This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Cleophus Cooksey Jr. | |
---|---|
Born | Cleophus Emmanuel Cooksey Jr. March 25, 1982 Tucson, Arizona, U.S. |
Conviction(s) | TBD |
Details | |
Victims | 9 |
Span of crimes | November 27 –December 17, 2017 |
Country | United States |
State(s) | Arizona |
Weapons | Glock 9mm handgun |
Cleophus Emmanuel Cooksey Jr. (born March 25, 1982) is an accused American spree killer from Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. He has been charged with nine murders and other crimes committed in the city and in surrounding areas during a 21-day span between November and December 2017. [1] [2] All nine victims had been shot. [3] His mother, Rene Cooksey, and his stepfather, Edward Nunn, were the final two victims. A blood-covered Cooksey was arrested at the scene.
Ballistics evidence, DNA testing, stolen jewelry and a stolen mobile phone belonging to one of the victims linked Cooksey to the other seven murders. [4] Phoenix authorities say there is a "distinct possibility" of more victims. Investigations into unsolved murders are ongoing. [5]
Cooksey, a grandson of Tucson civil rights leader Roy L. Cooksey, [6] is currently represented by public defender Gary Beren. [7] His trial is scheduled for April 2025. [8]
# | Name | Age | Date of death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Andrew Remillard | 27 | 11-27-2017 | Fatally shot in a car with Parker Smith; motive unknown – leaves behind a child and wife |
2 | Parker Smith | 21 | 11-27-2017 | Fatally shot in a car with Andrew Remillard – motive unknown |
3 | Salim Richards | 35 | 12-2-2017 | Cooksey stole a Glock 9mm handgun |
4 | Jesus Real | 25 | 12-11-2017 | Brother of Cooksey's ex-girlfriend – leaves behind children – murder occurred in Avondale [9] |
5 | LaTorrie Beckford | 29 | 12-13-2017 | Motive unknown |
6 | Kristopher Cameron | 21 | 12-16-2017 | Murder occurred in Glendale – leaves behind an 11-month-old son and a second child on the way |
7 | Maria Villanueva | 43 | 12-16-2017 | Raped by Cooksey – leaves behind 2 daughters |
8 | Rene Cooksey | 56 | 12-17-2017 | Cooksey's mother |
9 | Edward Nunn | 54 | 12-17-2017 | Cooksey's stepfather |
Cleophus Cooksey Jr. had been convicted of manslaughter and armed robbery in 2001 and had been released the previous July. [10] He was one of four men who attempted to rob a topless bar. Although the manager fatally shot one of Cooksey's accomplices and the shooting was deemed self-defense, under Arizona's felony murder law, Cooksey was held culpable because the death occurred during the commission of a crime. [11] [12] Under an agreement, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Phoenix police arrested three women: Desaree Coronado (aged 23) and sisters Griselda and Liliana Vasquez (ages 24 and 26, respectively), on one count each of hindering prosecution and tampering with physical evidence. Both are felonies. Coronado was the mother of Jesus Real's child. She was also charged with one misdemeanor count of false reporting to law enforcement. Liliana Vasquez is Cleophus Cooksey Jr.'s ex-girlfriend. Griselda Vasquez ultimately admitted to taking a mobile phone off Real's body. Police say they have evidence that Liliana's car was in the area of two of the murders.
Wayne Bertram Williams is an American convicted murderer and suspected serial killer who is serving life imprisonment for the 1981 killings of two men in Atlanta, Georgia. Although never tried for the additional murders, he is also believed to be responsible for at least 24 of the 30 Atlanta murders of 1979–1981, also known as the Atlanta Child Murders.
Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh-American entrepreneur and franchisee in Mesa, Arizona, was murdered in a hate crime in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. This was the first of several cases across the United States that were reported to the police as supposed acts of retaliation for the attacks. Balbir Singh Sodhi, who had a beard and wore a turban in accordance with his Sikh faith, was mistakenly profiled as an Arab Muslim and murdered by 42-year-old Frank Silva Roque, a Boeing aircraft mechanic at a local repair facility who held a criminal record for an attempted robbery in California. Roque had reportedly told friends that he was "going to go out and shoot some towel-heads" the day of the attacks. Roque was sentenced to death for first degree murder. He died in prison on May 11, 2022.
Harvey Murray Glatman was an American serial killer and rapist during the late 1950s known as the Lonely Hearts Killer or the Glamour Girl Slayer. He would use several pseudonyms, posing as a professional photographer to lure his victims with the promise of a modeling career.
