An Arizona grandmother whose family says has been causing “chaos” and “mayhem” for years, is facing first-degree murder charges over the death of her 11-year-old grandson in a bathtub last Sunday.
Stephanie Marie Davis, 51, and her husband Thomas James Desharnais, 33, are charged with killing Chaskah Davis Smith at a Scottsdale hotel where the pair had been living, according to a Scottsdale Police Department probable cause statement obtained by The Daily Beast. Among other things, police found a shock collar for animals in the room but no pets, the court documents say.
Davis, who also goes by the name Stephanie Fasthorse, was granted custody of Chaskah and his 9-year-old half-brother in 2015, the filing states. This came as a surprise to Davis’ relatives, who said Davis’ biological kids had already been taken away from her long ago.
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“She lost her own four children when she was in her 20s, they went into the custody of our father,” Davis’ brother Terry told The Daily Beast on Wednesday from his home in Minnesota. “She got married for a while, and her husband died on her. Then she met this younger gentleman who worked with our brother, and that’s her husband now,” he said, referring to Desharnais. “We tried to tell him that she’s not very stable, you’ve got to be very mindful, very careful, around her.”
Davis’ family didn’t think the two boys were still under her care “until this happened,” Terry Davis, a 49-year-old county employee, continued, explaining that he and his siblings “kind of distanced ourselves” from their sister after she disappeared and later resurfaced in Arizona. “It didn't make any sense why the county gave her custody of these kids.”
“She’s a very chaotic mess,” he said, claiming that Davis, whom he described as having endured frequent bouts of homelessness, once moved into a family friend’s vacation cabin and refused to leave until the homeowner went to court. “She has a long history of chronic lying, she makes it look like she’s done nothing wrong... She’s done that her entire life.”
Davis’ latest troubles began at around 4:45 p.m. on Jan. 30, when she called 911 to report that her grandson “had been found not breathing and unresponsive in the bathtub,” according to the probable cause statement.
Chaskah’s biological father “is unknown,” and his biological mother is “considered a suspect in a homicide,” according to the report, which says the mom’s whereabouts are also “unknown.” The 9-year-old half-brother’s father “is currently in prison out of state for Child Molestation,” it says.
“The individuals in this family are well known to SPD officers who have contacted them on multiple occasions as the family members were panhandling in the vicinity of the Extended Stay America Hotel where they have reportedly resided since 2019,” the report continues, adding that neither child was enrolled in school.
When officers arrived, they found Davis performing CPR on Chaskah, who was lying naked on the floor between the bathroom and the kitchenette, it states. Chaskah “repeatedly stated that the male child had been ‘hurting himself’ all day.”
“Emergency personnel on scene noted a contusion injury to the left side of [Chaskah’s] forehead and a laceration injury to his penis,” it says, noting that Chaskah’s 9-year-old half-brother had also been living in the hotel room with them and had facial injuries that included bruising around his eyes.
First responders removed a “half liter of water” from Chaskah’s body as they scrambled—unsuccessfully—to save the child’s life. He was pronounced dead at 6 p.m. by medical staff at Scottsdale’s HonorHealth Osborn Trauma Center.
The half-brother, who has not been publicly identified, is now in foster care, according to the Arizona Department of Child Safety.
Davis tried to explain her grandson’s condition by saying he had “struck himself in the forehead with a ‘wrench’ and that he had also ‘cut himself’ at his penis with a ‘paring knife,’” while the family was watching TV earlier that day, the probable cause statement says. She told police that she then “hid the wrench so that the child could not get it once again,” after which she “heard exclamations of, ‘ow, ow, ow’ coming from the bathroom.” Davis said she discovered the paring knife in a wastebasket, so she washed it off in the sink. Neither Davis nor Desharnais “sought any manner of medical attention” for Chaskah, according to the filing.
About 20 minutes later, the boy “wanted ‘tubby time,’” the document states. After drawing a bath, Davis first said she left Chaskah alone in the tub for 15 minutes, later telling the same officer that she had only been gone for 60 seconds.
