GUILTY MS - Donna Cochran, 44, found murdered, Carthage, 11 Aug 2010

New Posts

I'd really like to see a time of death in this case. Please let us all know if anything is released about that.

TIA,

Salem
 
Salem said:
I'd really like to see a time of death in this case. Please let us all know if anything is released about that.

TIA,

Salem
Click to expand...

Salem, I'll do the best I can on this.
The sheriff said in the article in the Carthaginian that the husband left around 7:30 pm to go to his father-in-law's house to catch chickens. He was there all night. At some point, Donna's daughter came home and saw a light in the tack shop but was not disturbed because her mother often worked at night on the computer there.

The next morning, Donna didn't show up for work and a coworker called the husband. He called his dad to check on her. The dad found her and called 911 about 8:30 am. The sheriff further says that she had been dead for "several hours" when she was found. That's as close as I can come to a time of death.

She died from two bullet wounds, one to the back of the head and one to the side of the head with no evidence of any other trauma. "Mrs. Cochran likely died almost instantly" he said, "It was quick."

"It appeared" Waggoner (the sheriff) said, "to be a robbery that turned into murder." Money was taken from a bank bag and the husband said it was probably less than $500.

There was a broken window in the tack shop. Waggoner commented, "Despite the broken window, entry was apparently not made into the business through that.....(I can't make out the word.) There was no apparent sign of forced entry." In one of the other articles listed above in other posts, it said that she always kept the door bolted. So, this is a puzzle for me. Why the broken window? And how was it that there was no forced entry?

I am no sleuther. But I know many of you are seasoned sleuther. I will try to bring the info. I hope you can interpret it.

From www.thecarthaginian.com
 
Just a quick question. Could a window shatter just due to the explosion of a gun in a small space?
 
I would be very interested to know if the shooter was inside the shop when he/she fired at Donna, or if shots were fired from outside the window.

Putting myself in her shoes; I am alone inside the shop, husband will be gone all night. I hear a noise at the window - someone trying to open it, or breaking glass. My instinct would catapult me away from the danger, out the door or at least on the opposite side of the desk or counter!

Perp breaks the window, realizes someone is in the shop - does he wait around to see if they are alone, then climb thru the broken window anyway? Is Donna going to just stand there, right in front of the broken window; glass all around her, and wait while he climbs in? Does he pull out his gun after he climbs in, or was he holding in his hand while he climbed in? If he shot thru the window...why? Wouldn't it have been much easier to just wait until she left the shop and went to bed, (if the motive was stealing goods or money, not murder)?

Okay, so I'm back in Donna's shoes, glass broken, I am on the other side of the counter, headed for the door. What would make me return to stand directly in front of the broken window?...

Answer: A familiar face.
A voice of someone I trust.
A loaded shotgun in my hand. (2nd thought, I could shoot
just fine from the safer side of the counter!)

I can tell you one thing. If I turned and saw a stranger climbing in, I sure wouldn't walk back behind the counter, thru the broken glass and stand right in front of her/him.

I am certainly not finding fault with Donna's actions...I am sure she made the most logical choice for the circumstance she appeared to face! It seems that Donna was a well thought of businesswoman, nobody's fool. She must have had a good reason not to run or fight, and I think she must not have realized she was about to be executed. I don't think she would have just stood there and waited for a complete stranger to shoot her.

I hope the police were able to preserve the scene well enough to establish whether there were particles of broken glass underneath her body.
 
jokie7348 said:
Salem, I'll do the best I can on this.
The sheriff said in the article in the Carthaginian that the husband left around 7:30 pm to go to his father-in-law's house to catch chickens. He was there all night. At some point, Donna's daughter came home and saw a light in the tack shop but was not disturbed because her mother often worked at night on the computer there.

The next morning, Donna didn't show up for work and a coworker called the husband. He called his dad to check on her. The dad found her and called 911 about 8:30 am. The sheriff further says that she had been dead for "several hours" when she was found. That's as close as I can come to a time of death.

She died from two bullet wounds, one to the back of the head and one to the side of the head with no evidence of any other trauma. "Mrs. Cochran likely died almost instantly" he said, "It was quick."

"It appeared" Waggoner (the sheriff) said, "to be a robbery that turned into murder." Money was taken from a bank bag and the husband said it was probably less than $500.

