A Sevier County man accused of beating a two-year-old girl to death last year pleaded guilty to murder Thursday morning, closing out a case that once appeared headed toward a death-penalty trial. Wesley Davis changed his plea from not guilty to guilty in Sevier County Circuit Court and will spend the remainder of his life in prison, with no possibility of parole.
Davis was Ava Tabor's caretaker and a friend of her family when she was severely beaten in March 2025 at a residence in Lockesburg, according to texarkanagazette.com. The toddler died on March 4, 2025, at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, the outlet reported. Southwest Arkansas Radio, which first reported on the guilty plea, noted that Southwest Arkansas Radio has been following the case since the initial arrest.
A 911 Call and a Child Fighting for Her Life
The case stems from the night of March 1, 2025, when the Sevier County Sheriff's Office reported that deputies responded to a home after first responders reported an unresponsive child. According to ksla.com, deputies were sent to the Lockesburg home at about 8:40 p.m. that evening after a report of an unresponsive two-year-old girl. Tabor was taken to Sevier County Medical Center before being transferred to Arkansas Children's Hospital, the station reported.
An investigator interviewed Davis, and he reportedly confessed to the beating, per the same account. He was then booked into the Sevier County Jail on a charge of first-degree domestic battering, a felony. That charge was upgraded to first-degree murder once Tabor died of her injuries, the station reported.
Charges Escalated to Capital Murder
Davis was later formally charged with capital murder, with an enhancement for aggravating circumstances described as justifying a sentence of death because of the child's young age, according to txktoday.com. Prosecutors had previously announced they would seek the death penalty, texarkanagazette.com reported, before the case was resolved through Davis's guilty plea this week.
Davis is represented by defense attorneys Andrea Stokes and T. Scott Brisendine, along with the Sevier County Public Defender's Office, according to the same report. Reporting on Davis's age has varied over the course of the case: he was described as 19 at the time of his 2025 arrest by ksla.com, while texarkanagazette.com described him as 20 at the time of his guilty plea this week.
Case Now Closed With Life Sentence
With the guilty plea, Davis will spend life in prison for the March 2025 murder of the two-year-old girl, texarkanagazette.com reported. The case had progressed from an initial domestic-battery arrest to a capital-murder charge carrying the possibility of execution, before concluding this week with Davis's admission of guilt in open court.
