David Stephen Middleton

As of September 2022, Middleton remains on Nevada's death row and awaits execution.

A few days later, Middleton was officially sentenced to death for the murders of Davila and Powell and given four life terms without parole for their kidnappings. The announcement was met with relief from the victims' family members, including the family of Buffy Donohue, who said that they would like to attend his execution if it is ever carried out. A month later, he was given an additional 32 years for credit card and firearms offences he had committed in connection with the cases. In 1999, the Donohue family hired a special prosecutor in an attempt to charge Middleton with their daughter's murder, but no such charges were brought forward.

In February 1998, Florida authorities filed proceedings for some of the rapes Middleton committed in their state: one of the charges was for the rape of Cosme, and the other for the rape of a Jane Doe on multiple occasions. In the latter case, the filings alleged that Middleton had engaged in involuntary sexual acts with the victim during a DUI check and later during a visit to his house, in which Middleton was dressed in priest garb and conducted Voodoo-like rituals before raping the victim. Unlike the Cosme case, he was initially not charged with any crime related to the assaults on the unnamed victim.

In September 1997, Middleton was found guilty on all counts by the jury, a verdict that was cheered on and welcomed by both prosecutors and the victims' family members. Shortly after the trial, several of said family members told in interviews with the press that they wished he would receive the death penalty for his crimes. Middleton himself appeared concerned upon hearing the verdict, but otherwise did not react.

On February 6, 1995, 45-year-old Katherine Powell, a respected teacher working at the Sun Valley Elementary School in Reno, was reported missing by her colleagues after failing to show up to work for two days in a row. Officers were then dispatched to search her home, and upon entering, they found that her truck had been left untouched, but Powell herself was nowhere to be seen, and some of her items were missing. Upon questioning the neighbors, the officers learned that an old, beat-up car driven by an unfamiliar man frequently stopped by the residence but could not provide more information.

On August 8, 1994, 42-year-old Thelma Amparo Davila, a Guatemalan porter employed at the Circus Circus casino in Las Vegas, was reported missing by her younger sister after she failed to return home from work. This was considered highly concerning, as she had never skipped work since she was hired in 1988 and did not have a means of transportation as she could not drive. Her fate remained unclear until April 1995, when her remains were found in Verdi.

On November 21, 1993, 18-year-old Buffy Rice Donohue left her parents' house in Montrose, Colorado to wash her car and later buy some lemonade, but she never returned to the house or her husband. As a result, Donohue's father and husband went searching for her and eventually found her car parked at the parking lot of a local Walmart. Inside, they found her wallet and driver's license, but Donohue herself was nowhere to be seen.

During his tenure at the Miami Police Department, Middleton used his position to pick up and rape vulnerable young women. Among his victims was 16-year-old Alicia Cosme, whom he picked up off a street in Miami in September 1990 using the excuse that it was past her curfew and her parents were worried. After handcuffing her and lying that he would take her to the nearest juvenile correctional institution, Middleton instead drove to an area outside of town, where he proceeded to rape Cosme. After finishing with her, he drove her back home, warning her not to tell anybody about what had happened.

David Stephen Middleton (born June 25, 1961), known as The Cable Guy, is an American former police officer, kidnapper, murderer, and suspected serial killer. Convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of two women in Nevada committed in 1994 and 1995, he is also the prime suspect in at least one additional murder in Colorado and rapes committed while serving in the Miami-Dade Police Department.

David Stephen Middleton was born on June 25, 1961, in Boston, Massachusetts, the only son of a police officer. Little is known about his upbringing, but at some point during his life, Middleton moved to Miami, Florida, where he studied at a police academy and later applied for a job at the Miami-Dade Police Department. He was accepted sometime in 1981 and served as an officer in the Miami-Dade County area.