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May 8, 2006

Update: Neighbor held in murder of girl, 8 / Photo

Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman
Joshua Davis was arraigned this afternoon in Sixth District Court and ordered held.

PROVIDENCE -- A neighbor was charged with murder this afternoon in the death of an 8-year-old Woonsocket girl, whose body was found early this morning in Cranston.

Joshua Davis, 20, of of 564 Coe St., Woonsocket, was ordered held without bail after his arraignment before Judge Michael A. Higgins in Sixth District Court.

Davis lives in a second-floor apartment from the victim, Savannah Smith.

His girlfriend sometimes picked up Savannah from school, her father, David Smith, said today.

Thin and red-haired, with a tattoo on his neck, he appeared in court barefoot, wearing blue scrubs.

Assistant Attorney General J. Patrick Youngs told the judge that "the evidence at the bail hearing will be overwhelming" against Davis.

Savannah's body was found at about 3:30 a.m. today in the woods near Mill Street and Parkview Boulevard, near an industrial area in Cranston, said Michael Healey, a spokesman for state Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch.

No information has been released on how she was killed.

-- With reports from Journal staff writers Amanda Milkovits and Cynthia Needham and the Associated Press

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