ROSE COBB MURDER: INVESTIGATION

Murder unresolved after wife's killing, cop's suicide
BY BEN SCHMITT and SUZETTE HACKNEY •
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS •
October 21, 2008
http://www.freep.com/article/20081021/NEWS05/310210007/1007/NEWS05

KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/Detroit Free Press
Displaying a photo of the late Rose Cobb are her family members, clockwise from left, Adrian Gary, 34; Taneeka Gary, 35; Sheryl Gary, 54, and Elizabeth Haygood, 50, all of Detroit. They believe her husband's family is in denial over his role in her killing.

The late Detroit Police Sgt. David Cobb



Funeral programs for Rose Cobb, left, and David Cobb mark the end of a love gone wrong. Law enforcement sources say he masterminded her slaying -- and was about to be charged when he committed suicide.




KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/Detroit Free Press
Taneeka Gary, 35, of Detroit, left, and her aunt, Elizabeth Haygood, 50, also of Detroit, at their grandmother's home in Detroit on Oct. 16. They talked about the suicide of David Cobb, who they feel is responsible for the death of their sister and aunt Rose Cobb.




Detroit Police Sgt. David Cobb went to his grave maintaining his innocence in his wife's murder, but law enforcement sources say he masterminded the slaying -- and was about to be charged.

Before hanging himself in a secluded suburban park last month, Cobb mailed two letters to his younger brother: one addressed to his family and the other addressed to his dead wife. Even in death, he professed his love for Rose Cobb.

But sources said plea negotiations were under way with two people already charged in her death that would have led to murder charges against Cobb -- charges that would stick this time. Cobb knew these charges were looming when he took his life, those sources said.

"It was our belief that it was imminent and inevitable that he was going to be rearrested for the murder of Rose Cobb," said a Detroit police veteran familiar with the investigation. "I think he also knew that."

In an interview with the Free Press, Rose Cobb's family said it views Cobb's suicide as nothing more than an admission of guilt. His father said he did not believe his son would ever be charged.

Rose Cobb, 47, was shot four times in the head on Dec. 26 while she waited for Cobb inside his minivan parked at a CVS on Detroit's east side. Self-professed hit man Vincent Smothers confessed to using a tire iron to smash the window and shoot her as she clutched her purse, silently screamed and tried to claw her way to the back seat.

David Cobb, 38, was arrested April 20, a day after Smothers told police Cobb hired him, orchestrated the killing and paid him through a middleman for his services. But the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office declined to charge Cobb, citing a lack of evidence. Cobb remained suspended without pay from the Detroit Police Department.

"If you didn't do anything then why'd you kill yourself?" said Taneeka Gary, Rose Cobb's 35-year-old niece. "We never got to see him brought to justice."

Cobb's father, Arthur, said Cobb was distraught about his employment status and his inability to support himself. Cobb told his father he was toying with relocating to West Virginia to become a blackjack dealer.

"He seemed happy that things had changed because he had been running into a lot of dead ends," Arthur Cobb recently told the Free Press.

Yet, on Sept. 26, Cobb drove his white Nissan 350 to Dodge Park in Sterling Heights, walked to a dirt path about 120 yards off the main trail, attached an orange rope to a tree and hanged himself. Two bikers spotted him around 7 p.m.

When police arrived, they found Cobb's body -- his feet still touching the ground -- and a half-empty Absolut vodka bottle and cranberry juice container near him.

Nobody knows why Cobb chose Dodge Park as the place to end his life on that Friday evening. Cobb had stopped by his father's west-side Detroit home four days earlier and spent the night. In hindsight, Arthur Cobb said his son may have come by to say good-bye.

The letters offer some insight.

"He felt life would not be worth living without Rose there," said Arthur Cobb, 67. "I think he wanted to be with her."

Late-blooming love

The couple's love affair began in the corridors of Wayne State University, where Rose Bennett was a graduate student, then around 37, and David Cobb, who had a bachelor's degree in economics, worked as a security guard. He was attracted to the quiet, yet self-assured woman, and the two got to know each other, though she was uneasy about dating a man 10 years her junior.

"She asked me about him being younger, I said, 'He's nice, he's educated, he's got stuff going for him,' " said sister Sheryl Gary, 54. "The next thing I knew, they were getting married."

The couple drove to Toledo to elope, and were seemingly happy for most of their 8-year marriage. By family accounts, Rose Cobb took care of her husband, offering support as David Cobb planned his rise through the ranks of the Detroit Police Department.

"She was a very sweet woman and she was good for him," Arthur Cobb said. "I think she provided an anchor for him."

Cobb acknowledged as much in Rose Cobb's funeral program.

