Previously convicted murderer now going back to prison for killing Tacoma woman
A man previously convicted of murder pleaded guilty to beating his girlfriend to death outside a housing complex in Tacoma and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Michael Anthony Cooley, 62, admitted to second-degree murder for the death of 52-year-old Melissa Davis, who was found dead May 1, 2024 outside G Street Apartments, which is managed by the Tacoma Housing Authority in the North End neighborhood. The housing authority’s website describes it as a senior/disabled apartment community.
On Friday, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Shelly Moss imposed Cooley’s punishment, which was near the high end of the standard-sentencing range. Cooley previously served 17 years in prison for a 1985 murder conviction from Virginia and had been arrested before for domestic violence.
Representatives for the Tacoma Housing Authority did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. A phone call to the housing authority’s main office Monday went unanswered, and a recorded message said the offices were closed.
Davis’ cause of death appears to remain pending, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office, but a police spokesperson previously said she died of blunt-force trauma. Cooley reportedly told detectives he punched, stomped and kicked Davis more than 50 times and that he “might have” hit her with a concrete block.
Cooley texted Davis threatening messages before the homicide, according to the probable cause document. The day before she was killed, Davis texted another apartment resident about the messages, writing: “Mike told me that he was going to kick the [expletive] out of me.”
Tacoma Fire Department personnel declared Davis dead a little more than an hour after surveillance video showed Cooley push her to the ground outside at 1:16 a.m., according to court documents. The documents don’t describe whether cameras captured the fatal beating.
When police arrived, a group of residents was standing outside the building in the 400 block of North G Street, including Cooley. Before he was identified as a suspect, he reportedly told officers he’d been outside smoking with Davis and that everything was fine at the time.
A security guard for the Tacoma Housing Authority told police he drove near where the victim’s body was found at about 12:45 a.m. He said he saw a person lying in a gutter and saw a male rubbing the person’s back. He told police he asked him if the person was OK, and he drove away when the male said yes.
A resident of a different apartment complex nearby told police she heard arguing and a woman yell, “Oh God, no,” at about 1 a.m., but she didn’t think much of it because it was common to hear loud voices coming from the G Street Apartments.
Officers found a bloody block of concrete near a tree next to a sidewalk, and detectives later reported seeing a slight trail of blood leading from Davis to where it was found. In a trash can behind the apartments, investigators found a white jacket Davis had been recorded wearing on surveillance video. It was covered in what detectives suspected was blood.
Detectives arrested Cooley after viewing surveillance footage of him pushing Davis to the ground and later removing her jacket. He reportedly told detectives he took the jacket off of her because it showed the tread pattern of his shoes.
