An Arizona jury has found a man guilty of eight murders, including the killings of random individuals as well as his mother and stepfather, during a violent spree in the Phoenix metropolitan area over a three-week period in 2017.
Cleophus Cooksey Jr., 43, was convicted by the jury in Phoenix on additional charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, and armed robbery. The sentencing phase of the trial will commence on Monday, with prosecutors advocating for the death penalty.
Among the victims in Phoenix and nearby Glendale were Cooksey’s own mother and stepfather, a security guard en route to his girlfriend’s apartment, and a woman discovered in an alley after being sexually assaulted. Although Cooksey, an aspiring musician, was familiar with some of the victims, others were complete strangers, according to police, who have not revealed a motive behind the crimes.
Cooksey looked down at the defense table as the verdict was read. He’d maintained his innocence throughout the trial that began in May.
‘He took my mom’
Adriana Rodriguez, the daughter of victim Maria Villanueva, broke into tears after the verdict.
“He took my mom, the only support system that I had,” stated Rodriguez outside the courtroom. “We feared this day might never arrive, but now it finally has. We’re very happy about the outcome,” he added.
The spree began four months after Cooksey was released from prison, where he served time for manslaughter following a 2001 robbery at a strip club, during which an accomplice was shot and killed.
In 2015 and 2016, metro Phoenix was shaken by two other serial shooting cases, leading residents to stay indoors after dark and avoid freeways. Unlike those incidents, Cooksey’s alleged killings did not extend over several months and received no significant attention until his capture.
A friend of Cooksey’s mother, Rene Cooksey, and stepfather, Edward Nunn, said the defendant deserved a death sentence. Eric Hampton said he had watched Cooksey grow up and attended Thursday’s hearing to see if the defendant showed any sympathy for his victims.
“I thought maybe he had a little heart but he doesn’t have any heart at all, you know, to actually do these things to people and actually the worst part, kill your own mom,” Hampton said outside the courthouse.
“He’s a monster and I’m just hoping that when the sentencing phase of this is over that, you know, that they put him to sleep,” he added.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Cooksey, declined to comment on the verdict.
The Associated Press left phone and email messages for Robert Reinhardt, an attorney for Cooksey.
A trail of victims
The first victims, Parker Smith, 21, and Andrew Remillard, 27, were found Nov. 27, 2017, and had been fatally shot while sitting in a vehicle in a parking lot. Five days later, security guard Salim Richards, 31, was shot to death while walking to his girlfriend’s apartment.
Over the next two weeks, Latorrie Beckford, 29, and Kristopher Cameron, 21, were killed in separate shootings at apartment complexes in Glendale, and the body of Villanueva, 43, was found naked from the waist down in an alley in Phoenix. Authorities say Villanueva was sexually assaulted and that Cooksey’s DNA was found on her body.
Finally, on Dec. 17, 2017, Cooksey answered the door when officers responded to a shots-fired call at his mother’s apartment and told officers who had noticed a large amount of blood there that he had cut his hand and that he was the only one home. Police say when an officer tried to detain him, Cooksey threatened to slit the officer’s throat. Rene Cooksey, 56, and Nunn, 54, were found dead.
On the sofa in the living room, investigators said they found Richards’ gun, which was later linked to the killings of Beckford, Cameron and Villanueva. The keys to Villanueva’s vehicle also were found there, and police say Cooksey was wearing Richards’ necklace when he was arrested.
Police also suspected Cooksey of a ninth killing — that of his ex-girlfriend’s brother. But prosecutors ultimately declined to charge him in the December 2017 shooting death of Jesus Real at his home in Avondale.
Cooksey’s trial was repeatedly delayed by the pandemic. In a January 2020 handwritten letter to a judge, Cooksey said he was in a hurry to prove “my charges are no more than false accusations.” He said he was not a rapist or murderer: “I am a music artist.”
Earlier serial shootings in Phoenix
Cooksey’s arrest followed two other serial shooting cases in metro Phoenix.
In 2015, 11 shootings occurred on Phoenix-area freeways between late August and early September. No one was seriously injured and charges were later dismissed against the only person charged.
The next case occurred over nearly a one-year period ending in July 2016. Bus driver Aaron Juan Saucedo was arrested in April 2017 and charged with first-degree murder in attacks that killed nine people.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Saucedo with a trial scheduled for December. He has declared his innocence.
