Her coverage of jail deaths in particular spanned more than a decade, first at the former alternative news weekly CityBeat and most recently at The San Diego Union-Tribune, where she co-wrote dozens of\u00a0stories with colleague Jeff McDonald.<\/p>\n
On Monday, more than a dozen people spoke about how Davis changed their lives, including parents, spouses and siblings of those who died in jail, civil rights attorneys and public officials, including Rep. Scott Peters, whom Davis had worked for at one point.<\/p>\n
She revealed details about their loved ones\u2019 deaths that law enforcement had failed to tell them. She told the stories of their loved ones as human beings, not as statistics or press releases. She inspired them to organize.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou feel like the journey that we all walked, she\u2019s been next to us,\u201d said civil rights attorney Julia Yoo, who has represented several families of people who died in jail.<\/p>\n
Davis\u2019 reporting also spurred reforms, such as new state laws requiring oversight<\/a> for California jails and multiple investigations into San Diego County jails, including a state audit.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was a hero in my eyes,\u201d said Brenda Settles, whose son Matthew Settles<\/a> was neglected in an Otay Mesa jail and died at 54 in an isolation cell in 2022. \u201cShe told the stories that no one else would. She wasn\u2019t afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n MaryAnne Pintar, chair of the San Diego County Citizens\u2019 Law Enforcement Review Board, said she didn\u2019t know about CLERB until she read Davis\u2019 reporting and decided she would try for a seat on the board.<\/p>\n \u201cKelly just told stories in such a compassionate way,\u201d Pintar said. \u201cThey weren\u2019t about a number of deaths in custody. They were about people and families, and families that were hurting.\u201d<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s vigil was organized by Saving Lives in Custody California, a nonprofit formed in 2024 by Paloma Serna. Her daughter Elisa Serna<\/a>, 24 and five weeks pregnant, died in the Las Colinas women\u2019s jail on Nov. 11, 2019, after collapsing in her cell and being left alone by medical staff. She had not been placed on the sheriff\u2019s department withdrawal protocols.<\/p>\n Davis had been there with Serna as she said her last goodbye to her daughter at a Kearny Mesa crematory.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is very hard,\u201d Serna said, her voice breaking. \u201c(Davis) was such a great person.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis\u2019 work didn\u2019t only shed light on jail deaths for the public \u2014 it also shed light for the families of those who died.<\/p>\n![\"MaryAnne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sut-l-davis-vigil-005.jpg\")
MaryAnne Pintar, chair of the San Diego County Citizens\u2019 Law Enforcement Review Board, spoke at a community vigil for the late journalist Kelly Davis held by Saving Lives in Custody California just outside the federal courthouse in San Diego on Monday, July 6, 2026. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n