Missing teen Gabriel Michael Davies found safe, then arrested for murder

He went from missing person to the subject of a murder investigation.

A Washington state teenager who vanished on his way to football practice last week has been accused of plotting his own disappearance to avoid being arrested for the murder of his mother’s ex-boyfriend, prosecutors say.  

Gabriel Michael Davies, 16, was reported missing by his family on Aug. 31 after failing to show up to football practice, according to court documents.

Authorities had launched a frantic search for the teen when they found his car abandoned with blood smeared inside and his cellphone shattered on the ground close by.

But in a strange turn of events, officials revealed Davies was found safe late on Sept. 1 under “suspicious circumstance” – and just hours later ended up nabbing him and his friend on murder charges over the death of 51-year-old Daniel McCaw.

Davies another 16-year-old boy, Justin Yoon, faced court for the first time Tuesday on murder, weapons and burglary charges related to the slaying.    

Gabriel Michael Davies, 16, was reported missing last Wednesday after failing to appear at football practice.

Prosecutors say the alleged elaborately orchestrated saga started to unravel when authorities discovered McCaw’s rotting body shot and stabbed to death inside his Orting home earlier on Sept. 1 after he failed to show up for work for several days.

Investigators determined that McCaw had been in a previous relationship with Davies’ mom Amanda Olufson – and that the three had once lived together in the victim’s home, according to the court papers.

The couple had split just weeks before the murder, local outlet MyNorthWest reported.   

Officials also became suspicious of Davies after he was located by search teams — roughly 36 hours after being reported missing — close to where authorities had found his abandoned car.

Gabriel Michael Davies appears via video for his arraignment on first-degree murder charges in Pierce County Superior Court in Tacoma, Washington.

The teen wasn’t wearing any shoes or a shirt when he was found – and investigators noted that he wasn’t suffering from injuries that could have indicated he had been walking barefoot in the woods in the time he’d vanished, court documents said.

“Davies initially told a detective that he could not remember what had happened to him, or where he had been during his disappearance,” prosecutors said in the court papers. “He later stated that he could not say what had happened to him because people were going to hurt him.”

As the investigation unfolded, prosecutors said authorities found surveillance footage from outside McCaw’s home that allegedly showed Davies and Yoon crawling through a doggie door in the early hours of Aug. 28 while wearing gloves.

Justin Jiwoon Yoon is another suspect in the murder of Daniel McCaw.

They were spotted taking away multiple items from the house, including what investigators described as guns and a “military-style ammunition can or a similarly sized toolbox.”   

Authorities were called to carry out a welfare check on McCaw’s home on Sept. 1, and found him lying in a pool of his blood.

“There was decomposition to the victim’s upper body and head and maggots were visible along the neck and shoulders,” authorities said, according to the court documents.

Investigators also found three spent shell casings inside the victim’s home.

During a search of Davies’ room as part of his missing person’s probe, investigators uncovered a single spent shell casing.

“That shell casing was not collected at that time as it was not deemed to be part of the missing person investigation.  At that point, the victim’s death was unknown to any law enforcement agency,” the court documents said.

Following their arrests, investigators said Davies allegedly showed them where he and Yoon had disposed of two guns they’d taken from McCaw’s home.

Authorities believe Gabriel Michael Davies and Justin Jiwoon Yoon shot and stabbed Daniel McCaw to death. Pierce County Sheriff’s Department

In yet another bizarre twist, court documents say Davies’ father contacted authorities after his son was found to reveal that the teen was involved in McCaw’s death – but that the victim’s “biker buddies” had threatened his son into stealing items from the home.

The father claimed Davies then consulted Yoon and the duo hatched a plan to steal the items.

Davies had told his father that Yoon allegedly shot and stabbed McCaw when he entered his home, the court documents say.

The father also told investigators that the “specific outlaw motorcycle group” then tracked his son down on Aug. 31, pulled him out of his vehicle and smashed his face against the car.

They allegedly drove Davies around in their car before “roughing him up” and dumping him without his shoes and shirt, according to the father.

Separately, Yoon’s father had also contacted authorities at some point to say he had information about “a crime in which Davies was involved.”

Davies and Yoon are both charged with murder in the first and second degree, burglary and unlawful possession of a fire arms.

Their bail was set at $1 million each.