H  CHILE HUNT FOR JUSTICE WINDS UP AS A DEAD END 

S1  This article is part of TIMES EXPRESS.
S2 It is a condensed version of a story that will appear in tomorrow’s New York Times.
S3 );

S4  SANTIAGO, Chile - The Chilean courts have long been after Ray E. Davis, a former U.S. Navy captain, accusing him of being involved in the murder of two Americans decades ago that inspired the award-winning 1982 film “Missing.”

S5  A Chilean judge indicted Davis in 2011 and requested his extradition from the United States, where he was assumed to be living with his wife, Patricia.
S6 The Chilean Supreme Court then authorized the extradition request in October.

S7  But it turns out Davis may have been right under their noses all along, living in a nursing home in the Chilean capital.
S8 Any attempts to haul him into court may now be too late; documents show that he recently died here.

S9  The death of Davis, former commander of the U.S. Military Group at the embassy in Santiago, would leave many unanswered questions about the possible roles played by U.S. officials in the killings of Americans Charles Horman, 31, and Frank Teruggi, 24, while in military custody shortly after the 1973 military coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
S10 It was the Horman case that is depicted in the film “Missing” by the director Costa-Gavras.

S11  At the time of the indictment, Patricia Davis told The Associated Press that her husband had Alzheimer’s disease and was in a nursing home.
S12 She did not explain, however, that the nursing home was in Santiago.

S13  U.S. Embassy officials in Chile said they were unaware that Davis was living in Santiago until early May, when they were informed of his death a few days before.
S14 Patricia Davis also confirmed her husband’s death in a telephone interview from Niceville, Fla., but declined to say where it had occurred.

S15  A death certificate issued in Santiago says that a Ray E. Davis died of a “multisystemic failure” on April 30, at age 88.

S16  Records at the Parque del Recuerdo cemetery in Santiago also show that a Ray E. Davis was cremated there but that his remains were taken elsewhere.

S17  Charles Horman’s widow, Joyce, is unconvinced that it is the Ray Davis accused of involvement in her husband’s murder, and she has asked the U.S. Embassy to provide proof of the cancellation of the former captain’s pension.

S18  “How is it that no one notified the Chilean court system or the U.S. Embassy that Ray Davis was in Chile, when it now looks like he had been in Chile for a year or so?” she said.

