Catoosa County man charged with murder

The Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office arrested Brian Colby Davenport on Friday after investigators found his fiancee with a gunshot wound to the back of her head.

Davenport told investigators that Deborah Lynn Abney was distraught Friday after a court hearing with the Division of Family and Children’s Services, in which Abney and Davenport were told they could not have custody of their children. Davenport said they went to a wooded stretch of Taylors Ridge Road. When he parked, according to an incident report, he said he walked to the trunk of his 1992 Honda Civic to change shirts.

While back there, he said, he heard a gunshot. Inside the car, he found Abney dead from a shot to the head. Davenport told investigators that his fiancé must have grabbed the .38 revolver out of the glovebox of his car.

Davenport said she was upset about the court hearing. He said she had been drinking.

But Sheriff Gary Sisk said that investigators began to doubt Davenport that night. While he was at the sheriff’s office for questioning, Sisk said a crime scene technician realized that someone had moved the gun – even though Davenport claimed he never did.

Investigators charged him with making false statements on Friday. Then, on Monday, after receiving the medical examiner’s report, Sisk said the department also charged Davenport with murder. The medical examiner found that Abney died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

Davenport has also been charged with tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

Sisk declined to say how specifically the crime scene technician realized that Davenport had moved the weapon. He also said that Davenport is being held in the Catoosa County Jail without a bond at this time.