Editor’s Note — Some details of the case, as laid out by police, may be disturbing to some people. Please, use discretion in reading or sharing the content.
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) — Documents related to the murder of a missing woman say her boyfriend killed her, then buried her under stairs in his Capitol Heights home.
Charging documents filed in Prince George’s County state that the mother of Alexis Schuler, 29, of Washington, D.C., reported her daughter missing on Jan. 14. Schuler’s mother said she had not seen her daughter since Jan. She explained that Schuler left her home in Southeast with Schuler’s boyfriend, Devontae Gray, 30. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) began investigating Schuler’s disappearance.
Police said Gray was “adamant” that Schuler left his home in the 700 block of Larchmont Ave. in Capitol Heights, Md., on Jan. 11. He told detectives he had not seen or heard from her since that day. The charging documents noted that Gray told several people, including Schuler’s family members, that he tried to contact her.
On Jan. 17, a detective with MPD’s Missing Persons Unit went to Capitol Heights, Md. and looked at surveillance video that he said showed Gray and Schuler arriving at Gray’s home on Jan. 10. At no point after that did the video show Schuler leaving the home. Police reviewed surveillance video recorded until Jan. 14, the day Schuler’s mother reported her missing.
Thirty video clips from Jan. 12 to Jan. 13 show Gray going into and out of his home. Police said he could be seen going back and forth to his blue pick-up truck with construction materials that appeared to be cement, sheetrock, cinder block, bottle chemicals, 2X4s, large black storage containers, and plastic bags. Detectives said Gray wore a “full-body construction-style suit and gloves.”
Throughout their investigation, MPD detectives met with officers from the Capitol Heights Police Department (CHPD). CHPD officers told the MPD detectives that they received a welfare check call on Jan. 14 for Gray’s home. CHPD officers went there and made contact with Gray. They said they entered the home and smelled a “‘weird'” odor. They described the home as being in “‘dirty'” condition and thought the smell was because of that. They cleared the call, noting that there had been a history of domestic violence calls that came from the home. The most recent call came from Gray on Jan. 9. when he said there was an issue with Schuler. The charging documents state that Gray “then informed the call taker that he had gun” and that if Schuler “entered the home, there was going to be problems.”
CHPD officers also told MPD detectives that they received a voice message from someone who knew Schuler. The person said he/she had spoken to the mother of Gray’s other children and that the woman told Schuler’s acquaintance that Gray dropped his child off to her on Jan.11 when he supposedly told her he was “‘going to jail'” but said nothing more about what he meant.
Based on all the information gathered during the investigation, police executed a search warrant at Gray’s home on Jan. 19. Gray was in the home. Officers found a semi-automatic handgun. Gray was taken to Prince George’s County Police Department’s Major Crimes Division.
Police said in addition to finding the gun, they found fresh drywall, acetone, lemon
ammonia, and other construction and cleaning materials. They removed the drywall and found a “makeshift tomb” under the stairs. Investigators said there was a large plastic bin, wrapped in plastic wrapping, behind a large amount of concrete that Gray poured.
The charging document states: “After pouring the concrete around the plastic bin, the drywall was placed and faux brick was then placed on the drywall.”
Prince George’s County firefighters helped demolish the concrete and remove the bin, which “was opened and inside human foot was visible.”
Police believed it to be Schuler’s foot.
The paperwork filed in Prince George’s County says Schuler was under a “large amount of soil and hay.”
Officers said they found stains in the shower and Phenolphthalein presumptive blood test was positive for blood. Swabs were recovered.”
Detective said Gray waived his Miranda Rights while he was the Major Crimes Division, initially giving investigators conflicting stories. Once they confronted him with what they found inside the home, they said he confessed to killing Schuler, telling them he and she had gotten into an argument and that he shot her, placing her body into the plastic bin, and trying to conceal her by burying her inside the home.
On Jan. 20, the Prince George’s County Police Department said it had arrested Gray, charging him with Schuler’s murder.
