ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The man who police say fatally attacked the wife of an Orlando pastor in her home earlier this year pleaded guilty to the killing and was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison, according to a statement from the Ninth Judicial Circuit.
Ronald Davis, 55, was arrested about 15 hours after police say he left 85-year-old Lucy Pat Curl unconscious on Jan. 31, the affidavit states.
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Lucy Pat Curl was hospitalized in critical condition and was placed in a medically-induced coma while investigators closed in on Davis. She was taken off life support four days later and died the morning after that, according to her family.
Davis — who had been in and out of prison for decades, including for charges of burglary, assault and battery — was initially booked on charges of home invasion robbery with a weapon, aggravated battery on a person over 65 with great bodily harm and aggravated battery with a weapon, records show. Following Lucy Pat Curl’s death, News 6 verified that Davis would then additionally face a charge of first-degree murder in the commission of a home invasion.
Bill Curl, Lucy Pat Curl’s husband, provides pastor care at First Baptist Church of Orlando.
Senior pastor David Uth spoke to the church’s congregation during Sunday Service following the attack. He said that Davis had approached Lucy Pat Curl’s home and presented himself as a community service officer, forcing his way inside and attacking her after she asked for proof.
“He began to hit her. She fell, and the fall did incredible damage along with the wounds that he gave her directly with his fists,” Uth said. “And so he began to ransack the house while she was lying there in a pool of blood.”
Uth said Lucy Pat Curl managed to get to a car after the attack and honk the horn in an attempt to call for help.
According to Davis’ arrest affidavit, the police department’s Homicide Unit was notified to take over the investigation before Lucy Pat Curl’s death because investigators believed that she would not survive her injuries.