Clay County authorities on Thursday charged Richard D. Davis and Dena D. Riley with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Michelle Ricci.

In May, police and sheriff's deputies discovered Ricci's charred remains in a wooded area near Missouri 210 and Missouri 291 in rural Clay County.

Ricci is the second victim linked to Davis and Riley. Her name surfaced during the investigation into the videotaped sex killing of Marsha Spicer in Independence. Officials also recovered a videotape that, according to court records, shows the couple raping and torturing Ricci.

The Jackson County medical examiner used dental records to identify Ricci, who disappeared in early April. Jackson County officials have charged Davis and Riley with sodomy, sexual abuse and other offenses against Ricci.

Court records filed Thursday said Davis and Riley raped and tortured Ricci in April. In that encounter, the couple devised a plan to kill Ricci because she knew where they lived and they feared she would contact police about what they had done to her, White said.

Davis kept Ricci drugged while they decided what to do with her. Later, the couple put Ricci into their blue Toyota and drove her to Missouri 210. At that point, Davis got out of the vehicle with Ricci and told Riley to drive away. Davis then tried to strangle Ricci with a rope. When that did not kill her, Davis allegedly covered Ricci's mouth and nose to suffocate her.

The next day, Davis and Riley returned to the wooded area where they had left Ricci's nude body. They doused her with lighter fluid and covered her with a brush and ignited it, according to court records.

White said Thursday that investigators have not determined how Davis and Riley met Ricci or how long the couple knew the victim. White also said he had not received the complete case file or completely reviewed the volumes of written documents and DVDs connected to the case. However, White said there was information to allow him to file the murder charges.

Several weeks after Ricci's death, police found videotapes depicting Spicer in violent sex scenes inside the couple's Independence apartment. One tape more than two hours long, authorities said, showed Spicer being beaten, raped and strangled during violent, three-way sex.

Davis and Riley face state charges of murder, kidnapping, sodomy, rape and assault in Spicer's death, which police think occurred May 14. Authorities think Ricci was killed several weeks earlier.

A fisherman found Spicer's nude, battered body in a shallow grave in Lafayette County. After they were arrested, Davis and Riley directed authorities to Ricci's body.

Federal authorities in June also alleged the two kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 5-year-old Kansas girl after they told the child's parents that they were taking her to a restaurant.

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