NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — A judge sentenced a woman Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 30 years, in a missing man’s murder trial.
A jury in November found Danetta Knoblauch guilty of killing Melvin Cooksey.
Prosecutors presented 25 witnesses and around 750 pieces of evidence in the weeklong trial, including evidence from cell phone tower records tracking her phones and Cooksey’s phone.
Crime scene testimony and evidence, as well as GBI crime lab witnesses presenting DNA evidence, implicated her in Cooksey’s death. Text messages, social media messages, interviews and body camera footage were also presented to the jury.
“Because of the tireless work of the prosecution team and the lead investigators, the person responsible for this senseless and heinous crime has been convicted,” said Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney Randy McGinley in a statement.
Newton County deputies responded to a fire at Cooksey’s home in February 2023 but could not find him, leading to a missing person alert. Investigators later said the fire had been intentionally set using propane tanks.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Cooksey was paralyzed on his left side and required medical equipment and services left inside the house.
In May of that year, hikers discovered human remains more than 130 miles away in Fannin County. investigators were able to identify the remains as Cooksey by the serial number on a pacemaker.
Officials identified Knoblauch as a suspect, and she was caught in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after a long standoff with police. She had her child with her at the time.
She was charged at the time with a violent attack on a man with a sledgehammer in Kansas. Further investigation linked her to Cooksey’s death, and she was extradited to Newton County Jail in July of the same year.
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