UPDATED: Roommates of woman killed in double murder-suicide share horrifying story

By Kontji Anthony - bio | email

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Two women were held captive for hours by their roommate's ex-boyfriend and witnessed the murder of their best friend and her father Thanksgiving night.

Brittany Enochs and Emily Sterling lost a best friend and a father figure.

"It was pure terror," said Enochs.

Enochs and Sterling said they arrived at Greenbrook Apartments around 7:00 p.m. Thanksgiving to find Derek Boykin holding their roommate, Brittney Davis, hostage.

"He made us go inside the apartment," said Enochs.

They said they believe Brittney Davis had been there about half an hour.  Boykin then terrorized them at gunpoint for another three and a half hours.

"We had to do everything, what he said, because he was threatening our lives," said Sterling.

They said Boykin wanted answers to a list of questions about his relationship with Davis, his ex-girlfriend.

"He was drilling her with questions, and she was doing her best to try and stay calm and answer them," said Sterling, "to prevent him from getting mad and getting physical and shooting one of us."

"We were put on a couch.  He told us to sit," said Enochs.  "Me and Brittney were on the couch and she was on the floor.  He had us in total control.  If we wanted to go to the bathroom, we went like a herd of cattle.  Everyone of us had to go and he watched to make sure we didn't do anything.  And he herded us right back."

Neither of them had any idea what was coming next.

"Most of the communication between us was, 'I love you, we're going to get out of this, please don't hurt us, just let us go,'" said Enochs.

Brittney Davis' father Edd Davis then arrived.  Sterling said he suspected something was wrong when he could not get in touch with his daughter.

"She went for it.  She saw her dad and she ran out of the door for it," said Sterling.  "And (Boykin) followed behind her, and as soon as he was out of view, chasing after her, I grabbed her."

Gun shots then ran out.

"It was the most terrifying moment probably in my whole entire life," said Enochs.  "I knew what and who he was shooting at."

"We ran down the hallway to the very back room," said Sterling.  "I slammed the door, locked it, kicked a window open.  I said, 'we're jumping right now.  We have to do this right now.'"

Enochs and Sterling were two stories above ground.

"I knew it was going to be a hard jump, but it was for our lives," said Sterling.  "I did not think twice about jumping out of that window."

"We jumped to safety and turned around and saw exactly what had happened," said Enochs.

Brittney and Edd Davis were dead.  Boykin had locked himself in the apartment.

Memphis Police TACT Unit negotiators tried to convince him to come out, but Boykin shot and killed himself.

Enochs and Sterling said their best friend was brave.

"Through everything, having the gun pointed at her, it didn't matter," said Enochs.  "She was going to do whatever it took, and she was going to say whatever she had to say to just get us out of there."

They said Boykin began showing signs of desperation days before the double murder-suicide.

"He was just pure evil that night," said Sterling.  "It makes me sick to even think about it."

Sterling and Enochs said Boykin plotted the whole thing.

"He said it was a signed check," said Enochs.  "He knew from the beginning what he was going to do.  He thought about it, planned it out."

The roommates said when Brittney Davis began dating Boykin, he seemed like an easygoing college student.  They said threats began about a week ago, after Davis broke up with him.

Enochs said they had just filled out papers to ban Boykin from Greenbrook Apartments and they were going to file them Monday.

"He said he would be on the news," said Enochs.  "I don't want that.  He doesn't deserve to be on the news, he doesn't deserve to be talked about."

Enochs and Sterling said Boykin originally planned to get all of Davis' friends to come over so he could kill everyone.  They offered advice for victims of domestic violence.

"As soon as the hostility starts, you just stop it right when you can and get away from the situation," said Sterling.  "Because it will just escalate from there."

Brittney Davis' mother asked those thinking of donating flowers to consider donating to domestic violence organizations instead.

Domestic violence hotlines:

Arkansas - 800-269-4668

Mississippi - 800-898-3234

Tennessee - 800-356-6767

Shelby County - 901-272-2221

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