There was a broken window in the tack shop. Waggoner commented, "Despite the broken window, entry was apparently not made into the business through that.....(I can't make out the word.) There was no apparent sign of forced entry." In one of the other articles listed above in other posts, it said that she always kept the door bolted. So, this is a puzzle for me. Why the broken window? And how was it that there was no forced entry?

Thanks jokie!

So, he/she did not come thru the window. Good to know!

Did Donna unlock the door to let this person in? Would she do that for a stranger, at night when her H was gone for the night?

If a stranger just wanted to steal money, why execute the poor woman?

I am no sleuther. But I know many of you are seasoned sleuther. I will try to bring the info. I hope you can interpret it.

From www.thecarthaginian.com
Click to expand...

Good to know Jokie!

No forced entry, so I could speculate that she let the person in, or she did not lock the door. But the poeple who know her have told us that she always locked the door when she was working alone, so if the door was not locked, what might we conclude?...that she was not working alone when she was shot? If her H had already left, she would have locked it, right?

If the door was locked, why would she open it for a stranger...at night...when she was working alone...husband out of town...daughter not home?

The sheriff said she was shot once in the back of the head and once in the temple. That is unusual, for your run of the mill petty theif. That, IMO is an execution-style murder.

No other trauma...so she didn't have time to put up a fight. (MOO) The perp had to be within arm's length of her, right up in her personal space, in order to place the shot. Did he/she approach from behind?...from the side? Hmmm, Donna was behind the counter, so the shooter would have had to be right there next to her.

The window was broken, but not used for entry. It could have been broken during a struggle, but then there was "no evidence of any other trauma" on Donna. That leads me to conclude that the window may have been broken after Donna was killed. Something a person might do to make a premeditated murder "appear" to be a robbery gone bad. MOO Moo moo!
 
Missizzy and TGI
I don't know about the gun shot shattering the window. I think it was a small caliber gun, so I really have no idea what effect it would have. I am inclined to believe it was broken after the fact to suggest a robbery. The window is much too small for anyone to have crawled through. But I also agree that two shots to the head seems like an execution of some sort. You are so right....Donna was a stand-up lady, very intelligent and methodical. I don't think she would have gone toward a robber or unlocked the door for one. But she might have for someone she knew.
The sheriff said that they called in the state crime lab to process the scene, so hopefully it was done correctly and thoroughly.
Thank you both for your valuable comments. My greatest hope is that Donna's killer will come to justice.
 
LEAKE COUNTY, MS (WLBT) - Authorities have again increased the reward for information leading to an arrest in the murder of a Leake County woman. The reward is now up to $20,000.

44 year-old Donna Cochran was found shot to death in the tack shop beside her home last Thursday. Authorities say she was shot twice with a small caliber weapon.

If you have any information, contact Sheriff Greg Waggoner at 601-267-7361.

www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=13015027
 
TGIRecovered said:
I would be very interested to know if the shooter was inside the shop when he/she fired at Donna, or if shots were fired from outside the window.

Putting myself in her shoes; I am alone inside the shop, husband will be gone all night. I hear a noise at the window - someone trying to open it, or breaking glass. My instinct would catapult me away from the danger, out the door or at least on the opposite side of the desk or counter!

Perp breaks the window, realizes someone is in the shop - does he wait around to see if they are alone, then climb thru the broken window anyway? Is Donna going to just stand there, right in front of the broken window; glass all around her, and wait while he climbs in? Does he pull out his gun after he climbs in, or was he holding in his hand while he climbed in? If he shot thru the window...why? Wouldn't it have been much easier to just wait until she left the shop and went to bed, (if the motive was stealing goods or money, not murder)?

Okay, so I'm back in Donna's shoes, glass broken, I am on the other side of the counter, headed for the door. What would make me return to stand directly in front of the broken window?...

Answer: A familiar face.
A voice of someone I trust.
A loaded shotgun in my hand. (2nd thought, I could shoot
just fine from the safer side of the counter!)

I can tell you one thing. If I turned and saw a stranger climbing in, I sure wouldn't walk back behind the counter, thru the broken glass and stand right in front of her/him.

