Inset: Dy’mond Vaden (Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office). Background: The section of the Huron River where the body of Vaden’s ex-boyfriend was discovered by kayakers (WOIO).
An Ohio woman, aged 32, has been taken into custody on suspicion of murdering her boyfriend. He was reported missing towards the end of last year, and his remains were later uncovered by a kayaker in the Huron River in May.
The Cuyahoga County grand jury issued an indictment against Dy’mond Vaden, charging her with two counts of murder and felonious assault, alongside charges of tampering with evidence, gross abuse of a corpse, and possessing a weapon under disability in the death of George Cox Jr., as announced by the authorities.
According to a news release from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, Cox’s family reported him missing on Nov. 8, 2024. The family reported to authorities that their last communication with the 32-year-old was on or about Oct. 19, 2024.
The case was assigned to the Cleveland Division of Police’s (CDP) Missing Persons Unit. Officers conducted a welfare check at the residence Cox was believed to be sharing with Vaden, identified by police as his then-girlfriend.
Upon arriving at the residence near Bosworth Road and Peony Avenue in Cleveland, police reported a suspicious scene.
“Officers observed a vacant apartment with little to no furniture and what appeared to be blood on the floor,” the release states. “Further investigation confirmed it was Cox’s blood and Vaden was no longer living at the residence.”
Months later, two individuals were kayaking in a shallow area of the Huron River on May 15, 2025, when they came across a body that had been” bound with rope and wrapped in a bed sheet,” prosecutors said. The kayakers immediately called 911 and the Erie County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene. A preliminary investigation positively identified the deceased as George Cox Jr.
According to a report from Shaker Heights, Ohio, CBS affiliate WOIO, Cox’s body was specifically wrapped in a “fitted bed sheet” and “bound with marine-style rope.”
Prosecutors said they soon learned that blood found on clothing items recovered from Vaden’s residence tested as a match for Cox. The bed sheet that Cox’s body was wrapped in also matched the sheets found in their shared residence.
Additional DNA evidence and phone records also linked Vaden to the crime, according to prosecutors.
Authorities have not provided any information regarding Cox’s possible cause of death.
Police on July 21, 2025, located and arrested Vaden at a new residence that she was sharing with 41-year-old Emmanuel McQueen Jr., where they allegedly recovered a firearm.
McQueen was also indicted on one count of having a weapon under disability.
“George Cox Jr.’s family has waited for answers, and today they are one step closer to justice,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said in a statement accompanying the release. “Fortunately for his family and the State of Ohio, CDP Homicide detectives are well-trained and smarter than Dy’mond Vaden thinks.”
It was not immediately clear when Vaden was scheduled to appear in court.
