Phoenix police: 9 murder victims ranged in age from 21 to 56

They were nine people killed in the Phoenix area in a span of three weeks in late 2017.

Most appeared to have little, if anything, in common.

But a commonality would become evident after the Dec. 17 arrest of Cleophus Cooksey Jr. 

Phoenix police said ballistics testing on Cooksey's gun and other evidence led them to link one killing after another. Detectives had not ruled out more victims as of Thursday — one month after Cooksey's arrest.

MORE:Phoenix police: Double-murder suspect tied to 7 other killings

These are the people whose lives were cut short between Nov. 27 and Dec. 17, allegedly at the hands of one man.

Andrew Remillard and Parker Gregory Smith, shot Nov. 27

In the late-evening hours of Nov. 27, Andrew "Andy" Remillard, 27, and Parker Gregory Smith, 21, were found shot to death in a parking lot near 16th Street and Indian School Road.

A 911 call just before midnight led Phoenix police to the area, where they found a black vehicle with one gunshot victim inside the car and one outside.

Sherene Engen, Remillard's fiancée, said she didn't realize Remillard was gone until the police started banging on her door later that night. Engen had fallen asleep early with the couple's young son and had assumed Remillard was out on the couch. 

It wasn't typical for Remillard to leave late at night, Engen told The Arizona Republic in a recent interview. 

"I don’t really know what they were doing down there," she said. 

Engen said Remillard and Smith were friends from the time they both worked at Denny's. Remillard, she said, took on somewhat of a mentor role for his younger friend, who she said lost his biological dad when he was young. Remillard had invited Smith to spend Father's Day with the family. 

Engen said she had no idea who would want to harm her fiance. He was sweet and outgoing, always smiling. 

"He didn't just have one best friend," Engen said. "All of his friends were his best friend." 

The young couple met when they were both living in Durango, Colorado, and working at an assisted-living facility. Remillard, who spent time as a caregiver there, was a ladies' man with all of the older women, Engen said. 

"They all loved him so much," she said. "He had like, a really foul mouth, but I feel like in front of old people, he would filter." 

Engen recalled the day their son, Lyric, was born — she was just relieved he was there, and the labor portion was over. When she looked over at Remillard, he was weeping. 

"Ever since ... that day, his life was to take care of Lyric," she said. 

Remillard would take him to the park, hang out with him on the porch and play the guitar, and dressed him in matching daddy-son outfits. 

Engen said the hardest part about Remillard's death was explaining it to Lyric. The two picked out flowers for Dad, to leave at the spot where Remillard was killed. Lyric protested when they were about to depart, though.

"He was like, 'No, we have to take those for Daddy,' " she said of the flowers. Engen told him Daddy wasn't coming back, he had died, and they were leaving the flowers there for him. 

"And he cried," Engen said. "He still cries about him every day." 

Salim Richards, shot Dec. 2

About 7:45 p.m. Dec. 2, Phoenix police found Salim Richards, 35, critically injured at Maryvale's Cove apartment complex, near 44th Avenue and Indian School Road.

He later died at the scene.

Police said at the time he was shot by an unknown assailant. 

On Thursday, police said Richards was shot while walking in the area. Witnesses said the two men knew each other, though specific details about their relationship remained unclear.

Police also said Cooksey stole property from Richards, including a handgun. 

Jesus Bonifacio Real, shot Dec. 11

Jesus Bonifacio Real, 25, was shot and killed Dec. 11 at a residence near 500 E. Harrison Drive in Avondale. Avondale police did not publicize the man's death, opting not to issue a news release announcing a suspected homicide. 

Police have since revealed Real's sister might have had some sort of relationship with Cooksey, though it remains unclear exactly what preceded the fatal shooting. 

The shooter fled the apartment before officers arrived, and investigators deferred lead on the case to the Phoenix Police Department. 

LaTorrie Beckford, shot Dec. 13

LaTorrie Beckford aspired to be an EMT who ran a side business designing and producing custom clothes.  

“He was very shy,” Sasha Flynn, Beckford’s older cousin with whom he lived, said in an interview with The Republic. “He definitely was smart. He definitely knew what he wanted in life.”

