Cullen Davis, a Fort Worth oil tycoon, went on trial in February 1977 in the killings of his ex-wife’s daughter and his ex-wife’s boyfriend.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Feb. 14, 2025 marks 48 years since Cullen Davis went on trial in the killing of 12-year-old Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr. Watch a special presentation of WFAA’s coverage of the case on WFAA+ at 8:45 p.m. Friday. Don’t have WFAA+? Here’s how to download it on your smart TV.
It’s been nearly 50 years since one of the more shocking crimes in Fort Worth history. And no one was convicted.
Oil tycoon Cullen Davis was accused of killing 12-year-old Andrea Wilborn, the daughter of his ex-wife Priscilla Childers from a previous marriage, and Childers’ then-boyfriend Stan Farr, who both died in an August 1976 shooting at Davis’ own Stonegate Mansion residence.
The killer was alleged to have also shot Childers herself, as well as her friend Gus Gavrel Jr., who was paralyzed for life after he happened to drive upon the scene, alongside his future wife Beverly Bass, just as Childers was staggering out of the $6 million house. (That’s the equivalent of a $45 million property in 2024, for what it’s worth.)
While Wilborn and Farr were killed in the shooting, Gavrel and Childers both survived and were able to give firsthand accounts of the incident to police. Childers outright told officers that her ex-husband Davis had shot her and Farr while wearing a shoulder-length black wig. Gavrel told police that he believed he was shot only after Bass noted aloud that she recognized Davis as the gunman.
Davis was arrested the night of the shooting, but he only ever faced charges for Wilborn’s murder.
In what was at the time dubbed as the “trial of the century,” the prosecution relied almost entirely on eyewitness testimony to try convicting Davis, at the time the richest man in American to ever stand trial for murder. Also raising the profile of the case was Davis’ attorney, the famed Texas defense lawyer Racehorse Haynes.
Prosecutors had few other options; the killer had reportedly held the revolver with a hand inside of a plastic bag, and there was no other physical evidence linking Davis to the crime.
The jury found Davis not guilty.
Davis ended up in court again, not long after his initial trial, after undercover film emerged allegedly showing Davis paying a man $25,000 for a photograph of the murdered judge in his divorce case.
Davis claimed he was there helping the FBI after a friend of Priscilla’s approached him with the plot. Unbeknownst to Davis, it was all staged, authorities said. The judge posed for the photo.
At the trial in Houston, the jury was deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial. But for Davis, as he told WFAA’s John McCaa in 2016, the ruling was clear: He was and is innocent.
Davis maintained his innocence in the initial murder trial, as well, denying to McCaa that he ever owned a wig that was described in the shooting.
McCaa: “You’re absolutely 100% not guilty of this.”
Davis: “That’s absolutely, 100% right.”
