Inmate sentenced in 1988 Petaluma rape and murder

A state prison inmate who killed a Vallejo woman more than two decades ago in Petaluma was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in prison.

Josafat Presencion, 49, was punished for the 1988 slaying of Wynetta Davis, 26, whose body was found in a livestock water trough near Pepper Road and Bodega Avenue.

The case went unsolved until 2011, when Presencion was identified by DNA evidence. At the time, he was finishing a long sentence for a Marin County rape at San Quentin State Prison.

Davis’s family expressed gratitude that he was brought to justice before he was released. About a half-dozen relatives sat in court wearing T-shirts bearing Davis’s pictures.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” her older sister, Marilyn Jones told the judge.

She said Davis left home May 11, 1988 to buy diapers for her two young sons and never returned. Her body was found three days later and 40 miles away.

Davis’s niece, Lanora Miller, said her aunt never had a chance to see her boys grow up. One of them died of natural causes last year and the other is 27 today, she said.

He did not come to court.

“They were still in diapers when you decided to play God and take her from them,” she said to Presencion, who stood across the room with his lawyer.

Presencion and a co-defendant, Fausto Chavez, 50 were initially charged with murder.

In July, Presencion pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter, rape and other charges in connection with the death. Under the law, he is eligible for release after serving half of the time.

Chavez, who cooperated with prosecutors for a lighter sentence, testified at a preliminary hearing that Davis drove to Petaluma with the two men to party and have sex.

Chavez said Presencion killed her in a dispute. An autopsy found her death was caused by asphyxiation or “dry drowning.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.