By Jacques Billeaud and Sejal GovindaraoThe Related Press
Phoenix (AP) — In the summertime of 2015, metro Phoenix grappled with two serial taking pictures instances whose particulars had trickled out to the general public. A collection of freeway shootings and a separate string of random nighttime assaults sowed concern that led some folks to remain indoors after darkish or keep off the freeways the place they occurred.
Then, out of the blue, investigators unveiled a 3rd case in early 2018, accusing a person of killing eight folks in Phoenix and close by Glendale over three weeks in assaults that had generated no publicity till his arrest.
On Sept. 25, a jury in Phoenix convicted Cleophus Cooksey Jr., 43, of homicide in all eight killings that focused random victims and the defendant’s mom and stepfather. He additionally was convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault and armed theft prices.
The sentencing portion of his trial is scheduled to start Sept. 29. Prosecutors are in search of the demise penalty.
The victims in Phoenix and close by Glendale included two males discovered lifeless in a parked automobile, a safety guard shot whereas strolling to his girlfriend’s residence and a girl who was kidnapped, her physique present in an alley after she was sexually assaulted. Cooksey, an aspiring musician, knew a number of the victims however wasn’t acquainted with others, police mentioned. Authorities by no means provided a motive.
Cooksey seemed down on the protection desk as the decision was learn. He’d maintained his innocence all through the trial that started in Could.
‘He took my mother’
Adriana Rodriguez, the daughter of sufferer Maria Villanueva, mentioned after the decision her household was lastly getting closure, a day they’d feared would by no means come.
“He took my mother, the one help system that I had,” Rodriguez added as she broke into tears.
The killings began 4 months after Cooksey was launched from jail on a manslaughter conviction for his participation in a 2001 strip membership theft by which an confederate was fatally shot.
A good friend of Cooksey’s mom, Rene Cooksey, and stepfather, Edward Nunn, mentioned the defendant deserved a demise sentence. Eric Hampton mentioned he watched Cooksey develop up and attended the Sept. 25 listening to to see if the defendant confirmed sympathy for his victims.
“I assumed perhaps he had just a little coronary heart however he doesn’t have any coronary heart in any respect, you understand, to really do this stuff to folks and truly the worst half, kill your individual mother,” Hampton mentioned outdoors the courthouse.
“He’s a monster and I’m simply hoping that when the sentencing part of that is over that, you understand, that they put him to sleep,” he added.
The Maricopa County Legal professional’s Workplace, which prosecuted Cooksey, declined to touch upon the decision.
The Related Press left cellphone and electronic mail messages for Robert Reinhardt, an legal professional for Cooksey.
A path of victims
The primary victims, Parker Smith, 21, and Andrew Remillard, 27, have been discovered Nov. 27, 2017. They’d been fatally shot whereas sitting in a car in a car parking zone. 5 days later, safety guard Salim Richards, 31, was shot to demise whereas strolling to his girlfriend’s residence.
Over the following two weeks, Latorrie Beckford, 29, and Kristopher Cameron, 21, have been killed in separate shootings at residence complexes in Glendale, and the physique of Villanueva, 43, was discovered bare from the waist down in an alley in Phoenix. Authorities mentioned Cooksey’s DNA was discovered on her physique.
Lastly, on Dec. 17, 2017, Cooksey answered the door when officers responded to a shots-fired name at his mom’s residence. He informed officers who had seen a considerable amount of blood that he had reduce his hand and was the one one dwelling. Police say when an officer tried to detain him, Cooksey threatened to slit the officer’s throat. Rene Cooksey, 56, and Nunn, 54, have been discovered lifeless.
On the couch in the lounge, investigators mentioned they discovered Richards’ gun, which was later linked to the killings of Beckford, Cameron and Villanueva. The keys to Villanueva’s car additionally have been discovered there, and police say Cooksey was carrying Richards’ necklace when he was arrested.
Police additionally suspected Cooksey of a ninth killing — that of his ex-girlfriend’s brother. However prosecutors in the end declined to cost him within the December 2017 taking pictures demise of Jesus Actual at his dwelling in Avondale.
Cooksey’s trial was repeatedly delayed by the pandemic. In a January 2020 handwritten letter to a choose, Cooksey mentioned he was in a rush to show “my prices are not more than false accusations.” He mentioned he was not a rapist or assassin: “I’m a music artist.”
Earlier serial shootings in Phoenix
Cooksey’s arrest adopted two different serial taking pictures instances in metro Phoenix.
In 2015, 11 shootings occurred on Phoenix-area freeways between late August and early September. Nobody was critically injured and prices have been later dismissed in opposition to the one individual charged.
The following case occurred over almost a one-year interval ending in July 2016. Bus driver Aaron Juan Saucedo was arrested in April 2017 and charged with first-degree homicide in assaults that killed 9 folks.
Prosecutors are in search of the demise penalty in opposition to Saucedo with a trial scheduled for December. He has declared his innocence.
