Gabriel Davies and Justin Yoon, both 16, left a long trail of evidence connecting them to the shocking killing of the ex-boyfriend of Davies' mom last week, officials say.
Longer still is the paper trail from the Davies' family court proceedings going back to 2009. The records paint a picture of a dysfunctional — and perhaps violent — life at home for Davies in the wake of his parents' divorce, mom's new marriage with an allegedly abusive man and a turbulent custody battle.
Public records give few details about Yoon. Court filings indicate he lives in Tumwater.
The man Davies and Yoon are accused of killing, 51-year-old Dan McCaw, was at the center of the dueling legal filings that sent Davies and his older sister to Olympia after Davies' mother moved in with McCaw in Orting in 2018. Davies' father, who had the kids on weekends until then, disapproved of the move and raised specific concerns about McCaw.
Law enforcement dispatch records provided to The News Tribune through a public records request provide additional detail about McCaw and the timeline leading up to his body being found. His family and employer declined to comment for this story.
Attorneys for Yoon and Davies have declined interviews about the case. Davies' mother declined to comment for this story. The News Tribune was not able to contact Davies' father.
The Davies' Breakup
Nearly 11 years after marrying in Bremerton, Kenneth Davies filed for divorce from his wife Amanda, who now uses the last name Olufson.
Their marriage was irretrievably broken by September 2009, according to Kenneth Davies' petition. They had been separated for more than a year.
Their divorce was finalized in January 2010, court records show. State law required them to wait 90 days.
Their kids were to spend weekdays with their mom and weekends with their dad, according to a parenting plan. Both lived in Thurston County at the time. Gabriel Davies was 3 and his sister was 7.
Olufson remarried about a year and a half later in August 2011. Court records show the couple separated in April 2013 when her husband was removed from the home under a domestic-violence protection order. Olufson filed for divorce in 2014. It was finalized in 2015.
Around that time, Olufson moved to Gig Harbor with her kids, according to court records.
The Davies' long-dormant family law case erupted in 2018 when Olufson moved in with McCaw in Orting.
Custody Battle Begins
The summer before Gabriel Davies was set to enter seventh grade, his dad asked for a major change in the 8-year-old parenting plan he had with Olufson.
Kenneth Davies said he disapproved of Olufson's move to live with McCaw in Orting and never agreed to her move to Gig Harbor four years earlier. In both cases, he said, Olufson failed to petition a judge to adjust their court-ordered parenting plan.
The father also said he was concerned about his kids' performance in school; they both had poor attendance and grades.
Gabriel Davies faced school discipline a handful of times, according to school records filed in court. In elementary school, he was reprimanded twice for harassment or bullying and once for disruptive conduct related to a dangerous weapon.
In middle school, he was cited for violence without a major injury in 2017 and once for being a danger to himself or others in 2018, documents filed in court show.
In the 2018 incident, Gabriel Davies brought bullets for a .22 rifle that Olufson and McCaw had gotten him for Christmas, his parents wrote in court filings. He was briefly suspended.
Kenneth Davies also raised concerns about McCaw. He said he displayed volatile behavior and threatened the person Davies' daughter was dating. While waiting to speak with a school counselor, he claimed McCaw said he would go to prison if the person returned to his house because he would hurt them.
Kenneth Davies grew more worried when he visited McCaw's home for the first time to pick up his kids. He wrote in a court filing that McCaw's house had security cameras and signs warning about trespassing and 24-hour surveillance. A Confederate flag flew just beneath a U.S. flag in the front yard.
A plaque at the front door read in part: "If you choose to break in you will either be shot by a sleeping family member or you have minutes before the alarm calls the cops. If they don't get you, I will without their help. This will be your last theft."
Once in the car, the kids told their dad that McCaw had other flags inside. One was a yellow Gadsen flag, which has been co-opted by far-right groups. The other was emblazoned with a swastika.
McCaw Weighs In
McCaw filed a legal statement in the custody battle following the allegations against him.
He admitted to owning a Nazi flag but claimed he was just a collector. He wrote he had a Japanese flag, Marine Corps flag and pirate flag as well.
McCaw had lived in Orting since about 2000, according to his court filing.
