What happened to Michael Severance?

THE 2005 murder of Texas Air Force Sergeant Michael Severance seemed to be solved when police arrested and charged his wife with the gruesome death.

His wife is currently serving 25 years in prison for allegedly murdering him, but she now says she's ready to tell her side of the story through her first-ever prison interview with ABC's 20/20.

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What happened to Michael Severance?

In 2005, Air Force Sergeant Michael Severance disappeared, leaving behind both his car and his cell phone

In an interview with the San Angelo Police Department, his wife, veterinarian Wendi Mae Davidson said she had last seen Severance on the morning of January 15, 2005.

She claimed he'd been drinking a lot because of the pressure of possibly being deployed again.

He'd already served five tours in the Middle East as was preparing for his sixth.

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When Severance didn't show up for his assignment, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) joined forces with the San Angelo Police to run a deserter investigation into his whereabouts.

Part of this investigation included seizing Davidson's computers and placing a tracking device on her car, in case she was aiding her husband in deserting.

The analysis on the computers soon revealed that Davidson had searched the phrase "decomposition of a body in water."

The tracker on her car led police to check out a remote ranch about 20 miles outside of the couple's town.

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This is ultimately where they ended up finding Severance's body, weighed down by car parts, tires, and cinder blocks in a pond on a ranch about 20 miles outside the couple's town.

Severance's toxicology report revealed that he had been poisoned with animal tranquilizers and was later stabbed 41 times posthumously.

"These were post-mortem cuts to allow the release of gases that typically accumulate in decomposing bodies," said Eddie Howard, the Tom Green County Justice of the Peace at the time. "Rage is hitting (stabbing or poking) one spot. It's more localized. These were spread out."

Davidson was arrested and claimed that while she had allegedly disposed of the body, including making the precise cuts and taking it to the pond, she had nothing to do with his death.

Instead, she claimed she found him already dead in their home.

What charges was Wendi Mae Davidson convicted of?

She was convicted in October 2006 of first-degree murder and two counts of tampering with evidence.

She initially faced between nine and 99 years.

However, she made a plea deal and pleaded no contest to the charges, which lessened her sentence to 25 years in prison.

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She has since maintained her innocence.

"What I did was horrible, there's no excuse. I mean I might have had crazy reasons in my head, but there's no excuse," Davidson said in her 20/20 interview with ABC's Matt Gutman in 2021.

How can I watch the 20/20 special on this case?

The special will air at 9pm ET on ABC on May 26, 2023.

Viewers can also watch the special on Hulu or YouTube TV after it airs.

20/20 will also feature interviews with Ron Sanders, former Tom Green County Sheriff First Sergeant, Shawn Palmer, retired Texas Ranger, and Greg McCormick, former Special Agent with the Air Force OSI, all of whom worked on the investigation.