2018 Third Extraordinary Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 26
BY SENATOR MILKOVICH
A RESOLUTION
To commend Robert "Robbo" Davidson, retired Chief of Investigations and Chief Deputy
for the DeSoto Parish Sheriff's Office on his active support of law enforcement,
despite having retired from his law enforcement career in 2013 after thirty years of
dedicated service to DeSoto Parish.
WHEREAS, Robert Davidson, of Mansfield, Louisiana, received his associate degree
in criminal justice in 1968 from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana;
and
WHEREAS, after earning his associate degree, Robert "Robbo" Davidson entered
the United States Air Force in 1968 and served honorably for two years; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Davidson worked for the Eleventh Judicial District Attorney's
Office as a special investigator, concentrating on screening cases for prosecution from 1975
until 1983; and
WHEREAS, in 1983, Robert Davidson joined the DeSoto Parish Sheriff's Office,
rising to the rank of lieutenant, chief of investigations, and chief deputy, achievements that
are indicative of his commitment to his law enforcement career and to protecting the people
of his jurisdiction; and
WHEREAS, well respected by his peers, Lt. Davidson was chosen in 2016 to serve
on the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, a position of considerable esteem,
another sign of his distinguished career in law enforcement and the regard that others, both
within the law enforcement community and the public, in general, have for him; and
WHEREAS, shortly after his retirement from the sheriff's office, Lt. Davidson was
the recipient of the individual member of the month award of the DeSoto Parish Chamber
of Commerce for September 2013; and
WHEREAS, Lt. Davidson continues to serve his community in a manner consistent
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with his dedicated service as a law enforcement officer; and
WHEREAS, as a chief investigator, he spent much of his law enforcement career
working to identify recovered bodies, locate missing persons, and solve unsolved homicides,
specifically what are known in investigative circles as "cold cases"; he labored tirelessly, and
often without acknowledgment, to identify deceased persons whose identity had been
unknown for decades to locate missing persons who had been lost for decades, and solve
homicides that had gone unsolved for decades; and
WHEREAS, as a sincere Christian, Chief Investigator Davidson was motivated by
his conviction that every human has worth, every crime victim is entitled to the dignity of
identification and recognition, and the family of every crime victim deserves resolution; and
WHEREAS, Antonio Barajas disappeared from DeSoto Parish in 1975, and, in 2006,
while working on a different case in Bossier Parish, Chief Investigator Davidson observed
that a forensic reconstruction of a skull found in Bossier Parish in 1980 appeared to match
the photographs of Antonio Barajas; and
WHEREAS, diligently adhering to the protocols and procedures of his profession,
Chief Investigator Davidson had the skull sent to the State Forensic Lab at LSU, obtained
DNA from Mr. Barajas' relatives, and ultimately played a role in helping establish, with the
assistance of a DNA match between the skull found in Bossier Parish and the DNA samples
of Mr. Barajas' relatives, that the skull found in Bossier Parish was that of Mr. Barajas; and
WHEREAS, Chief Investigator Davidson thus provided closure to Mr. Barajas'
family and the dignity of identification to Mr. Barajas by keeping the case open for over
thirty-one years and diligently and professionally following leads; and
WHEREAS, through similar investigative competence, professional excellence, and
dauntless persistence, Chief Investigator Davidson determined in 2006 that a skull found in
DeSoto Parish in 1984, but misidentified by another forensic lab as being of another race,
was actually that of DeSoto Parish resident, Ricky Maxie, who had been missing for
twenty-two years; and
WHEREAS, the work and accomplishments of Chief Investigator Davidson in
pursuing the identity of one victim for over thirty-one years and the identity of another
victim for twenty-two years were recognized by author and eminent forensic pathologist,
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Mary H. Manheim, in her seminal book, Bone Remains, Cold Case and Forensic
Anthropology; and
WHEREAS, Chief Investigator Davidson also played an instrumental role, along
with the Caddo District Attorney's Office and others, in obtaining confessions from
notorious professional assassin, Larry Thompson, for a murder in Toms River, New Jersey,
the murder of a woman on Line Avenue in Shreveport, Louisiana, a homicide in Carthage,
Texas, and still another in DeSoto Parish; and
WHEREAS, throughout his career, he has been driven by a passion for justice, a
knowledge that the Truth about violent crimes is essential to bring criminals to reckoning,
that provides dignity, meaning, and justice for victims and their families, and the dedication
to reveal the truth about long-dead victims and investigate otherwise long-forgotten crimes;
and
WHEREAS, ultimately, Chief Investigator Davidson has been motivated by his
Christian faith and his unshaken belief that, in God's eyes, every human life is sacred, every
victim is significant, every victim's family is hallowed, even if they are never in a position
to say, "thank you"; and
WHEREAS, as Chief Investigator Davidson has noted, "you have to keep cold cases
and the photographs, out of the filing cabinet, in your line of sight, and on top of your mind,
and reread them over and over and over" while acknowledging that "good homicide
investigation, takes teamwork"; and
WHEREAS, Robert "Robbo" Davidson, longtime officer with the DeSoto Parish
Sheriff's Office, has dedicated his adult life to protecting and serving his country through his
military service and his parish as a law enforcement officer, and his significant contribution
to the safety and peace of the citizens of DeSoto Parish are to be heartily commended and
celebrated.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend Robert "Robbo" Davidson, retired Chief of Investigations and Chief
Deputy for the DeSoto Parish Sheriff's Office on his active support of law enforcement,
despite having retired from his law enforcement career in 2013 after thirty years of dedicated
service to DeSoto Parish.
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
retired Lt. Robert "Robbo" Davidson.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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