Curtis Ross, 31, was found dead in a remote, wooded area near Lake Rathbun after failing to return from a Thanksgiving-week hunting trip in November 2017. His truck was parked at the end of a dead-end road by his hunting spot; an autopsy ruled his death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot and stab wounds.

Investigators recovered spent rifle casings and magazines near the scene. Forensic testing later tied fingerprints on the casings to 27-year-old Ethan Landon Davis of Promise City. A concealed AR-15 found on Davis’s parents’ farm contained Ross’s blood and Davis’s fingerprints, and ballistics linked the rifle to the casings at the scene. Davis was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and, after an eight-day trial in February 2019, was found guilty.

There is no clear motive or known connection reported between Ross and Davis; unanswered questions remain about how and why Ross was targeted. If anyone knew Curtis Ross’s movements in Appanoose County that week or saw suspicious activity near Lake Rathbun, please come forward with information.