A Greenville, South Carolina, man has been charged in the death of his fiancée — who went missing last year — and was taken into custody on Tuesday, Aug. 24, before being transported to the Gwinnett County Jail.
The arrest came after Greenville police learned that 42-year-old Michael Lee Wilkerson had been living with 32-year-old Brittany Michelle Davis in Greenville, South Carolina, around the time she was reported missing by her family in March 2020.
Human remains were discovered in northeast Georgia in April 2021 and were confirmed via DNA analysis to belong to Davis. It’s believed Davis died on Feb. 12, 2020, although the cause of her death is unknown.
Brian Paiz, a co-worker of Davis, said the update about Davis is sad, yet brings closure. “It’s sad and you’re kind of sick to your stomach,” Paiz told 7 News. “But I will say this… I’m glad that her mom who is such a sweet person and her brothers got some closure.”
Wilkerson was taken into custody in Buford, Georgia, during an Aug. 24 traffic stop by Gwinnett County officers. The Greenville Police Department said on Aug. 26 that he had been charged in the murder of Davis. He was in jail awaiting extradition back to Greenville, WYFF reported Thursday. Officials previously said they believed Davis was dead and was the victim of foul play.
Davis was last seen alive at a Greenville restaurant in February 2020, about a month before her family reported her missing on March 16, 2020. In July 2020, Davis’ mother Melanie Holliman called the situation a “nightmare.”
Holliman continued to get text messages from Davis throughout February and into the month of March. One of the final text messages was about Davis returning home from a trip to Puerto Rico. However, Holliman later learned that Davis had never gone to Puerto Rico, and decided to report her missing.
Paiz said something was not right about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance.
“The story was she had gotten a plane ticket booked to Puerto Rico,” Paiz said. “And I knew she loved Puerto Rico because me and her spoke about that, but she never got on the flight.”