He most recently worked for NC Power Systems, an industrial equipment supplier, along with Olufson, according to police records. A supervisor and vice president declined to speak with The News Tribune.
Court record searches turn up almost nothing on McCaw.
McCaw wrote in a statement in the custody battle that he had a deferred speeding ticket and a negligent driving conviction from the mid-2000s. Court records show he was cited for a traffic infraction in Orting Municipal Court in 2005.
Prior to beginning a relationship with Olufson around 2016, he said he dated another woman with children for 10 years.
McCaw claimed he yelled at the person Olufson's daughter was dating for sneaking into the house and allegedly stealing an iPhone charger.
"I regret the exact way it was handled," he wrote.
As for moving the kids to Orting, McCaw wrote that Kenneth Davies didn't oppose it when he and Olufson first began discussing it.
"I would describe myself as stable, professional, and well-respected within my community," he wrote.
Olufson called in a welfare check for McCaw in 2017 after his speech was slurred and incoherent on the phone. Olufson said he was known to be a heavy drinker at times.
When deputies arrived, McCaw would only speak to them through a window, citing concern about his dog. Deputies wrote he seemed "extremely intoxicated but otherwise fine."
Less than an hour later, a neighbor called 911 reporting Olufson screaming and pounding on the windows of McCaw's house trying to get inside.
Deputies called her and told her to leave. She said she was trying to check on McCaw.
Domestic Violence Allegations
A judge decided to send the Davies children, 16 and 12 at the time, to live with their dad to start the 2018 school year, according to court filings.
Another legal wrinkle came in the custody battle in January 2019.
The Davies' daughter confided to a guidance counselor who pulled her out of class for her failing grades that her father had been violent at home, according to court filings.
The counselor wrote in a court statement that the daughter told stories about her dad grabbing her wrists to the point of injury and becoming aggressive after drinking heavily.
She said she protected her younger brother from violence. Olufson claimed Gabriel Davies told a Child Protective Services worker that he was concerned about being alone in the home when his sister went off to college.
The Davies children lived with their mom for several weeks while awaiting a ruling on a long-term restraining order.
A judge dismissed the case in March 2019, ruling there wasn't enough evidence to prove a domestic violence incident occurred. The kids returned to their dad's care.
In January 2020, a permanent parenting plan ordered that the kids live with their dad on weekdays and their mom on weekends.
Another Welfare Check
McCaw's supervisor called 911 on Sept. 1 around 9:30 a.m. asking for a welfare check on McCaw because he hadn't shown up to work in four days. The GPS on his work truck showed it hadn't moved from his house.
Deputies found him dead shortly before 11 a.m.
About three hours later, McCaw's supervisor called back to ask what happened, according to dispatch records. He also told dispatchers that McCaw had been dating Olufson, whose son was the subject of a missing-person search in Thurston County.
The supervisor said the relationship did not end on good terms and that, like McCaw, Olufson also had missed some days at work that week. She was out on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Davies and Yoon returned from camping with family and friends on Sunday, Aug. 28, according to statements Davies' family gave to police. Family members said the two teens left shortly after midnight Sunday morning and returned at about 6:30 a.m.
Police believe two "young skinny males" captured on surveillance video breaking into McCaw's home around 2 a.m. are Davies and Yoon.
Gabriel Davies was reported missing on Wednesday after not showing up for football practice. His mom's supervisor reportedly indicated to dispatchers she was working that day.
The supervisor called in the welfare check for McCaw on Thursday after he hadn't shown up to work all week. That night, Thurston County officials announced Gabriel Davies had been found and asked for privacy for the family.
The next day, on Friday, Sept. 2., Pierce County deputies wrote in a computer dispatch system that they were on their way to serve warrants in Thurston County just after 6 p.m.
Deputies had Gabriel Davies and Yoon in custody by 6:15 p.m. They booked the teens into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of murder before taking them to the county's juvenile facility, Remann Hall.
Pierce County officials announced the murder of McCaw, whose name had not been made public at the time, and the arrest of two teens on Saturday morning.
Soon, the attention on the Davies family returned. Reporters confirmed it was Gabriel Davies who had been arrested on suspicion of murder the day after returning home.
Yoon and Davies have pleaded not guilty and remain jailed in lieu of $1 million bail. Their next court appearance is scheduled for October.
