CO. – Authorities in Madison County, Illinois, have still not indicated what they believe to have been the cause of death of a well-known Richland County man, as well as a co-worker of his from Effingham, in Pontoon Beach, Ill.
Dave Davis, 30, of Olney, and Duane A. Logsdon, 31, of Effingham, were found dead in room 307 of the Super 8 Motel in Pontoon Beach, located at 4141 Timberlake Drive in that town, which is situated a little more than ten miles from the Metro East-East St. Louis, Illinois, area.
The two were in that area of Madison County doing roofing work for an Olney company, ACI Commercial Roofing, which does metal roofing specializing in commercial buildings.
Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn issued a statement to media inquiries of the deaths, noting that the two were found by police at 6:41 a.m. the morning of Monday, Aug. 24. While Nonn didn’t indicate how police were notified to check on the two men, he did note that the two were pronounced dead at the scene, Logsdon at 8:21 and Davis at 8:22 a.m., the delay being attributed to the investigation police were having to make to determine whether the room was a crime scene.
‘No foul play’
While nothing has been released regarding the possibility of a crime of any sort having been committed in the deaths of the two, Nonn did make a statement that “no overt indication of foul play was present” either upon examination of the bodies or of the room in which they were found.
The bodies were autopsied later that afternoon; results of the autopsies were determined “inconclusive” as pertaining to a possible cause of death.
Toxicology tests, however, were performed as a matter of routine. Those test results generally take about six weeks to return, so not enough time has passed for Nonn to have anything back that might indicate death due to a substance.
No authorities made any statement that a situation within the room the two were in might’ve lead to death, such as carbon monoxide or other air-altering substance. No others in the motel were affected by any such thing.
Speculation toward drug use
The rampant speculation in and around Richland County, therefore, leans toward substance abuse of some sort, especially given two factors: Davis’ criminal history, and the propensity for heroin to be found in abundance in and around Madison County.
And while Logsdon also has a bit of a criminal history, his isn’t as replete with drugs as Davis’ is, which has lead to some recrimination on the part of his family in the Effingham area toward Davis for his potential part in the matter.
Davis’ criminality at least in Richland County reaches back to 2003, when he was convicted of misdemeanor theft; and it stretched to a July 2014 Meth Delivery Class 2 felony, which landed Davis in jail but not prison.
He had just been placed on 2 years probation over the meth delivery in mid-June of this year, despite the fact that he was on court supervision over a DUI when the meth delivery was committed.
Davis’ bizarre favor
Anyone who doubts Davis’ bizarre favor in the eyes of former Richland County prosecutor David Hyde might not have any further to look besides those two crimes and the extremely light sentences for them, unless it’s an examination of a 2006 case wherein Davis’ actions caused the death of another… which might certainly convince anyone that Davis was among Hyde’s “boys” in Richland.
At that time, Davis was one of two people who provided illegal substances to a 17-year-old Richland County girl, Danielle Anderson. Davis reported that Ander son “begged” him to buy her some alcohol, and against his better judgment, he did. It so happened that on the same night (in October 2006), Anderson had already obtained Xanax from another person, Michelle Zollars, 40, and had ingested those while drinking beer. Anderson subsequently crashed her vehicle on a county road and the collision took her life.
For his part in it, Davis was charged with a Class 4 felony Giving or Selling Liquor to a Minor leading to her Death.
That, of course, was plead down to a Class A misdemeanor charge of Giving or Selling Liquor to a Minor, two years after languishing in court…and being among the many strange and ineffective sentences Hyde issued during that time frame that brought scrutiny on how he was running the office, as well as whether he really understood HOW to run it.
Whether the death of Dave Davis is another result of Hyde’s failure might be hinging on the toxicology results.
Whatever the case, it stands as a sad tribute to those who have felt loss since Anderson’s 2006 death up until this incident nearly ten years later, wherein two families and a multitude of friends are still seeking answers.