Prosecutors say the same home where Vincent Davis died also held a 4-year-old boy who appeared badly neglected.
AURELIUS TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The criminal case against Pierson and Karloina Davis is not only about the death of their 21-month-old son, Vincent. It is also about what police say they found upstairs that same day: the couple’s older child, weak, unclothed and unable to stand.
That second child is central to why the case now includes two first-degree child abuse counts in addition to open murder. Prosecutors allege both children suffered serious harm inside the family’s home, where troopers and emergency workers responded on Aug. 12, 2024. Vincent died after responders were called for a report that he was not breathing. The older boy was removed from the house as investigators and child welfare workers began sorting through what officials later described as severe neglect.
Police accounts carried by local news outlets say the home itself quickly became evidence. Investigators described feces, urine, garbage and rotting food throughout the residence. What appeared to be dried blood was seen on walls, and the conditions were described as uninhabitable for children. In one upstairs room, officers found Vincent’s 4-year-old brother naked and wrapped in a blanket. He looked very weak and could not stand, according to reporting that summarized court records. When his father picked him up, the boy began crying uncontrollably. Those details widened the scope of the investigation from a single unexplained death to a broader examination of how both children had been living.
Vincent’s condition, as later described in court coverage, added another layer to the case. Responders said the toddler’s ribs were visible and his skin appeared pulled tightly over his face and skull. He had a heavily soiled diaper and a large bruise in the groin area, according to reports citing court documents. Authorities later said his death was ruled homicide and that the cause was caregiver neglect. Investigators also examined statements from the adults and digital evidence found in the home. One reported message said someone had been trying to remove material from the child’s mouth and thought it was “pieces of his bed.” Another report said Karloina Davis told investigators she found foam in the child’s mouth and near his throat when she picked him up.
The response did not stop with police. Michigan State Police worked the investigation with the Ingham County Medical Examiner’s Office and Child Protective Services through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Authorities immediately removed the surviving child from the home. Later reporting said parental rights were terminated and that the boy was placed in foster care after leaving the hospital. Those developments matter because they show how the case moved on two tracks at once: a homicide investigation into Vincent’s death and a child protection response centered on the boy who survived. Public reports do not spell out every step in that family-court process, but they do make clear that state agencies treated the situation as an urgent threat to the surviving child.
The criminal file is now advancing in Ingham County. Prosecutors announced that Pierson Davis, 29, and Karloina Davis, 30, each face one count of open murder and two counts of first-degree child abuse. At arraignment in March 2026, a judge set Pierson Davis’ bond at $10 million and Karloina Davis’ bond at $20 million. The couple later appeared for a probable cause conference on March 31 in 55th District Court. Their preliminary exam was postponed to July 7, pushing back the first extended public hearing where prosecutors are expected to present more evidence and witness testimony. It remains unclear from public reports what defenses the couple may raise or whether plea discussions have taken place.
Vincent’s obituary offers one of the few public descriptions of him outside police records. It says he was “a joyful little boy who touched the lives of everyone around him.” The contrast between that remembrance and the condition investigators say they found inside the house has made the case especially stark in local coverage. But many details remain unsettled, including how long the alleged abuse went on, what prior contact any agencies may have had with the family, and which witnesses prosecutors will call first when the case returns to court.
For now, the surviving child’s removal from the home remains one of the clearest signs of the case’s impact beyond the homicide count, and the July 7 preliminary exam is the next point when more of that record may surface.
Author note: Last updated April 9, 2026.