Beckford, 29, was shot twice shortly before 7 p.m. Dec. 13 and found near a parking lot between two buildings near Camelback Road and 55th Avenue, Glendale police said.

Beckford was pronounced dead at the scene, but no firm descriptions of the shooter were reported.

Flynn, his most immediate family in the Valley, was stunned when a detective came to her door. Her cousin grew up in Maryland and was attending Phoenix College, checking off prerequisite courses before taking up emergency medicine, she said.

Flynn described him as a “homebody” who looked forward to attending church with her, where she sang on Wednesdays.

“He really loved coming with me, and he would always ask me if I was going,” she said.

In the weeks since Beckford’s death, Flynn has replayed a video she recorded a couple of years ago — one she was planning on reminiscing with him about before he was killed.

It was her young son’s birthday, and Beckford told the boy to make a wish while blowing out candles.  

“I wish it was Halloween,” the boy said.

“Don’t say it out loud!” Beckford replied.

The boy misunderstood and said it even louder, drawing laughter from across the room.

“He loved life. He loved people,” Flynn said of her cousin. “He was just a kind, gentle soul.”

Kristopher Cameron, shot Dec. 15

A Glendale police officer was the first to find 21-year-old Kristopher Cameron in the minutes after a shots-fired call came out about 7:20 p.m. Dec. 15. 

Cameron was found kneeling in a grassy field in the area of 5000 N. 58th Avenue in Glendale, an area about a mile from where Beckford had been shot to death 48 hours earlier. 

Cameron was shot twice, and emergency crews treated and transported the man to a hospital, police said. He was pronounced dead the next day. 

Though a firm suspect description was not available at the time, witnesses reported seeing a black man with short hair in his 30s remove a backpack from Cameron before fleeing the scene on foot. 

Investigators issued an alert, seeking information about anyone matching that description, but the shooter remained at large. 

Maria Villanueva, shot Dec. 16

The day before the body of Maria Villanueva was found in a south Phoenix alleyway, the 43-year-old mother was the subject of a Glendale Police Department missing-person's case. 

She was last seen driving into her apartment complex near the 5100 block of North 58th Avenue, according to police. Officials say Cleophus Cooksey Jr. was there, too, and greeted her at her car. Villanueva was last seen getting into a vehicle with Cooksey, who drove off.

On Dec. 16, residents living near Mohave and Third streets discovered the partially nude body of a woman curled up near a cement wall. Villanueva was wearing a black bra but no underwear, and a black skirt was bunched up near her waist. 

She had been sexually assaulted and shot, police said. 

Villanueva was pronounced dead at the scene, but details about her disappearance and death were a mystery. 

Edward Nunn and Rene Cooksey, shot Dec. 17

Just before 8 p.m. on Dec. 17, a Phoenix police officer responded to a shots-fired call in a small central Phoenix apartment complex near 13th Street and Highland Avenue. 

The area was quiet at the time, but the officer noted what appeared to be a crime scene just outside one of the units, according to court records. There was blood on the patio, blood on the screen door. There weren't, however, blood tracks leaving the apartment, leading the officer to believe there could be someone injured inside. 

The officer knocked on the door and was greeted by a man who identified himself as Cleophus Cooksey. Cooksey told the officer there was nothing going on, and there was no one in the apartment with him. 

Asked where the blood came from, Cooksey claimed it was his own and pointed to a small cut on his hand, the officer said. 

The officer told Cooksey he was being detained and asked him to turn around. Court records say this upset Cooksey, who began yelling, "I'm the strongest man alive," and "I'll cut your throat." 

After Cooksey was detained, officers discovered a gruesome scene. The bodies of Rene Cooksey, 56, and Edward Nunn, 54 — Cooksey's mother and stepfather — were dead on the living-room floor. A handgun was spotted on a nearby couch. 

Cooksey told officers he didn't know what had occurred, and he ultimately requested an attorney. 

In an interview with The Republic, Nunn and Rene Cooksey's next-door neighbor, John Gouge, said the younger Cooksey had been living with the couple since he had been released from prison. 

"They were really nice people," Gouge said.

Gouge said he would often spot Cleophus Cooksey outside smoking marijuana. He was home by himself often, Gouge said, as his mother and stepfather worked long hours. 

"I thought he was harmless," Gouge said. "It was a total shocker."