"You always supported me. You always believed in me. When we first met, I had nothing, not even a car, only my plans and dreams," he wrote. "You saw past that and loved me for who I am and not for what I could offer."
Cobb, who grew up on Detroit's west side, played the viola, wrote poems, enjoyed tennis and excelled at mathematics. He was an accomplished boxer, winning a Diamond Glove amateur bout in 1988.

Cobb's parents divorced when he was in middle school. But they lived only two blocks apart and Cobb and his two brothers had strong relationships with their parents, Arthur Cobb said.

When he joined the Detroit Police Department, Cobb declared he would someday be police chief. To further his career, Cobb enrolled in law school at WSU.

Rose Cobb's family said the marriage began to disintegrate because Rose Cobb suspected infidelity, and was in tatters by the time David Cobb went to trial in 2006on accusations that he solicited a 15-year-old girl for sex.

Cobb was charged with accosting a child for immoral purposes, a felony that carries a sentence of up to 4 years in prison, and malicious telephone use, a 6-month misdemeanor.

During the nonjury trial, the girl claimed Cobb offered her a ride in what appeared to be an unmarked patrol car and asked about her sexual experiences and whether she wanted to go to his house. She said Cobb later called her cell phone and sent lewd text messages.

He was acquitted by Wayne County Circuit Judge Bruce Morrow, who could not be reached for this report.

Cobb vehemently denied ever having sex with the girl, but his wife was skeptical.
"She said to me, 'What else is he hiding?' " said Rose Cobb's sister Elizabeth Haygood, 50.

Months before her death, Haygood said, her sister again confided in her.
"She said: 'I want a divorce,' " Haygood said.

Police: 'This was a hit'

On the day Rose Cobb died, Cobb called her and asked her to be dressed and ready to go to the store, according to the confessions of Smothers and alleged middleman Marzell Black. Cobb had already schooled Smothers on police interrogation techniques, the importance of getting rid of the gun and wearing gloves and arm sleeves to avoid gunpowder residue, they told police.

Cobb told them he'd be at CVS within the hour. When Black and Smothers arrived at the store on Jefferson and Dickerson, they sat in the car as Cobb walked by.

"David Cobb gave me a slight nod indicating that it was time to go," Smothers said in his confession.

Despite the confessions of Smothers, 27, of Shelby Township and Black, 21, of Detroit, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy declined to charge Cobb. She said at the time that, even with the statements, Black and Smothers could not be forced to testify.

Worthy declined to comment for this report.

But Detroit homicide investigators said evidence pointed to Cobb from the beginning: The minivan was intact other than the broken window, Rose Cobb's purse wasn't stolen and CVS surveillance cameras showed that Cobb entered and exited the store three times -- never purchasing anything -- before the shooting.

"We could tell this was a hit," the Detroit police source said.

Police said Black introduced Cobb to Smothers. In his confession, Black said he met Cobb through his mother, Sheila Black. Cobb first approached Marzell Black about obtaining a gun and later said he needed someone killed.

In his confession, Smothers said he learned Cobb was having an affair with Sheila Black.

"I will say that there is evidence that he had a relationship with Black's mother," Cobb's attorney, Elbert Hatchett, told the Free Press. "I can't go any further than that."

Smothers' attorney Gabi Silver acknowledged plea-deal discussions with prosecutors. Her client is facing six murder charges. He and Black are due in court Nov. 6 for a final pretrial conference.

"There were discussions but there had never been any agreement at all," Silver said of the negotiations.

Black's original attorney, Todd Flood, who was later replaced by Wright Blake, declined to comment. Blake did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

However, sources close to the case said Black had been offered a deal in which he would plead guilty to solicitation of murder in exchange for his testimony against Cobb and dismissal of the first-degree murder charge. Black would have served a minimum 17 years in prison under the deal that was never completed.

Hatchett said he was unaware of any such deal.

Families apart

On Oct. 4, Cobb's distraught family gathered with about 80 people at Detroit's Hartford Memorial Baptist Church for his funeral. They tucked a picture of a smiling Rose and David in a four-page glossy funeral program.

"David, I love you and I believe in you," his father wrote in the program. "I believe in your love for Rose and that you wanted to be with her."

His mother, Delores Cobb, wrote: "I know the heart lives on and you are at peace now with Rose."

Rose Cobb's loved ones said the Cobb family remains in a state of denial about his guilt.

Following Rose Cobb's shooting, Cobb's behavior was inappropriate, her family said.

