Extraordinary tale of California couple savaged by chimpanzees takes even more chilling turn
St James and LaDonna Davis gained national attention in 2005 when the chimpanzee-loving couple was brutally attacked by two of the primates while visiting their beloved pet Moe on a ranch in California.
Photos of St. James after the mauling – without foot, buttocks, nose, lips and other body parts – shocked America. But new revelations show this wasn’t the end of the couple’s misery and trauma.
After St James died in July 2018, LaDonna was left alone. Now new reporting from NBC News suggest the vulnerable and confused 74-year-old was abused and wiped out by an immigrant Vietnamese businessman and a violent motorcycle gang.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars disappeared from bank accounts, LaDonna’s cars and belongings were stolen, and gang members took control of her home in West Covina, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
When Gilbert Amis, an officer with the West Covina Police Department, visited the home a week after St. James’ death from a stroke, he found the widow caked in mud and in fetid conditions.
St James brought home orphaned chimpanzee Moe from Tanzania, and the couple treated him more like a son than a wild animal
LaDonna, left, and St James Davis lost body parts in a frenzied chimpanzee attack in 2005. Here they speak to reporters in 2008 after their ‘child’ chimpanzee Moe disappeared and was never seen again
“We’ve got to get her out of here,” Amis recalled thinking in an interview with NBC.
LaDonna would have had to endure an extreme version of what happens to millions of seniors in the US every year: financial exploitation by heartless crooks.
It’s the final chapter in one of the most bizarre and tragic stories in modern California history.
St James was a professional boat racer and NASCAR driver. LaDonna was his crew chief.
They first entered the national spotlight in 1967, when St. James brought home the orphaned chimpanzee Moe from Tanzania, and the couple treated him more like a son than a wild animal.
Moe ate dinner with the Davises at the kitchen table, slept in their bed and was the “best man” at their wedding.
They lived with Moe for almost thirty years until he was forcibly removed from their home and placed in a wildlife sanctuary after biting a house guest’s finger.
During a trip to see Moe at his ranch on his 39th birthday in 2005, two other chimpanzees escaped from their enclosure and attacked the visiting couple while they were serving birthday cake.
The chimpanzees attacked the couple. A piece of LaDonna’s left thumb.
St. James came off worse: they tore out his right eye and bit off his nose, eight of his fingers and parts of his skull, lips, cheek, buttocks, genitals and feet.
The attack lasted several minutes and ended when the two animals were shot dead.
St James spent five months in hospital and underwent many operations. He was severely disfigured, could never walk again and was blind in one eye.
Moe was taken to a facility in the San Bernardino mountains. In 2008 he escaped from his enclosure and disappeared. The Davises ‘animal son’ of 40 years was never seen again.
The Davises treated Moe like their son. He ate with them at their kitchen table and slept in their bed
During the attack, the two chimpanzees gouged out St. James’ right eye and chewed off his nose, eight of his fingers and parts of his skull, lips, cheek, buttocks, genitals and feet. Here we see how he returns home after months in the hospital
St. James Davis, left, and his wife La Donna Davis call out to Moe as they visit their adopted chimpanzee after he was removed from their West Covina home
They received a $4 million settlement in 2009 in connection with the attack, court papers show.
This helped cover the costs of St. James’s medical care, but the aging couple became increasingly isolated and vulnerable, haunted by the memory of Moe.
Men brought in to help manage their 1.5-hectare estate reportedly confiscated their belongings.
“She always wanted to help people,” said longtime friend Michael McCasland.
“But everyone seemed to turn her off.”
The couple befriended a hardy immigrant from Myanmar, Min Zaw Maw, and bonded over their shared love of cars.
Maw moved items from his engineering firm to the Davises’ property, court papers show. He called LaDonna his “mommy,” and she called him her “son.”
St James was hospitalized in December 2017 after suffering a stroke. That same month, a $50,000 check from the Davises, made payable to May, was cashed, records show — one of several suspicious financial moves.
About $260,000 was paid out via checks or withdrawals over three months. LaDonna signed another $340,000 to Maw, his wife and his company between August 2017 and December 2018, records show.
Maw has said in documents that some of that money covered labor costs for car sales.
In a brief email to The Mail, Maw said the allegations against him in the NBC article were “false and simply not true,” but provided no further details about his relationship with the Davises.
Meanwhile, police received reports of unknown people visiting the Davises’ home, and of squatters in their second nearby property, albeit apparently with LaDonna’s permission.
McCasland, their friend and a local real estate agent, described LaDonna as looking disheveled when he stopped by to check on them.
LaDonna changed the couple’s trust to make Maw his successor trustee and beneficiary. That led to a legal battle between former trustee McCasland and Maw, and mutual accusations of misconduct.
In July 2018, St James, 75, died of a heart attack. As the lawsuit dragged on, the situation at the Davises’ home became more chaotic. Fights broke out among squatters, calls to 911 increased, and code violations piled up.
Orphan chimpanzee Moe acted as ‘best man’ at the wedding of St. James and LaDonna Davis
LaDonna and St James Davis in July 2008 at their home in West Covina, California, talking about their love of cars and missing chimpanzee ‘child’ Moe
The couple later befriended a poor immigrant from Myanmar, Min Zaw Maw, who ran an automotive startup
During a home visit in April 2019, LaDonna was found with spider wasps buzzing and rabbit feces covering the floor, officials said. She could not provide her age or year and valuables were missing.
“She appears to be a victim of financial abuse,” LA Chief Medical Officer Diana Homeier wrote.
‘She clearly does not have the capacity to make decisions about her living arrangements, finances or personal care. Moreover, she does not see that she is being taken advantage of.’
LaDonna’s home was later taken over by members of the Mongols motorcycle gang, who drove Maw out, according to a police report.
A series of legal battles ensued involving Maw, the new residents, who said they were LaDonna’s caregivers, and court-appointed guardians over who was responsible for her finances and medical decisions.
Maw claimed he spent his own money to maintain LaDonna’s properties.
Ultimately, a court-appointed fiduciary, Brett Hitchman, sold the two properties and put the last of her money into trusts to cover the care of LaDonna, now 80, at a facility for people with cognitive problems.
A November 2022 settlement awarded Maw $175,000 and LaDonna’s vehicles. The outcome raised concerns about the impunity of those who exploit the elderly.
Experts say abuse cases often end in settlements because of the costs of litigation. Prosecutors don’t want to file charges because cases involving elderly and confused victims are difficult to win.
“It’s really frustrating,” Dr. Stacey Wood, a doctor with LA Adult Protective Services, told NBC.
“If someone kicked in a door, took a bunch of stuff and left, the police would have no problem charging them.”
Not prosecuting fraudsters “leaves the criminals free to look for new victims,” she added.