Couple Who Found Abandoned Newborn Girl Doubts Link to Missing Ohio Mom Jessie Davis

Police investigating the disappearance of pregnant mom Jessie Davis are looking into the discovery of an abandoned newborn baby 45 miles from where the woman was last seen.

The day-old infant girl was left Monday night in a wicker basket on the doorstep of a residence in rural south Wooster, Ohio and taken to Wooster Community Hospital, where a DNA sample was taken.

Davis, who was pregnant with a baby girl and due to give birth July 3, vanished in North Canton, south of Cleveland in northeastern Ohio.

Authorities are trying to determine whether there is a link between that baby and the one Davis, 26, was expecting, said Stark City Sheriff's Chief Deputy Rick Perez in a Tuesday evening press conference.

"Investigators are not ruling anything out at this time," Perez said.

Thomas Maurer, sheriff in neighboring Wayne County, does not believe there is a connection between the baby and Davis. He said a doctor determined that the newborn was less than 24 hours old.

"We're using every caution we can" to ID the infant or eliminate the possibility that she is related to Davis, he said.

Don Redman and his wife arrived home from dinner Monday night to discover the newborn on the porch of their rural home south of Wooster, according to Maurer. The baby was dressed in a sleeper.

The wicker basket contained a blanket and a bottle of formula, but there was no note, Mauer said.

Redman said the infant's umbilical cord had been tied off with a rubber band, and she was sleeping when he and his wife found it. He speculated that the baby was left by someone who knew his wife's background as a nurse and board member at a local free clinic.

"My wife has been a school nurse and has dealt with young females in a confidential manner over a number of years," Redman said. "We don't feel at this point that there's any connection (with the missing woman)."

The baby was taken to Wooster Community Hospital, where DNA from the girl was taken using a mouth swab, said Maurer, who drove the sample to investigators in Stark County on Tuesday.

Davis was last heard from Wednesday when she spoke to her mother by phone from her home in North Canton.

In 2000 in nearby Ravenna, a pregnant woman was killed and her baby was cut out by a heavyset woman who claimed she was pregnant and took the victim's baby as her own. She killed herself five days later when police traced cell phone calls and went to confront her.

Earlier Tuesday, a former girlfriend of the man who fathered Davis' unborn child and her 2-year-old son told FOX News that he has a violent history and should be looked at as a possible person of interest in the case.

Canton, Ohio, police patrolman Bobby Cutts Jr. has two children with his wife and another child with Nikki Giavasis, who now lives in California. He is also the father of Davis' toddler son Blake, as well as her unborn baby girl. Davis disappeared last week.

Giavasis told FOX News on Tuesday that Cutts kicked down her door when he broke into her house after their relationship ended because he was upset that she was dating someone new. She had taken several restraining orders out against him, she said, including one in 2007. He also hit and verbally abused their daughter, who no longer sees him, according to Giavasis.

"He was very volatile during the relationship," Giavasis told FOX News. "He threatened to steal my daughter continuously ... He frightened me horrifically, my daughter, my family. It's been an ongoing ordeal since meeting him."

She said Cutts is manipulative and has been convicted of perjury several times. She believes he is responsible for Davis' disappearance.

"I think definitely he'd be the only suspect," she told FOX.

Cutts did not respond to FOX News' attempts to interview him, but several friends and family members told FOX News there is no way Cutts would try to harm Giavasis or his own child.

Police have specifically said that Cutts, 30, is not a suspect in the case and is cooperating fully with the investigation — as is his estranged wife, Kelly Cutts, who reportedly knew about the on-again, off-again relationship he had with Davis.

Cutts brought his pickup truck to a location agreed upon with police. The police searched it and found nothing suspicious, FOX News has learned.

FOX News spoke to friend of Cutts at the Canton Police Department who said he thinks Cutts is being railroaded. The friend said Cutts is a witness in a federal lawsuit that could go to trial this year surrounding discrimination claims within the Canton Police Department against black officers. The friend thinks Cutts is being railroaded and not enough time is being spent looking for foul play elsewhere.

Police investigating Davis' disappearance used a canine unit to search Cutts' home, but they still believe her 2-year-old son may be the only one who can tell them what happened.

