In the bleak landscape of West Texas, the oil boom of the early 1980s brought thousands seeking fortune, but for some, it brought an end to everything. Tammy Lea Davis, a 21-year-old woman living in Andrews, Texas, was one of those whose life was tragically cut short. Born in California on September 9, 1960, to Donald Nugent and Carole Bentley, Tammy was a young woman with her future ahead of her. She had been previously married but was divorced at the time of her death.
The circumstances of Tammy’s final days began to unfold in February 1982 when she was reported missing. She disappeared along with a 26-year-old oil-field worker named William Lawrence McNew. For three agonizing months, their whereabouts remained a mystery. The search came to a grim conclusion on May 13, 1982, when their bodies were discovered buried in shallow graves in a remote area near Andrews. The official date of death was recorded as February 9, 1982, the day they were last seen.
An investigation by law enforcement determined that both Tammy and William had been brutally murdered. The cause of death for both was determined to be blunt-force injuries, and investigators believed the weapon used may have been a shovel. The violent nature of their deaths sent a shockwave through the small community and left their families devastated, searching for answers that would prove elusive for decades.
The investigation into the double homicide soon focused on a possible connection to a string of other violent crimes in the area. Detectives identified a person of interest: Michael Eugene Sharp, an oil-field worker who was later convicted of two other murders and suspected in several disappearances. Sharp had connections to the same oil-drilling company where McNew worked, and where Tammy also had ties. The method of burial in isolated, shallow graves was also seen as a potential similarity to his other known crimes.
Sharp was ultimately convicted for the June 11, 1982, kidnapping and murders of Brenda Kay Broadway, 31, and her 8-year-old daughter, Christy Michelle Elms, in Kermit, Texas. He was also the primary suspect in the disappearance of 18-year-old Blanca Isela Guerrero from Odessa in May 1982, after he led investigators to her remains. Despite strong suspicions and the similarities in the cases, authorities were never able to gather enough evidence to definitively charge Michael Eugene Sharp with the murders of Tammy Lea Davis and William Lawrence McNew.
Sharp was executed by lethal injection on November 19, 1997, for the murders of Brenda Broadway and Christy Elms. He never confessed to the killings of Tammy and William. Following his execution, their murders officially became cold cases, leaving their families with no definitive justice. After her death, Tammy Lea Davis was cremated at Trinity Memorial Crematory in Big Spring, Texas.
Decades have passed since Tammy’s life was taken, but her case remains unsolved. Investigators believe there may still be people in the West Texas area who hold information that could finally bring clarity and resolution to this long-standing mystery. The passage of time has not diminished the hope that one day, the person or persons responsible for the deaths of Tammy Lea Davis and William Lawrence McNew will be held accountable.
