Car Seller Shot to Death on Test Drive

A North Hollywood man was found shot to death on a street near his home half an hour after he took two men on a test drive in a $2,000 sports car he was selling, Los Angeles police said Monday.

The body of Richard Ronald Davis, 19, was discovered about 9:30 p.m. Sunday near a curb in the 6600 block of Teesdale Avenue by a resident of the street who was returning home, Detective Mike Coffey said.

Davis had been shot several times and had crawled along the street in an apparent effort to reach help before dying. Coffey said residents in the area heard several popping sounds but had been unaware that it was gunfire.

Coffey said investigators are unsure of a motive for the slaying. Davis’ 1973 Datsun 240Z, which he had been trying to sell, was stolen but it was not believed that Davis had much money with him when he took the two strangers for a ride in the car.

“It’s kind of hard to figure,” Coffey said. “The only object of a robbery seems to have been the car. But how much could the car be worth? It would have been a lot simpler to rip one off the street with no one in it.”

Davis, a moving company employee who had bought the Datsun Sept. 5, according to state vehicle records, lived with his mother and sister on Welby Way, about two blocks from where his body was found.

Davis’ mother told investigators that her son had advertised the car for sale for $2,000 in a regional auto sales magazine, Coffey said. Earlier Sunday, Davis had received a call from a man police believe may have been one of the gunmen. The appointment for the test drive was set for later that evening.

About 9 p.m., two men came to his door and Davis told his mother that he would be back after taking them on a test drive. His mother and sister did not see them, and police have no description of the men, Coffey said.

The stolen car was described as red, with a slight dent in the rear, revealing yellow paint beneath. The license plate is 240 HSC.