"He didn't do anything for her -- he didn't see if she had a pulse or if she was breathing," said Adrian Gary, 34, Rose Cobb's niece. "You didn't have a speck of blood on you. You would have asked people: Did they see anything? It's just like the movies, you're going to get down, hold her, holler, scream 'somebody help' or something. He just went back in the store to call 911."

Her family members said they had no input in planning Rose Cobb's funeral -- they wanted her buried but he had her cremated.

To this day, Rose Cobb's family has no idea where her remains or any of her personal possessions are. They didn't go to Cobb's funeral, but did attend the viewing. They said they just had to see his body.

Adrian Gary signed the registry.

She wrote: "The family of Rose Bennett/Cobb. May she now rest in peace."

Contact BEN SCHMITT at 313-223-4296 or bcschmitt@freepress.com.
Contact SUZETTE HACKNEY at 313-222-6614 or shackney@freepress.com.
Staff writer Christina Hall contributed to this report.



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UPDATE: SGT. DAVID COBB FOUND HANGED, SEPTEMBER 26, 2008:
http://michiganoidv.blogspot.com/2008/09/sgt-david-cobb-found-hanged.html


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Marzell Black and Vincent Smothers

Marzell Black

Vincent Smothers



Detroit cop living amid suspicion
Detroit News
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Laura Berman
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080517/OPINION03/805170309/1409/METRO

From once-dead land east of Belle Isle, a subdivision blooms -- a mini-Detroit oasis of brick-and-siding colonials with neatly clipped yards and attached garages. This is where Detroit Police Sgt. David Cobb lives.

He also lives in purgatory.

In the four weeks since Cobb was released from police custody, he's been free of everything but suspicion. His wife, Rose Cobb, was shot and killed in a CVS drugstore parking lot on the day after Christmas. She was sitting in her minivan when a man pressed a gun to the window and fired. Her husband, police say, was in the store at the time.


For now, the widower Cobb, suspended without pay, released from a 48-hour interrogation without charges being filed, comes and goes.

"No, I can't say anything," he says. "I can't say anything except that there's a side to this that no one in the media has asked me about at all."

He's in his garage, and gets into his Nissan 350Z, and drives off.

And his neighbors, whose new homes and shiny late-model Jaguars and Escalades attest to their achievements and aspirations, live in a purgatory of their own.

"People go to work, people come home. You don't really get to know your neighbors here. And I've lived here such a short time. I've only lived here for a year," says Ervin Davis, who lives next door to the police sergeant, explaining why he doesn't know Cobb and never sees him.
Although Cobb is free, two other men are behind bars, linked to the killing of Rose Cobb. One is Vincent Smothers, the hard-eyed, self-described hit man who told police that Cobb promised him $10,000 to kill his wife. Although Rose Cobb died, the life insurance company declined to pay, leaving the hit man without his fee.

Is it unnerving to live so close to so many suspicions?

Could you avoid the vague fear of more violence being unleashed, given the continued presence of a man who has been accused of so much and charged with nothing?
One of the neighbors, a retired General Motors supervisor, acknowledges her shock and concern.
But she doesn't want to accuse her neighbor unfairly. If he did order his wife's execution, he doesn't belong in his house, free to come and go.

"If he didn't, well, I just don't know. They seemed like nice people. He seems nice. But anyone can seem nice."


This is a middle-class neighborhood, where a community of homes is being built on a large tract of cleared land, around the block from a retail strip center that includes a boarded-up Farmer Jack. The houses sell for $204,000 to $300,000, with fireplaces and kitchen islands, and model names like "The Savannah" or "The Wellington."

For weeks, the neighbors have lived with these feelings, on this street where hope and fear mingle.

You can reach Laura Berman at (248) 647-7221 or lberman@detnews.com.




OFFICER'S WIFE SLAIN
Suspects bound over for trial in contract killing
ABC NEWS
State news rundown
May 20, 2008 4:29 AM 2008

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/state&id=6153297
DETROIT (AP) - A Detroit judge says there's enough evidence for two men to be tried in the contract killing of a police officer'swife.

Vincent Smothers of Macomb County's Shelby Township also was ordered tried in the unrelated shooting deaths of two Detroit residents.

The 27-year-old Smothers and 20-year-old Marzell Black, of Detroit, are charged in the Dec. 26 death of Rose Cobb, who was shot in the head four times outside a drugstore.

Lawyers for both suspects say their clients are innocent.

Detroit police Sgt. David Cobb was arrested April 20 on suspicion of arranging his wife's death. He was released two days later after prosecutors said they didn't have enough information to authorize a murder warrant against him.