Since the young mom vanished, the child, Blake, has been saying, "Mommy's in the rug" over and over, according to Davis' mother, Patricia Porter, who found the tot home alone last Thursday in a house that looked as though it had been ransacked.

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Police believe the "rug" the boy is referring to is a missing bed comforter. They have advised Porter, Davis' sister and other relatives not to ask the child questions so that any recollections and information he might have will come out naturally.

"Whatever comes, comes," Porter said. "He plays a lot. We're not trying to prod him or anything."

Blake has also said, "Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table."

Porter told FOX News on Tuesday that Blake has been carrying around his mother's photo since she disappeared.

"I think he saw everything," Porter said, declining to comment further on what else the child has talked about.

Police think foul play could have been involved, but so far have turned up no leads and have no suspects.

"I think they're following every lead they have and I think they're doing the very best they can right now," Porter told FOX, weeping at times during the interview. "I just want my daughter back. We love her, her children love her ... We just want her home."

On Monday night, FBI agents, sheriff's deputies and police dogs searched Cutts' home and removed several items from the residence.

Bobby Cutts was to drop Blake off at Davis' home Thursday, Porter said in her 911 call. She declined to comment on how Cutts and her daughter got along or give any other information about him in her Tuesday interview with FOX News.

Cutts, who took part Sunday in a search around Davis' home, was placed on paid administrative leave due to the stress of the disappearance, Canton police Chief Dean McKimm told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.

Before joining the Canton Police Department in 1998, Cutts was charged with aggravated criminal trespass for breaking into Giavasis' home and pleaded no contest, The Repository in Canton, Ohio, reported. He was found guilty and placed on three years probation, according to the paper, and became a police officer in 2000.

In February 2003, Cutts was fired from the force after an investigation into how his cousin had wound up with Cutts' weapon, The Repository reported. Cutts said the weapon was stolen, but police determined he had given it to the cousin. He was later reinstated, however, after an arbitrator intervened, according to the newspaper.

Click here to read The Repository story

Sheriff's deputies also combed through Jessie Davis' duplex over the weekend and returned Monday evening with FBI agents. A weekend search by police and 60 to 70 volunteers found no leads.

Porter went to her daughter's house Thursday to check up on her, worried that she hadn't heard from her in a day. What she found was Blake alone wearing a dirty diaper, a broken table and puddles of bleach on the floor.

The night stand and lamp in the bedroom were knocked over, and the mattress was partially off the bed.

"My God, something's wrong!" Porter said in a 911 call. Porter told the emergency dispatcher that her daughter "would never, ever" leave the child behind.

Items from Davis' purse were scattered all over the floor, and her cell phone is missing, according to investigators. Her car was still parked in the driveway, and the sliding patio door was unlocked. There was no sign of forced entry, police said.

Davis' sister told FOX News that the only clothing missing from the house was a pair of pink Victoria's Secret stretch pants and a white camisole top that said "Ohhh laaa laaa." Davis wore both frequently, according to her sister.

Davis had been excited about the upcoming birth of her second child, getting baby clothes ready and packing a suitcase for the delivery.

She had decided to name the girl Chloe, which means "blooming" in Greek. Davis was in good spirits when she spoke to her mother Wednesday.

"You just feel absolutely numb," Porter said. "I see her picture on television and I think, 'Oh my God, what a beautiful girl.' And then it hits you, 'That's my girl."'

Davis is employed by Allstate Insurance at a call center in nearby Hudson, company spokesman Mike Siemienas said Monday. A co-worker, Dianna Piltz, sent Davis a text message at 8:15 a.m. Thursday that wasn't returned.

"We freak out when she's a couple minutes late. She's pregnant and you always worry about pregnant women," Piltz said.

Neighbors said Davis lived a low-key life, and was often seen pushing a stroller. "Every now and then we'd see her out and about," said Jeff Midkiff, 46. "She would wave, or whatever. She seemed like a very quiet person."

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FOX News' Catherine Donaldson-Evans, Jeff Goldblatt, Laura Ingle and The Associated Press contributed to this report.