I.D. of woman found shot to death in metro-east motel parking lot is released
Police are calling the death of a woman at a Super 8 motel in Fairview Heights a “domestic homicide.”
Investigators from multiple agencies worked the scene at 45 Ludwig Drive Thursday evening and arrested a man later identified as the female victim’s husband, according to a release from the Fairview Heights Police Department. He was charged on Friday.
St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. on Friday identified the victim as Vanessa Cherry, 34, of the 1400 block of Missouri Ave., East St. Louis. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:22 p.m. , Dye said.
Police found her with multiple gunshot wounds inside a black passenger vehicle in the hotel parking lot, according to Fairview Heights Police Chief Steve Johnson.
A suspect, Cherry’s husband, Clifton L. Davis, was arrested at a nearby bus stop by a Fairview Heights officer, police said. His last-known address was on 74th Street in East St. Louis, but he was living at the hotel, Johnson said.
The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s office on Friday charged Davis, 48, with one count each of first-degree murder and aggravated unlawful use of a firearm. He is being held at the St. Clair County Jail pending a pretrial detention hearing.
“Witnesses heard gunshots and saw multiple flashes inside the victim’s vehicle and the man had been observed leaving the scene,” Johnson said. “An officer was able to obtain a description of the male and was located a short time later waiting for a bus near the crime.”
Fairview Heights officers recovered the suspected murder weapon near the crime scene and determined that the suspect acted alone, said Johnson.
“The motive is unclear,” he said. “That remains part of the police investigation.”
Officers from the O’Fallon Police Department , Metro-East Auto Theft Task Force, St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s office, and Illinois State Police assisted in the overnight investigation.
“Our sincerest thoughts and prayers to the victim’s family,” Fairview Heights Police said in their release.
A GoFund Me page established by Cherry’s family to assist with funeral expenses, says Cherry is survived by three children.
“Needless to say, this is a very devastating thing to happen to our family, especially to her young children,” the page states. “In one violent act these children lost (both of their) parents.”
