Who was T Cullen Davis? Millionaire Texas oil tycoon, accused of killing his 12-year-old stepdaughter in a sensational 1970s Fort Worth mansion shooting, dies at 93

T Cullen Davis, a Texas oil tycoon, who was accused and later acquitted of murder in a shooting at his Fort Worth mansion in a sensational 1970s case, has died at the age of 93, according to the Associated Press (AP). Davis passed away at his home in the Fort Worth suburb of Colleyville on Friday, his son Trey Davis said in a statement Monday. Davis always maintained his innocence in the case.

What happened in August of '76?

Over fifty years ago, in August 1976, Davis and his second wife, Priscilla, were going through a divorce when a gunman shot two people dead at the mansion: her daughter Andrea Wilborn, aged 12, and her live-in boyfriend, Stan Farr, 30.


Priscilla and a visitor to the mansion, Gus "Bubba" Gavrel Jr., were both injured but survived the attack. Gavrel’s date escaped the shooting unharmed.

The three survivors identified Davis as the assailant, who was then tried for capital murder in the death of Wilborn. Davis was defended by renowned Texas attorney Richard “Racehorse” Haynes.

His first trial ended in a mistrial because of juror misconduct and he was acquitted in the second trial in 1977.

Less than a year after that verdict, Davis was arrested and charged with solicitation of capital murder. An FBI informant swore the tycoon had ordered him to kill 15 people, including the three survivors of the shooting and the judge presiding over his divorce proceedings.

By the mid-1980s, Davis' oil-based empire was coming down. In the mid-1990s, he said his company had gone bankrupt "because of the crash of the oil industry", according to the AP. Priscilla died of cancer at the age of 59 in 2001.

The shooting at the Fort Worth mansion inspired a number of books and was also featured in true crime TV shows. A 1995 miniseries called "Texas Justice" starred Heather Locklear as Priscilla Davis.

'No justice was ever served'

In a 2018 report by CBS News, Wilborn's older sister, Dee Davis, recounted that their mother Priscilla was left shocked by Davis' acquittal.

"No justice was ever served...I hope y’all never stop talking about this because as soon as you stop talking about it, then it means it’s over," Dee said at the time.