Delon Davis

Opening statements were delivered and the first round of state witnesses testified in the murder trial of the man charged in the killing Mark Ramon McMillan Jr., 36, in North Central District Court on Monday.

Delon Davis, 46, Minot, is accused of shooting McMillan in the basement of a downtown location on or around April 1, 2024, and concealing McMillan’s body in the boiler room until it was discovered by Minot Police four months later. Davis faces five counts in the trial, including Class AA felony murder, Class C felony tampering with physical evidence and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and Class A misdemeanor providing false information to law enforcement.

McMillan was reported missing on April 3, 2024, after falling out of communication with his family, Deputy Ward County State’s Attorney Tiffany Sorgen told the jury. Sorgen described McMillan as a “troubled individual,” who had been living in the basement of the establishment and occasionally working there.

“Minot Police Department put out a missing person’s notice around April 18 of 2024, looking for any assistance in locating Ramon. For months, Minot P.D. chased down rumors of his whereabouts and what happened to him. Some were dead ends. Some were pointless and some were nonsensical,” Sorgen said. “At the end of the day, they all kept coming back to one place and person.”

Davis was the manager of the establishment, which Sorgen said was owned by his friend. Sorgen said despite being interviewed by police on several occasions, Davis denied any knowledge or involvement in McMillan’s disappearance. Sorgen indicated the state’s case would include testimony from individuals Davis allegedly tried to enlist in aiding him in the removal of McMillan’s body from premises and others to whom he denied involvement.

“Eventually, Minot P.D. got a search warrant on July 2, 2024, and they found something pretty horrific. They found Ramon’s body wrapped up like a mummy and shoved in a boiler room behind a bunch of junk in the basement. You’re going to hear testimony, he was so badly decomposed he had to be identified by his tattoos,” Sorgen said. “Once that body was discovered, the defendant started changing his tune.”

Sorgen said Davis’ narrative for the events switched from a self defense incident to claims that another individual responsible for the murder tasked him with cleaning up the scene. Sorgen said testimony from crime scene personnel would show that Davis’s version of the incident was not possible.

“Throughout this whole thing, the defendant has minimized his involvement, tried to push the blame onto others for the murder of Ramon and tried to justify his actions. Think about that. This man has tried to justify shooting another man dead, wrapping his body up to dispose of it like trash, cleaning up the scene and lying to everyone just trying to find closure for his friends and family who were missing him for three months,” Sorgen said.

Davis’ attorney David Dusek stressed to the jury the presumed innocence of his client and asked them to keep an open mind.

“Pay close attention to what you see and what you hear. I also ask you to pay close attention to what you do not see and do not hear,” Dusek said. “Mr. Davis used deadly force to protect himself from harm. What led to this incident? Why did it happen? How did this altercation begin? Let us take this journey together.”

The first witness for the state’s case in chief was Kayla Haugeberg, McMillan’s Probation and Parole officer, who testified McMillan was homeless and bouncing around until he reported he was living in the basement of the establishment about three months before his disappearance and death.

Additional testimony was provided by MPD Patrol Officer Christian Sullivan, who was present for an interview of Davis that was captured with his body camera. During his testimony, MPD Sgt. Robbie Sumlin with the Focused Enforcement Unit further explored this interview, which he said occurred by happenstance when he, Sullivan and a Ward County Narcotics Task Force officer went to an apartment to serve a federal warrant on another individual.

Sumlin said he had been contacted by various other agencies about rumors that McMillan had been murdered and was given a list of people to talk to after speaking with the case agent. Sumlin said one of those individuals was Davis, whose name was coming up in the rumors.

The video of the impromptu interview on April 24, 2024, was played for the jury, which showed Davis denying any knowledge or awareness of McMillan’s fate and whereabouts. Davis told the officers McMillan “had beef with everybody” and was “doing things in the shop he wasn’t supposed to do,” like selling narcotics such as fentanyl out of the shop.

When the officers asked Davis about rumors that he had killed McMillan, Davis strenuously denied it, saying, “I’m 46 years old. I don’t have time for stuff like this.”

“I think about a lot of things in life, but murder isn’t one of them,” Davis said in the video.

Sumlin testified that Davis’ responses shifted from composed and prepared once he was asked about McMillan’s phone, which he said seemed to have “caught him by surprise.”

Sumlin also testified about an unrecorded interview with Davis on July 2, 2024, after he was detained on unrelated warrants when the search warrant was executed. Sumlin said Davis insisted the interview not be recorded as he was afraid of retaliation from other parties, but during the interview, he revealed McMillan had been killed before his body had been located in the boiler room.

Sumlin said Davis claimed the shooting occurred during a dispute over missing drugs. According to Sumlin, Davis said he had been making music in a studio in the building but was alarmed by a noise at some point and grabbed a gun in the shop and locked himself in the studio briefly. Davis told Sumlin that when he opened the door, he saw McMillan and another individual shoot at him first, leading to a shootout during which McMillan was shot and killed.

Sumlin said Davis claimed he fled the shop to dispose of the firearm in a garbage can at a nearby business because he was trying to avoid blowback for the business. Sumlin said Davis returned to the shop when he didn’t see any police presence and encountered an unknown Mexican male.

After the state finished questioning Sumlin, Dusek asked the court for a brief break.

The case is expected to conclude sometime on Friday.