Suspects bound over for trial in contract killing of Detroit police officer's wife
MLive
by Jim Irwin The Associated Press
Tuesday May 20, 2008, 8:15 AM
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/suspects_bound_over_for_trial.html


DETROIT -- A Detroit man who claims to have killed seven people for hire told authorities that he swore off life as a hit man after ambushing a police officer's wife the day after Christmas.

But nearly five months later, Vincent Smothers is facing first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Rose Cobb and two other people.

District Judge Mark Randon ruled Monday that there was sufficient evidence for Smothers, 27, of Macomb County's Shelby Township, and 20-year-old Marzell Black, of Detroit, to stand trial in Cobb's slaying.

Randon also ordered Smothers tried in the unrelated shooting deaths of two Detroit residents. Police continue investigating four other homicides to which Smothers has confessed.

Detroit police Sgt. David Cobb was arrested on charges of hiring Smothers and another man to kill his wife, but was released two days later after prosecutors said they didn't have enough information to authorize a murder warrant against him.

Portions of statements Smothers and Black gave police after their April arrests were read during Monday's preliminary hearing. Smothers said he received $60,000 for killing a total of seven people between August 2006 and the end of 2007, but stopped after Rose Cobb was slain.

"Cobb's wife was the last one I committed," Smothers's statement said. "Killing a cop's wife was tough. All the other ones were dope killings."

The suspects said in their statements that David Cobb offered them $5,000 each to kill his 47-year-old wife. She was shot in the head four times while waiting in a minivan outside an east side drugstore while her husband shopped inside.

"My stomach was in knots" after fleeing the shooting scene, Smothers said. "I felt like she was innocent."

Smothers is charged with first-degree murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm during a felony in Rose Cobb's death. Black is charged with first-degree murder and solicitation of murder.

Randon also ordered Smothers tried on two counts each first-degree murder and felony murder in the June 21, 2007 deaths of 34-year-old Clarence Cherry and 18-year-old Gaudrielle Webster.

Smothers and Black remained held without bond in the Wayne County Jail after Monday's hearing. First-degree murder is punishable by life in prison with no possibility of parole.


Both men have said they are innocent. Smothers's attorney, Gabi Deborah Silver, said after the hearing that she would continue challenging the circumstances under which police obtained the suspects' statements.

Hit man tells how he killed Detroit cop's wife
Two men face murder trial, but husband accused of hiring them hasn't been charged.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
George Hunter / The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080520/METRO/805200359/1409/METRO

DETROIT -- Self-professed hit man Vincent Smothers described to police the last horrifying seconds of Rose Cobb's life as she sat in the passenger seat of her minivan in the parking lot of an east side drug store.

"I broke out the window, and demanded her purse. She was screaming," Smothers said in his April 19 confession, which was read aloud Monday by Detroit Police Investigator Ira Todd during Smothers' preliminary hearing in 36th District Court.

"She was afraid. I wanted to take her purse so it wouldn't look like a contract kill, but she was panicking; moving around too much. To keep from any further delay, I shot her in the head," Smothers told police of the Dec. 26 murder. "She fell across the console toward the driver's seat."

Cobb was shot four times in the face at close range.

Smothers, 27, and Marzell Black, 20, the man who allegedly helped set up Rose Cobb's hit, were bound over for trial Monday by 36th District Judge Mark Randon. The two men face a May 27 arraignment in 3rd Circuit Court on first-degree murder charges.

Meanwhile, Detroit Police Sgt. David Cobb, who was arrested April 20 in connection with his wife's slaying and released a day later, is still under investigation by the Police Department's Internal Affairs Unit and the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

Although Smothers' confession was enough for the judge to bind the case over, University of Detroit Mercy Law Professor Larry Dubin said it isn't enough to implicate Cobb.

"The only way (Smothers') accusations would stand up is if he were to go into court and offer that statement under oath," Dubin said. "That way, the police officer's attorney would be able to cross-examine him about the allegations. Otherwise, to allow that statement would be a violation of (Cobb's) Sixth Amendment right (which guarantees a defendant the right to confront an accuser)."

Cobb was suspended without pay April 24 for conduct unbecoming an officer, pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation. When he was arrested, police officials said Cobb hired Smothers to kill his wife, and that Black, the son of Cobb's girlfriend, Sheila Black, acted as a go-between in the murder plot and drove the getaway car on the night of the killing.

But Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office said there wasn't enough evidence to charge Cobb, and he was released from jail.

Approached at his home last week by Detroit News reporters, Cobb said, "I can't say anything except that there's a side to this that no one in the media has asked me about at all." He declined to elaborate.

Smothers told police that Black introduced him to David Cobb in November 2007. The three men met in a Coney Island restaurant on Gratiot a few weeks before the murder, Smothers told Todd, the investigator.

