![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Phoenix-Killings-1.jpg\")
Cleophus Cooksey Jr., accused of killing eight people over a three-week span in late 2017, listens during his trial in Maricopa County Superior Court, May 5, 2025, in Phoenix, Ariz. (Mark Henle\/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File )<\/p>\nBy Jacques Billeaud and Sejal Govindarao
The Associated Press<\/p>\n
Phoenix (AP) \u2014 In the summer of 2015, metro Phoenix grappled with two serial shooting cases whose details had trickled out to the public. A series of freeway shootings and a separate string of random nighttime attacks sowed fear that led some people to stay indoors after dark or stay off the freeways where they occurred.<\/p>\n
Then, out of the blue, investigators unveiled a third case in early 2018, accusing a man of killing eight people in Phoenix and nearby Glendale over three weeks in attacks that had generated no publicity until his arrest.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 25, a jury in Phoenix convicted Cleophus Cooksey Jr., 43, of murder in all eight killings that targeted random victims and the defendant\u2019s mother and stepfather. He also was convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault and armed robbery charges.<\/p>\n
Cleophus Cooksey Jr., accused of killing eight people over a three-week span in late 2017, listens during his trial in Maricopa County Superior Court, May 5, 2025, in Phoenix, Ariz. (Mark Henle\/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File )<\/p>\n
The sentencing portion of his trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 29. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.<\/p>\n
The victims in Phoenix and nearby Glendale included two men found dead in a parked car, a security guard shot while walking to his girlfriend\u2019s apartment and a woman who was kidnapped, her body found in an alley after she was sexually assaulted. Cooksey, an aspiring musician, knew some of the victims but wasn\u2019t acquainted with others, police said. Authorities never offered a motive.<\/p>\n
Cooksey looked down at the defense table as the verdict was read. He\u2019d maintained his innocence throughout the trial that began in May.<\/p>\n
\u2018He took my mom\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Adriana Rodriguez, the daughter of victim Maria Villanueva, said after the verdict her family was finally getting closure, a day they had feared would never come.<\/p>\n \u201cHe took my mom, the only support system that I had,\u201d Rodriguez added as she broke into tears.<\/p>\n The killings started four months after Cooksey was released from prison on a manslaughter conviction for his participation in a 2001 strip club robbery in which an accomplice was fatally shot.<\/p>\n A friend of Cooksey\u2019s mother, Rene Cooksey, and stepfather, Edward Nunn, said the defendant deserved a death sentence. Eric Hampton said he watched Cooksey grow up and attended the Sept. 25 hearing to see if the defendant showed sympathy for his victims.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought maybe he had a little heart but he doesn\u2019t have any heart at all, you know, to actually do these things to people and actually the worst part, kill your own mom,\u201d Hampton said outside the courthouse.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a monster and I\u2019m just hoping that when the sentencing phase of this is over that, you know, that they put him to sleep,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The Maricopa County Attorney\u2019s Office, which prosecuted Cooksey, declined to comment on the verdict.<\/p>\n The Associated Press left phone and email messages for Robert Reinhardt, an attorney for Cooksey.<\/p>\n A trail of victims<\/strong><\/p>\n The first victims, Parker Smith, 21, and Andrew Remillard, 27, were found Nov. 27, 2017. They 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\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n 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 said Cooksey\u2019s DNA was found on her body.<\/p>\n Finally, on Dec. 17, 2017, Cooksey answered the door when officers responded to a shots-fired call at his mother\u2019s apartment. He told officers who had noticed a large amount of blood that he had cut his hand and was the only one home. Police say when an officer tried to detain him, Cooksey threatened to slit the officer\u2019s throat. Rene Cooksey, 56, and Nunn, 54, were found dead.<\/p>\n On the sofa in the living room, investigators said they found Richards\u2019 gun, which was later linked to the killings of Beckford, Cameron and Villanueva. The keys to Villanueva\u2019s vehicle also were found there, and police say Cooksey was wearing Richards\u2019 necklace when he was arrested.<\/p>\n Police also suspected Cooksey of a ninth killing \u2014 that of his ex-girlfriend\u2019s brother. But prosecutors ultimately declined to charge him in the December 2017 shooting death of Jesus Real at his home in Avondale.<\/p>\n Cooksey\u2019s 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 \u201cmy charges are no more than false accusations.\u201d He said he was not a rapist or murderer: \u201cI am a music artist.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier serial shootings in Phoenix<\/strong><\/p>\n Cooksey\u2019s arrest followed two other serial shooting cases in metro Phoenix.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Saucedo with a trial scheduled for December. He has declared his innocence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jacques Billeaud and Sejal GovindaraoThe Associated Press Phoenix (AP) \u2014 In the summer of 2015, metro Phoenix…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":279998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[134243,134244,5229,5643,1587,144761,134246,134248,134249,12319,1589,137622,144762,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-279997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-aaron-juan-saucedo","9":"tag-adriana-rodriguez","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-arizona","12":"tag-az","13":"tag-cleophus-cooksey-jr","14":"tag-edward-nunn","15":"tag-eric-hampton","16":"tag-maria-villanueva","17":"tag-maricopa-county-attorneys-office","18":"tag-phoenix","19":"tag-rene-cooksey","20":"tag-robert-reinhardt","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115322833555771956","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Phoenix-Killings-2.jpg\")
A list of nine homicide victims all linked to a convicted felon is displayed by the Phoenix Police Department at a news conference Jan. 18, 2018, in Phoenix.. (AP Photo\/Terry Tang, File)<\/p>\n