Arizona man Cleophus Cooksey Jr. sentenced to death in metro Phoenix serial killings

PHOENIX — Cleophus Cooksey Jr. was sentenced Thursday to death in a string of fatal shootings in metro Phoenix during a three-week span in 2017. He was found guilty in late September of murder in eight killings. Jurors agreed on the death penalty in six of the killings, but they were undecided on the punishment in the deaths of his mother, Rene Cooksey, and stepfather, Edward Nunn. Prosecutors said they could seek the death penalty in a sentencing retrial or have a judge impose life sentences. Authorities never offered a motive for the attacks. Cooksey maintained his innocence at trial.

According to investigators, the killings unfolded over a three-week period in 2017, beginning with the deaths of Andrew Remillard, 27, and Parker Smith, 21, who were found shot to death in a parked car in Phoenix. A short time later, Salim Richards, 31, was shot and killed while walking in west Phoenix, with his 9 mm Glock handgun and a necklace later reported missing. Latorrie Beckford, 29, was found shot twice in the head in the common area of a Glendale apartment complex. Kristopher Cameron, 21, was shot and killed upon arriving at a Glendale apartment complex to complete a drug transaction with Cooksey. About 90 minutes after Cameron was killed, Maria Villanueva, 43, parked her car at another complex; surveillance footage shows an unknown man approaching her and driving away in Villanueva’s car with her in the front passenger seat. She was found partially nude and shot to death in a Phoenix alley the next morning. Police responding to gunfire at a central Phoenix apartment found Cooksey at the scene and, after a brief altercation, took him into custody. Investigators later found the bodies of his mother, Rene Cooksey, 56, and her husband, Edward Nunn, 54, behind the front door; both had been shot to death. Authorities said they located Richards’ gun at the original crime scene, a weapon later linked to Beckford, Cameron and Villanueva victims. The keys to Villanueva’s vehicle were found there, and police said Cooksey was wearing Richards’ necklace when he was arrested.

Prosecutors have said the motive for the killings was never established, and the case relied on ballistic links and surveillance footage to connect the episodes. The defense argued that Cooksey maintained his innocence and disputed aspects of the timeline presented during a lengthy trial, which spanned months and included testimony from officers, analysts and family members of victims. In sentencing, jurors weighed the deaths of the eight victims, with six counts resulting in a possible death sentence and two counts—those involving his mother and stepfather—producing a hung penalty that will prompt consideration at a future retrial or by a judge imposing life terms.