DETROIT (WXYZ) — Josephine Walls lives on Grand River. She tells 7 Action News at 5:01 a.m. on Monday she departed her home for work.
According to her home security camera footage, at 5:06 a.m. sexual assault suspect Kenneth Dwight Davis walked right past her home.
When she realized they were just five minutes apart Walls said she was, "Very terrified, sick. Sick to my stomach."
Neighbors say Walls and her dog Stoney are the "A-1 Neighborhood Security Team."
After Walls learned what Davis was suspected of, she got to work knocking on every woman's door on the primarily female block.
"Me and my doggy, we be up," said Walls. "We be watching, we be patrolling the street."
Her neighbor Robin Grant said, "I thank God for my neighbor because she’s on top of everything and she makes sure that she looks out for all of us, but that’s what it takes to make a community safe."
The community response played a major role in police finding 28-year-old Davis on Tuesday and arresting him.
On Thursday, he was charged on multiple counts in connection to two sexual assaults.
For, allegedly, invading an 80-year-old's home and sexually assaulting her on March 26 in Detroit, Davis was charged with two counts of First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct – During Felony, one count of First-Degree Home Invasion, and one Count of Fourth-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.
For, allegedly, sexually assaulting a 64-year-old woman behind a building on Grand River Avenue on April 3, David was charged with three counts of Third-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct – Force or Coercion and one count of Fourth-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.
Grant described her feelings about the charges, "Absolutely relieved. We did not feel safe just leaving our home at some points."
According to Walls, police towed away a vehicle Tuesday on Grand River that is believed to be where Davis may have been living.
"Maybe he had been in this neighborhood longer than we thought he had been in the neighborhood," said Walls. "But maybe he just hadn’t decided to strike yet."
In court Thursday, the judge denied pre-trial release for Davis saying he's a danger to the public.
While the women who live on Grand River say they're relieved, they're not letting their guard down.
They say they're sticking together and looking out for one another.
"We’re not just gonna lock ourselves up in our houses and run away, we’re gonna live," said Grant.
"Me and Stoney, we be on it," said Walls.
As for what's next for Davis, he has a probable cause conference scheduled for April 18.
