MIDDLEBURG, Fla. — It’s a case that shocked even the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. The 2014 murder case of Donald Davidson, the man who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a child after assaulting and killing her mother on the same day.
On Wednesday, in a rare legal circumstance, Davidson pleaded guilty in a death penalty case.
Chris Padgett, now the Public Information Officer for the Clay County Sheriff's Office, was one of the lead detectives on the case at the time.
"It changed my life. Working special victims, you see things you never unsee," said Padgett. "There are crimes worse than death."
Working in the Special Victims Unit, he spent years tracking down child predators and the process took an emotional toll that leaves him with sleepless nights to this day.
"I remember one time my partner and I had to watch the most horrific child sex abuse videos on someone’s device and we had to watch for six and half hours because there were so many videos and images," he said. "You’re doing it for the greatest good, but you walk away scarred and tainted from it."
That's one example of the many difficult investigations he spent countless hours on in order to catch a suspect.
Among everything he witnessed, the Davidson case strikes a particular nerve.
"This was one of the most gruesome cases that anyone in our time frame here has seen."
On December 1, 2014, police say Davidson attempted to sexually assault a woman in her Middleburg home. He strangled her and then stabbed her to death in the neck. When her 10-year-old daughter arrived home from school, Davidson cut off the ankle monitor he wore as a sexual predator and then kidnapped and raped the little girl.
The woman’s 13-year-old son discovered her body and called 911.
It was that young boy whom Padgett and his partner were in charge of the day of the murder.
"To know what had occurred in that home and then to see this young man and his sister, that’s what gets me, when it involves children."
He hasn’t talked with the boy since that day, but he’s never stopped worrying about his well being.
"I wonder, what will he find to cope with in life to overcome this."
When he discovered Davidson wouldn’t be going to a jury trial he felt relieved for the family.
"When I heard he wanted to plead guilty, I was ecstatic for everyone involved because I knew that that wound would not have to be opened up and revealed again."
The judge in the case must now decide whether to impose a sentence of life in prison or death for Davidson. Hearings will resume June 10.