Cobb told Smothers during that meeting that he should expect to be questioned about the murder, Smothers said.

"He said, 'As long as they don't have the gun, they don't have nothing,' Todd said, quoting from Smothers' statement. "He said Cobb told him five times: " Smothers also told police, "(Cobb) said I 'Make sure you get rid of the gun.' wouldn't get any less time if I said he hired me. And he said (investigators) would play good cop/bad cop to try to confuse me."

Smothers said he had no problem performing hits on drug dealers -- but the Rose Cobb killing was too much for his conscience to take.

When asked how he felt after killing the 47-year-old woman, Smothers told police, "My stomach was in knots. I thought she was innocent."

Smothers said he took on the job because he owed $5,000 to Black. "He was on my back," Smothers said of Black.

Sheryl Gary, Rose Cobb's sister, expressed appreciation for Smothers' confession.

"I'm glad he had the conscience to come forward," she said.

Rose Cobb's niece, Adrian Gary, said she hopes David Cobb "pays for what he did. I hope he gets charged in this, too."

After Smothers was arrested in Shelby Township on April 19, police say he confessed to being a hit man who was responsible for 10 murders. Investigators say Smothers also fingered Cobb, 38, for promising to pay him $10,000 from his wife's $200,000 life insurance policy if he killed her.

Marzell Black also implicated Cobb in the murder for hire, police said.

Earlier Monday, Smothers was bound over by Randon in connection with the June 21, 2007, double slaying of Gaudrielle Webster and Clarence Cherry on the 7000 block of Gravier.

Another woman, who survived being shot during the same incident, provided police with a lead to Smothers' arrest.

Alleged hit man will face trial in 3 killings
Shelby Twp. resident says he's a hit man
BY BEN SCHMITT and SUZETTE HACKNEY

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

May 20, 2008
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080520/NEWS01/805200379

After listening to the statements of an alleged hit man in court Monday, relatives of Rose Cobb said they felt grateful that he showed remorse and owned up to her slaying.

Cobb, the 47-year-old wife of Detroit police Sgt. David Cobb, was fatally shot Dec. 26 while parked in the family minivan at a CVS.

The man accused in her slaying, Vincent Smothers, 27, of Shelby Township, told police that David Cobb hired him to kill her.

Smothers appeared in 36th District Court on Monday, where Judge Mark Randon bound him over on charges of first-degree murder in three cases. In addition to Rose Cobb's slaying, Smothers is accused in the fatal shootings of Clarence Cherry, 34, and Gaudrielle Webster, 18, on June 21 on Gravier.

"I'm angry with him, yes," Sheryl Gary, Rose Cobb's sister, said of Smothers after the three-hour hearing. "But I truly appreciate that he had a measure of conscience enough to admit to what he did. If he had not, we would still be in the dark about what happened to Rose."

Marzell Black, 20, of Detroit, who is suspected of setting up the Rose Cobb shooting, also was bound over for trial Monday on a charge of solicitation of murder, a felony punishable by life in prison. He sat next to Smothers during the hearings, but neither man spoke to each other.

Black told police that he met David Cobb through his mother, Sheila Black, and Cobb asked him if he would kill his wife, Detroit police Sgt. Michael Russell testified. Black, in a statement that was read by Russell in court, said he couldn't do the killing, but, "I would holler at one of my guys, V," meaning Smothers.

A few weeks later, Smothers, David Cobb and Black all met and planned the killing, according to Black's statement.

In another statement, Smothers said he worked for drug dealers and said the killing of Cherry on Gravier was a contract hit for $10,000. He said he was disturbed that Lakari Berry, 27, who already is serving life in prison for the killings, shot Webster.

Smothers also said in his statement that was read in court that he became sickened after killing Rose Cobb because he felt she was innocent.

"I couldn't stomach it," he told police.

Gabi Silver, Smothers' lawyer, argued that Detroit police Investigator Ira Todd made false promises to Smothers and accused Todd of telling Smothers that his wife, Cecily Smothers, would not face charges if he cooperated. Todd, who took Smothers' statement, denied making such promises.

Smothers told police he stayed in the suburbs to avoid being solicited for more hits after the Cobb killing. He said he and his wife were living off the $60,000 he collected for various killings.

Smothers has claimed responsibility for at least seven Detroit slayings, city police say.

David Cobb was arrested last month but released without being charged. Rose Cobb's relatives said they hope police will charge Cobb, who was suspended without pay pending an ongoing investigation.

Rose Cobb's 34-year-old niece, Adrian Gary, said she's angry with Smothers: "But not as much as with the others involved. I feel he's remorseful."

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