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October 10, 2005
Mother of child molester's alleged victims going on 'Oprah'
For more than a year, Machelle Yatt has been living in fear that the man charged with molesting her two young sons would come back to harm them again.
Now that he's behind bars, she's breaking her silence.
On Tuesday, the Evansville woman will appear on "Oprah" to talk about her family's ordeal and her gratitude toward the people whose efforts lead to the capture of FBI fugitive William Carl Davis. "My boys will be dealing with this for the rest of their lives,'' said Yatt. "I'll do whatever it takes to make sure he never hurts another child again."
Davis, 33, of Wadesville, Ind., was captured Thursday by the FBI in Fargo, N.D., after an Oprah viewer saw his picture on last Tuesday's show which focused on sexual predators who were on the FBI's Most Wanted List. Davis, a convicted child molester, is wanted on 10 felony charges of molesting three Evansville boys. Two of those boys are Yatt's sons. A production crew from the Oprah Winfrey show was in Evansville on Saturday to interview Yatt. Her interview is scheduled to be aired Tuesday. Davis was turned in by his neighbor, Karie Miller, 29, a Fargo deli worker and mother of three, who alerted the FBI after her friend recognized Davis as a man she knew as "Mark," who lived in the mother of three, who alerted the FBI after her friend recognized Davis as a man she knew as "Mark," who lived in the apartment above Miller and her family. Miller told a reporter with a newspaper, The Forum of Fargo, that Davis called her from the jail after he was arrested. Davis cried, telling her he couldn't believe Miller had turned him in. Her response, she said, was, "Dude, I don't even know your real name."
Yatt has no tears for Davis. She says she's shed them for her sons. Her youngest ended up in a psychiatric facility, after expressing suicidal thoughts. He was 6 when the incidents of sexual abuse took place, according to police records. His older son was 12 when he was sexually molested by Davis, according to police reports.
Yatt has kept a low profile since reporting the incidents. Davis fled the area after finding out police were looking for him. He's been living in Fargo since August 2004, but Yatt didn't know that. "I think he threatened to hurt my boys if they ever told anyone. We felt scared a lot." Yatt said she met Davis through the Youth Services Bureau, where both had volunteered. She said Davis wormed his way into her family's trust. She didn't know he was a convicted child molester until after she went to police with her allegations. Davis was convicted of child molestation in January 1992 and was released from prison in 1994. She also didn't know when she met Davis that he was suspect in two other child molestation cases; one involving a mentally retarded girl, the other involving a 7-year-old boy. Charges were filed against Davis in 2002 in the incident involving the 7-year-old boy. They were later dropped by prosecutors who were concerned about the child's ability to testify in court. The charges were dismissed "without prejudice", meaning they could be refiled. Late last week, Fargo police searched the apartment where Davis had been living in recent months, hauling away a computer and tapes for examination, according to The Forum of Fargo newspaper. Lt. Tod Dahle said investigators were still in the preliminary stages of their investigation. Davis appeared Friday in the Cass County District Court in Fargo via video transmission. Wearing large wire-rimmed glasses and a cast on his left leg, he sat in a wheelchair during the three-minute hearing, according to the Fargo newspaper. Davis told a judge he plans to contest extradition to Indiana.
That set in motion an effort by the Vanderburgh County prosecutor's office to get him back here using what is called a "governor's warrant." Deputy Prosecutor Donita Farr initiated the paperwork Friday afternoon. The governor's warrant involves a request from Indiana's governor to the governor of North Dakota, asking North Dakota to honor the warrants for Davis' arrest in Vanderburgh and Posey counties. The process could take up to two weeks or more. Davis has been kept in isolation in the jail in Fargo, after details of his capture spread through the jail population.
Tag: Oprah
Tag: Child Molesters
Posted by Nealus at October 10, 2005 06:45 PM