“Upon returning to the bathroom, Stephanie reportedly found [Chaskah] lying on his side with his face above the water line of the water filled tub,” according to the filing. Davis then drained the tub and began doing CPR, she told police.
Desharnais told cops he had been in and out all day running errands to a nearby Walgreens, but was “present in hotel room #130” during the incident, according to the report.
However, he told investigators a far different version of events than Davis.
Over the past few months, Davis had become “more physically and verbally abusive” toward the boys, according to Desharnais.
“Stephanie had called both the children numerous cruel and hurtful statements like, ‘worthless piece of crap, lower than a piece of dirt. You're a dog,’” the report explains. Davis also “began physically assaulting the children,” said Desharnais, who told investigators he thought Davis was behaving this way in order to “retaliate against the children’s mother who was part of her son’s death.” She also starved Chaskah for days on end, according to Desharnais, who claimed he would occasionally sneak the child food.
Desharnais alleged he had in the past witnessed Davis strike both boys with a metal ratchet, causing deep lacerations and bruising. She used a pair of needle nose pliers to “pinch and bend the children’s fingers backwards,” and struck them in the head with a wooden broom handle, he said. Although he knew that what Davis was doing was illegal, Desharnais told cops he never tried to intervene and never reported the assaults to authorities, the probable cause statement says.
On Sunday, Desharnais said he arrived at the hotel room at about 3:15 p.m., and heard what he thought was an “animal ‘whimpering,’” the filing states. In fact, he said, it was Davis allegedly assaulting Chaskah in the bathroom. Desharnais told police that Davis had hit the boy in the head with the metal ratchet at least three times, then instructed him to clean up his own blood from the floor. Desharnais also informed investigators that Davis had used a knife to “cut a portion of skin off the shaft” of Chaskah’s penis after becoming upset about his bed-wetting problem. Because he suffered from multiple wounds that frequently bled, Davis forced Chaskah to sleep in the bathtub “approximately 4 days a week…so that he doesn’t get blood all over the [room],” the probable cause filing states.
The next day, investigators searched the hotel room. They discovered blood in the bathtub, a socket wrench hidden under a bloody mattress, a broomstick outside the bathroom, and a pair of needle nose pliers above the refrigerator, the filing says. Cops also found a trash bag containing what appeared to be human hair, and “an animal shock collar, yet no pets,” according to the filing.
In a preliminary report dated Feb. 1, the Arizona Department of Child Safety said it had investigated reports of abuse by Davis and Desharnais three times over a seven-month period in 2017, but closed each one as unsubstantiated. One former hotel employee told local NBC affiliate KPNX that she was responsible for at least two of the calls, saying it was “very clear there was something wrong.”
Another close relative, who did not want to be identified publicly, told The Daily Beast that the alleged “abuse from Stephanie to her own children...had a negative impact on all of their lives.”
Years after the four kids were taken away from her, Davis tried to reconnect with them, “each time ending in a disaster,” the relative said.
The relative, who now lives abroad, said the family is “devastated at the loss of Chaskah,” and is now working closely with detectives and state officials to ensure Chaskah’s half-brother’s safety.
“I have been waiting for years to see my nephews,” said the relative. “I hope soon we can reunite with Chaskah’s brother now that Stephanie is out of the picture for good... This time is so difficult for us. I haven’t heard a word about those boys for years, then [was] just shocked [learning of Chaskah’s] death... I am losing sleep thinking what could have been done differently to save those boys.”
At a court appearance on Tuesday, Davis decried the evidence against her as “literally just circumstantial,” arguing that “those kids were always taken care of.” She told the judge that Desharnais felt like he was being “coerced.”
Davis’ bond was set at $3.5 million. The judge ordered her not to have contact with any minors. Desharnais’ bond was set at $1.5 million. A court-appointed lawyer will be assigned to both.
“It’s terrible that it had to come to this,” Terry Davis told The Daily Beast. “Look at what she's done her entire life, all the chaos she's caused, all the mayhem, all the damage she’s done. Finally, this could be the time for her to pay for her crimes.”
