Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
ABC 20/20’s Bad Romance will chronicle the murder of Air Force Staff Sergeant Michael Severance by his wife of four months, Wendi Mae Davidson. The episode “Dark Waters” will air on the network this Monday, March 4, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET. A synopsis says, “When a military hero’s body is found at the bottom of a pond, authorities race to find the killer; the shocking evidence leads to someone closer than authorities could have imagined.”
Oxygen reported that Michael Severance went missing in January 2005. While investigating Severance’s disappearance, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations found incriminating evidence on his wife’s computer. They tracked Wendi Mae Davidson to a remote ranch but failed to find concrete evidence against her.
Later, Davidson admitted to her brother that she did not kill Severance but found him dead in the living room. After this, she claimed to have taken his body to the ranch and dumped it in a pond there. Authorities found the victim’s body in the pond. A toxicology report confirmed the presence of animal tranquilizer poisoning in the body, reported ABC News. The killer had also stabbed him 41 times posthumously.
Davidson accepted a deal and pleaded no contest to Severance’s murder. She then received a prison sentence of 25 years in prison in 2006.
How did Michael Severance die, and who was convicted of his murder?
According to ABC News, Michael Severance died of poisoning from animal tranquilizers. The killer also stabbed him 41 times after he died. The case began when his wife of four months, Wendi Mae Davidson, a veterinarian, reported the Air Force Staff Sergeant missing in early 2005. She claimed to have last seen him on the morning of January 15.
Severance, who had already deployed five times to the Middle East, was preparing for his sixth deployment when he disappeared. He and Davidson had given birth to their son months before, following which they tied the knot in September 2004. At the time, Davidson told police that she believed her husband did not want to be deployed. She claimed, “He [Severance] was afraid that something bad was going to happen.”
David later told 20/20 that Severance had started drinking. She alleged, “I did notice that every afternoon he was drinking, but then I noticed he was using caffeine pills. At the time I didn’t realize there was an issue but looking back you know, like hindsight’s 20/20 and everything, so looking back obviously there was a problem, that’s not normal.” However, there was never any evidence that suggested Severance had a drinking or drug problem.
Eventually, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) began investigating Michael Severance’s disappearance alongside local police and Texas Rangers. They reportedly began tracking Wendi Mae Davidson’s car and found that she visited a remote ranch called Four Sevens Ranch.
The OSI and local police searched their home and Davidson’s veterinary clinic. They found incriminating evidence on her work computer’s hard drive. Data from the hard drive revealed that she had made suspicious searches on the computer. These searches were “decomposition of a body in water” and polygraph tests, reported Oxygen.
Soon, police confronted Davidson with the evidence information. However, she claimed to have performed internet searches when volunteers searched for Severance. After the interview, she reportedly called her brother and made a shocking confession. She admitted to having found Michael Severance dead in the living room. She confessed to dumping her husband’s body in a pond on the Four Sevens Ranch. Her brother then called investigators and told them about the same.
Per ABC, Davidson said she moved Severance’s body to the pond and stabbed the body before weighing it down with cinderblocks. Authorities soon found the victim’s body in the pond and arrested the wife, charging her with first-degree murder. Additional charges included two counts of tampering with evidence. A toxicology report revealed that Severance died of poisoning from animal tranquilizers.
In 2006, Wendi Mae Davidson took a plea deal and pleaded no contest, receiving a 25-year prison sentence.
Bad Romance on ABC will look into Michael Severance’s murder case on March 4, 2023.
