Suspect says Deann Robinson killed, dumped in home for $750
DETROIT (WJBK) - The man who police say killed a young mother and dumped her body in an abandoned Detroit home was in court for the first time after police say he admitted to the crime.
A judge ruled Jerry McCoy, 48, will be tried for the murder of Deann Robinson. The 20-year-old woman was missing for a year and was finally found inside an abandoned home in February.
Detroit Police officer Jamir McIntyre read the graphic statement they say McCoy gave them.
"I held her while (he) choked her and strangled her," McIntyre read in court on Friday. "(He) put (the body) in the basement of a house."
Other members of the Detroit Police Department testified that McCoy was tracked down in Alabama and returned to Detroit in March. That's when they say he confessed to participating in the murder of his girlfriend with his friend. According to McCoy, Robinson was killed over $750.
McCoy eventually helped lead police, including Sgt. Shannon Jones, to her body in the basement of an abandoned home on the city's west side.
"There was a corner closet at that time I observed the unknown remains of a female laying in the closet," Jones said.
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Jones grew close to Robinson's children throughout the investigation and was committed to finding their mother. Robinson's sister, Deborah, believes McCoy picked up Robinson back in January of 2015. That was the last time anyone saw Deanne.
"I heard my fiancé's son say 'Deann, somebody is at the door for you'. He woke her up out of sleep and she left," Deborah said.
They left in a white Chevy Trailblazer that police later linked to McCoy. Police testified that he admitted to hiding with family in Alabama - all while her family desperately searched for Deann.
McCoy told police that while he participated in the murder, the other man committed the crime.
The defense argued there was no evidence of premeditation but the judge agreed with prosecutors that Robinson had been picked up and taken to be murdered.