Barry Schmalbach Case: Cape Coral No-Body Murder Conviction

The Barry Schmalbach case is the Cape Coral, Florida, disappearance and murder of a 56-year-old man who vanished on July 19, 2023, after an evening out with his boyfriend, Christopher Gregory Davis. Schmalbach’s body has never been recovered. In June 2025, a Lee County jury convicted Davis of second-degree murder and related fraud counts, and he was sentenced to life in prison in what prosecutors called Cape Coral’s first no-body murder conviction.¹

The Night Barry Schmalbach Disappeared

On the evening of July 19, 2023, Schmalbach and Davis went to Cruisers, a bar in Cape Coral. A witness at the bar said the couple did not appear to be getting along.¹²³

Surveillance video showed the pair walking back to their shared condo together. After they returned, neighbors reported banging noises as if someone were being slammed around, moaning, and what prosecutors later described as three knocks followed by gasping and the words “no, no.”⁴ A neighbor also heard something being dragged in the hallway while the lights were out and saw Davis standing there once the lights came back on.¹

About two hours later, cameras at a nearby Walmart recorded Davis buying two rolls of duct tape, a tarp, and chocolate milk with cash.⁴ Schmalbach was never seen or heard from again. Data from his smartwatch showed his last phone call took place on July 19.⁵

What Davis Did Over the Following Days

Davis waited three days before calling police. On July 22, 2023, at 1:21 p.m., he called the Cape Coral Police Department to report Schmalbach missing, but when officers arrived he said he was too medicated and tired to talk, and no report was completed.⁶ Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore later said the “deceptive nature” of that call was what first drew suspicion.⁷ That evening, Blanco went to the apartment, found it in disarray, and filed a formal missing persons report at 8:21 p.m.³

Davis told investigators Schmalbach had left the apartment in someone else’s car. Police determined that someone was driving Schmalbach’s Jeep between July 20 and July 22, and location data showed the vehicle pinged multiple times in Hendry County, roughly 80 miles inland from Cape Coral.³⁶ Days after the disappearance, Davis rented an Airbnb in Hendry County under his brother’s name.⁸ After he checked out, investigators found furniture displaced and an unusual amount of sand and dirt on the floor and in the bathtub.² While at the Airbnb, Davis paid cash for a pickax and a shovel and later disposed of both; the pickax was recovered from a dumpster after a hardware store employee reported it.⁹

Five days after the disappearance, officers observed fresh cuts and scratches on Davis’s hands, forearms, ankles, and shins.⁶ Davis said the injuries came from harnessing a cat, but a forensic technician testified that no cat or harness was found at his home.⁹

The Evidence That Convicted Davis Without a Body

Investigators built what Chief Sizemore called a “massive” circumstantial case, working with the Fort Myers Police Department and the Lee, Hendry, and Pasco county sheriff’s offices.⁷

On July 31, 2023, two cadaver dogs alerted to the scent of human decomposition inside Schmalbach’s Jeep.⁵ Davis’s fingerprints were on the vehicle, and witnesses testified that Schmalbach never allowed anyone else to drive it. Fabric from cleaning wipes stuck to duct tape was also recovered from the Jeep and linked to purchases Davis had made using Schmalbach’s credit cards.

The financial trail was extensive. Davis impersonated Schmalbach on a recorded bank call to verify the victim’s debit card, then used his credit cards and identification to withdraw cash from ATMs, pay $1,454 for a cosmetic procedure at an aesthetic medicine clinic, and shop at multiple businesses.¹⁵ Evidence showed he was wearing Schmalbach’s Apple smartwatch during some of the unauthorized purchases. Police later found Schmalbach’s wallet in a storm drain.⁴

Analysis of Davis’s cellphone turned up internet searches for “missing man,” “people missing out of Cape Coral,” and Airbnb rental listings.⁵ When an acquaintance asked about Schmalbach on July 24, Davis appeared nervous and suggested Schmalbach might have been the victim of a hate crime.

Charges, Trial, and Verdict

Cape Coral police arrested Davis on August 1, 2023, on an active probation violation warrant from South Carolina tied to a 2013 grand larceny and credit card fraud conviction.¹⁰ He was extradited to South Carolina on August 10, 2023, and held in the Lexington County Jail on the South Carolina violation and a separate Georgia violation tied to a fraud conviction.³

In January 2024, Cape Coral prosecutors charged Davis with one count of second-degree murder, one count of tampering with evidence, and nine counts of fraudulent use of the personal identification of a deceased person.⁷ He was returned to Lee County in June 2024 to face trial before Circuit Judge Nicholas Thompson.¹¹

Over four days, the state called 40 witnesses.¹² The defense moved for acquittal after the prosecution rested, arguing that the state had not produced enough evidence “to elevate a disappearance to murder.” Defense attorney Bill Miskovich raised an alternative theory that Schmalbach could have died in a DUI crash rather than at Davis’s hands, and pointed to Schmalbach’s history of heavy drinking and a pre-existing heart condition as possible causes of death. The defense also argued that Schmalbach had given Davis permission to use his credit cards and that the sounds neighbors heard did not warrant a 911 call.⁴

On June 26, 2025, after roughly two hours of deliberation, the jury found Davis guilty on all counts. It was the first murder conviction obtained without a body in Cape Coral’s history.⁴

Sentence and Appeal

Judge Thompson imposed the following sentences, all running consecutively:

Second-degree murder: life in prison.
Tampering with physical evidence: five years in prison.
Eight counts of fraudulent use of a deceased person’s identification: five years on each count.¹²

Davis filed a notice of appeal.¹² He is also serving time in South Carolina on the unrelated probation violation from his 2013 larceny and fraud conviction.

Prosecutors said there had been discussions about a plea deal that could have led Davis to reveal where Schmalbach’s remains were located, but the victim’s family preferred to go to trial.¹² Schmalbach’s body has never been found, and his family has said they will not stop hoping to recover his remains.⁴

1
Cape Coral Breeze. Cape Man Sentenced to Life in Prison in Boyfriend’s Murder
2
State Attorney’s Office, 20th Judicial Circuit. Life in Prison for Murder
3
Gulf Coast News Now. Man Charged With Second-Degree Murder in the Disappearance of Barry Schmalbach
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News-Press. Barry Schmalbach Murder: Christopher Davis Sentenced to Life
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News-Press. State Witnesses Point to Human Remains in Missing Man’s Jeep
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The Charley Project. Barry James Schmalbach
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News-Press. Boyfriend Charged With Murder in Barry Schmalbach Case
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WINK News. New Details Released on the Timeline of Barry Schmalbach’s Disappearance
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Court TV. Christopher Davis
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News-Press. Christopher Davis Murder Trial
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News-Press. Christopher Davis Trial Date Set in Barry Schmalbach Murder
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Court TV. Prosecutors Reflect on How They Convicted Christopher Davis