R.I. man convicted of killing girlfriend, covering body in plastic wrap, and leaving her in fridge
05/23/2023 1:32 pm PDT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (TCD) -- A jury found a 54-year-old man guilty of fatally shooting his girlfriend last year and leaving her body in a refrigerator he placed in his bedroom.
Nathan Cooper was convicted Monday, May 15, in Providence County Superior Court of second-degree murder, discharging a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence resulting in death, and two counts of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person for the death of Sherbert "Strawberry" Maddox, 40.
According to the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office, on March 22, 2022, Maddox's family told a Providence Police Department officer that Maddox had been killed and her body was inside Cooper's apartment on Parkis Avenue. Police made their way into his residence and located a .38 caliber revolver and a shotgun. They also reportedly noticed the fridge was no longer in the kitchen and instead in a Cooper's bedroom. The door was shut with a cord.
Police opened the refrigerator and discovered Maddox's body "wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap and bedding."
Maddox died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. Investigators believe she was killed March 16, 2022.
Maj. David Lapatin told WPRI-TV at the time of Cooper's arrest that Cooper and Maddox were dating, though investigators learned Cooper "did have some violent tendencies toward her in the past."
Cooper will be sentenced at a later date.
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