Mark Goudeau is an American serial killer, kidnapper, thief and rapist. Goudeau terrorized victims in the Phoenix metro area between August 2005 and June 2006; coincidentally, Goudeau was active at the same time as two other Phoenix serial killers, jointly known as the "Serial Shooters.”
Dale Shawn Hausner and Samuel John Dieteman were a duo of serial killers who committed several drive-by shootings and arsons in Phoenix, Arizona, between May 2005 and August 2006. They targeted random pedestrians and animals, mostly doing so while under the influence of methamphetamine, and also set multiple objects on fire. Investigators believe they were responsible for eight murders and at least 29 other shootings. The investigation of their crimes coincided with the search for the Baseline Killer, who was also committing random murders and sexual assaults in the Phoenix area.
Robert Tyrone Hayes is an American serial killer who has been convicted of three murders in the Daytona Beach, Florida, area between December 2005 and February 2006. DNA tests have also linked him to a fourth murder committed in March 2016. In addition, he remains the prime suspect in the murder of another woman in December 2007.
Donald Eugene Harding was an American serial robber, spree killer, and possible serial killer who committed at least seven murders between December 1979 and January 1980 throughout California, Arizona, Texas, and possibly Arkansas. Harding was ultimately convicted of three murders, and he was executed in 1992 by gas chamber in the state of Arizona for two of the murders he committed there.
Cleophus Prince Jr. is an American serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1993 for the rape and murder of six women in San Diego County, California. The killings occurred between January and September 1990 and became known as the Clairemont serial killings as most of the murders took place there. Before these crimes and while serving in the United States Navy, Prince was court-martialed in 1989 due to larceny. Upon being convicted, he was recommended to be discharged after serving his sentence. Multiple books have been written on Prince and his crimes.
On May 30, 2009, 29-year-old Raul Flores Jr. and his daughter, nine-year-old Brisenia Ylianna Flores, were murdered during a home invasion in Arivaca, Arizona. The perpetrators were Shawna Forde, Jason Eugene Bush and Albert Gaxiola, all members of Forde's vigilante nativist group, Minutemen American Defense (MAD). Gina Gonzalez, the victims' wife and mother, was wounded but survived the attack after exchanging gunfire with the intruders, wounding Bush.
Gary Ray Bowles was an American serial killer who was executed in 2019 for the murders of six men in 1994. He is sometimes referred to as The I-95 Killer since most of his victims lived close to the Interstate 95 highway.
The Phoenix freeway shootings, also known as the I-10 shootings, were a series of eleven incidents that occurred between August 27 and September 10, 2015, along Interstate 10 and State Route 202 in Phoenix, Arizona. Each incident resulted in projectile damage to cars, and one girl was injured.
Todd Christopher Kohlhepp is an American sex offender, mass shooter, and serial killer convicted of murdering seven people in South Carolina between 2003 and 2016. In addition, Kohlhepp kidnapped and raped at least two women and claims to have killed many more.
Howell Emanuel "Trai" Donaldson III is a serial killer who was convicted of the 2017 murders of three men and one woman around the Seminole Heights neighborhood of Tampa, Florida. All four victims were shot dead seemingly at random. Prior to his arrest, the media called the killer the Seminole Heights serial killer.
In May and June 2018, a spree killer sought out and fatally shot six people in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. The shooting spree began on May 30 and ended June 4, when the shooter killed himself as police closed in. The shooter was identified as 56-year-old Dwight Lamon Jones.
Alissa Turney is a 17-year-old American girl who was last seen in the Phoenix, Arizona, area on May 17, 2001.
Robert Lee Walden Jr. is an American murderer, serial rapist and suspected serial killer who attacked several women in Tucson, Arizona from 1989 to 1992, raping four and killing two of them. Sentenced to death on one count and to several life terms for his other crimes, Walden confessed to a third murder after his trial, for which he has never been tried.
The Stockton serial shootings were a series of fatal shootings that occurred in Stockton and Oakland, California, between April 2021 and September 2022. The shootings have been linked together by ballistic tests, but police have not revealed if the same gun was used in every shooting. On October 15, 2022, a Stockton man, Wesley Brownlee, was arrested in connection to the shootings. On December 27, Brownlee was charged with an additional five charges.
Raul Meza Jr. is an American serial killer who was convicted of murdering 8-year-old Kendra Page in Austin, Texas, in January 1982. Meza had an extensive criminal record dating back to 1973 and, prior to his final incarceration, had spent a total of 20 years behind bars for various crimes.