I am certainly not finding fault with Donna's actions...I am sure she made the most logical choice for the circumstance she appeared to face! It seems that Donna was a well thought of businesswoman, nobody's fool. She must have had a good reason not to run or fight, and I think she must not have realized she was about to be executed. I don't think she would have just stood there and waited for a complete stranger to shoot her.

I hope the police were able to preserve the scene well enough to establish whether there were particles of broken glass underneath her body.
Click to expand...

TGIRecovered -I snipped the window from the video you posted on the previous page. The broken window was right next to the door. Even if Donna realized what was happening, she couldn't get out. The shooter would have been right next to the door as she ran out. Her only hope would have been to duck down under the counter. Studying the broken window it seems to me that no one crawled in or out, due to the glass still in the bottom of the window. It just had a hole in the middle of the window, like an elbow went through it. Can anyone tell if the glass shards on the bottom are on the inside or the outside?

I snipped a picture of the window but just removed it, I'm afraid it is copyrighted material.....if a mod lets me know if it is OK, I will repost it. It was helpful :-( but I don't want to get into trouble....

I wonder if the red curtain hanging over the window was there originally or if LE put that up. I'm very curious to know which way the counter faced and how the door opened. Based on what I saw in the video, I'm leaning toward someone on a mission to take Donna out, knew where she would be, snuck up to the shop, broke the window with their elbow and shot her from there. I'm assuming that the counter would have been right up against the wall to maximize floor space. That would have put Donna right in front of the window, not a hard shot if the shooter knows what he is shooting at. Course that leaves the question of how they got in to get the money.....wonder if the door was locked when the FIL showed up?

For those posters who are familiar with the shop, did Donna do a big business from this location? My searches did not turn up a website, so I have to assume that she did all her business locally. It certainly didn't appear to be a big shop, so she must not have had a great deal of inventory. Did she do special orders for people?

ETA-Studying the picture of the shop, there were two large white barrels directly under that window, as well as a black trash can, some cardboard boxes and something odd sitting on top of the white barrels, looks like a paint sprayer or something similar. It just looks like a vertical blue line below the window. I notice that the barrel to the left has things on top of it (the potential paint sprayer, etc), the one on the right, which would be more "under" the window, does not, but perhaps the cardboard boxes at the base were on the top of that barrel??? Standing or kneeling on top of that barrel would certainly give you a better shot. The window on the opposite side does not have a curtain over it FWIW. The other window is clear below it, with a propane tank to the right of the window.
 
Was there an attempt to dial 911? If she heard noises even by her exit she could have dialed 911 or were the phone lines cut? Did she have a workable cell phone. Could the glass have been broken by a bullet? So many questions.

I still wonder about time of death. I pray that justice happens for the family and I am so sorry for the loss. My heart goes out to her family and friends.
 
I haven't seen any news this weekend. I hope LE is actively investigating.

Angel, I also wondered about a gunshot through the window; but then I realized that if Donna was behind the desk and was shot twice in the head, how would the shooter get off that second shot. I'm sure she fell to the floor with the first shot. There are so many unanswered questions, and the pieces don't fit together. Maybe LE has more pieces to the puzzle.
Justice for Donna and peace for her family.
 
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=12991799
~snipped~

Donna Cochran, 44, is believed to be the victim of a robbery. She lived about eight miles southeast of Carthage on Highway 488 in the Free Trade community.

Her neighbors describe her and her husband as good people, but nobody around the house or at the home of her parents in another part of Leake County will talk on camera about the case.


Investigators found .25-caliber shell casings near her body.
********************************************************

ETA- OK, so a .25 is for a Browning, Saturday Night Special, or something similar and yes they are still made according to wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.25_ACP

The round is favored by producers of so-called "Saturday Night Special" pistols, which often retail for around $100, because in terms of reliability it is more forgiving than .22LR in low-quality designs with loose tolerances. These inexpensive pistols have been the target of much legislation.

pistols listed by wikipedia as .25 caliber:
FN M1900 · Colt M1900 · Colt M1902 · FN Model 1903 · M1903 Pocket Hammer · M1903 Pocket Hammerless · M1908 Vest Pocket · FN Model 1910 · M1911 · Colt Woodsman · Baby Browning · Hi-Power
 
Does anybody know how Donna's FIL is doing? I think I read earlier that he collapsed and was hospitalized after finding her. I hope he is recovering from what had to be a terribly traumatic discovery.
 
