Few journalists have had as much impact in Davis as Joel Davis (pictured in 2013).
In 2005 he wrote his book Justice Waits about the then-unsolved kidnapping and murders of two UC Davis students, John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves, in December 1980. The killings stunned and terrified the community. His book helped sustain interest in solving the crime, ending in the conviction of Richard Hirschfield for first-degree murder in December 2012.
In January 2013, Joel appeared on Davisville to talk about the book, the effect the murders had on Davis and on him, and finishing his work even as he was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s Disease.
Justice Waits was important, useful, and written with clarity and skill. Joel grew up in Davis. He cared about getting this right. “I knew this would be an unusual case,” he wrote in the preface. “I just didn’t realize how unusual.”
Another powerful example of his work is “The Heart of the (Gray) Matter” from 2004, in which he “narrates the trauma of his own brain surgery and his ongoing struggle to overcome Parkinson’s” for the Sacramento News & Review.
Joel died April 23, at the age of 62. The Davis Enterprise, where he once worked, posted this obituary (you might hit a paywall). I suspect he helped write it, or at least inspired the parts that display his humor, gratitude and plain-spoken intelligence.
Journalist Bill Buchanan hosts Davisville on Davis radio KDRT-LP 95.7 FM
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