Mother ‘couldn’t reconcile’ shooting death Daughter apparently targeted because she had tax refund

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A single mother of two young girls had just left work Thursday afternoon when she was shot and killed in what investigators believe was a robbery planned by one of her co-workers.

Keiauna Lynnette Davis, 27, was walking home about 2:50 p.m. after her shift at Dollar General had ended when she was fatally shot by a man who ambushed her on Laketon Road, Allegheny County police said.

Laya Whitley, 21, of East Hills, Dane J. Taylor, 21, of Swissvale, and Kaijin Scott, 23, of Turtle Creek, were charged in the slaying late Friday and have been arrested. In court documents, investigators detailed how Ms. Whitley, who worked with Ms. Davis at Dollar General, allegedly conspired with the two men to rob the 27-yearold of her $3,000 income tax refund.

“I can’t believe someone places so little value on someone else’s life for $3,000,” Sheila Detwiler, Ms. Davis’ mother, said on the phone on Friday.

Even before court documents describing the crime became available, Ms. Detwiler said she believed someone knew her daughter had a substantial amount of cash on her when she left work Thursday.

Ms. Davis’ tax refund had been deposited into the bank earlier Thursday, and her grandmother brought it to her while she was on her lunch break at Dollar General, Ms. Detwiler said.

Ms. Detwiler, 47, of Charlotte, N.C., said before charges were filed that she believed someone must have seen her daughter with the money, or overheard her talking about it. She thought someone was most likely waiting for her daughter to get off of work.

Police findings revealed in a