I really studied the pictures of the window and the shed itself. There are three steps to get up to the door, that says to me the shed is fairly high off the ground. Looking at the pattern of how the glass was broken, and the glass remaining at the bottom of the window, I would bet the farm no-one went in through that window. And my arm-chair detective skills say the person had to stand on one of those barrells under the window to get the shot off, unless they were 7' tall. It appears to me that the person is right handed, squatted on top of one of the barrells, broke the glass with their elbow, stuck the gun in the window and shot Donna while she was sitting at her desk. I imagine the second shot was immediately afterward as she slumped over on to the desk. With one of those little handguns, I could see that happening. And if you knew how long the break in the glass was, I would think you could estimate how tall the perp was. Additionally, I cannot see a door handle on the door no matter how hard I look. That would lead me to believe you just push the door open and secure it from the inside with a latch. The perp either had to be inside with Donna when she came in, or he never entered the building, so how did he get the money???? Could he have just reached down and taken the money off the desk?

Capture-1.png


DM-1.png


Ok, ducking now as the rotten tomatoes come winging my way.....I know I cannot get that much information out of a photograph, but that was what I saw, added to what we now know.
 
If the person climbed up on the barrel in order to access the window, wouldn't Donna have heard it? I suppose she could have had music on to keep her company and that would cover the noise.
 
I don't think she was shot thru the window. The two shots to the head seem to me to have been too precise for it to have happened that way. Even if the first shot hit her in the head, her head and body would have been in motion; falling or being propelled by the impact of the bullet. The entry wounds are reported to have been to the back of the head and to the temple. How does that happen if the shooter is firing from an odd angle, outside the window?

I think the killer was inside the shop. I think that Donna was shot in the back of the head, then the killer placed a final shot to the temple to be sure she was dead. Whomever did this wanted it to be quick; the killer didn't do this to watch her suffer, he/she just wanted her dead.

LE has stated that no one entered thru the window, so they had to come thru the door.

I am making a generalization here, but most people who live in a rural area own a gun or two. It just makes sense to have one when your home is in an isolated area, for protection and for varmits. Snakes, coyotes, other wild animals, possibly a sick, injured, or rabid animal all have to be delt with. Any business owner deals with some customers they know well and some who are strangers; another good reason to have a weapon.

If I were home alone in an isolated area, at night, in the shop where we kept money for the business, and I was known to lock the door when working alone, I wouldn't open the door for a stranger, and I would have my gun with me in case the stranger decided to come in anyway.
(...unless I thought I was safe because someone was in there with me who I knew and did not fear...)
 
Would the daughter have been able to tell if the window was broken when she arrived home? She noticed the light on and if the window wasn't broken until after she came home, maybe the time line can be narrowed down. Are LE still using the 7:30 time when the husband left?
 
If you watch this tape there is a deadbolt & doorknob with lock on the door

[video=youtube;aiCAM2c1k2c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiCAM2c1k2c[/video]
 
fhc said:
Would the daughter have been able to tell if the window was broken when she arrived home?
Click to expand...

Good question!

I think it must have been dark, which makes me wonder why she didn't notice anything else out of place. Were there lights still on in the shop? If so, I guess she just assumed her mom was out there working late. If there were no lights on in the shop, that would be strange, since "robbers" probably wouldn't bother with turning out the lights when leaving.

Anyone know how old the daughter is? Teenagers are so wrapped up in doing their own thing, maybe she just didn't think to check on her mom.
 
TGIRecovered said:
Good question!

I think it must have been dark, which makes me wonder why she didn't notice anything else out of place. Were there lights still on in the shop? If so, I guess she just assumed her mom was out there working late. If there were no lights on in the shop, that would be strange, since "robbers" probably wouldn't bother with turning out the lights when leaving.

Anyone know how old the daughter is? Teenagers are so wrapped up in doing their own thing, maybe she just didn't think to check on her mom.
Click to expand...

In one report the daughter saw the light on when she arrived home. Like you said, she thought her mom was out in the shop on her computer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 116 more.
Total: 4,423 (members: 117, guests: 4,306)

Online statistics

Members online
117
Guests online
4,306
Total visitors
4,423
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
592,545
Messages
17,970,745
Members
228,805
Latest member
Val in PA
Back
Top