The slain mother of a 1 ½-year-old boy was strangled, according to the autopsy, and the suspect — her son’s father — was accused of a similar attack several years ago.
Taty’ana Cooks, 30, was found dead after she failed to pick up her son, Beau, from day care last week. Police who went to her Woodbridge, Virginia, apartment to check on her immediately were suspicious. All of her belongings were there, but she and her car were gone.
“Her mom knew instantly when she got to her house and her house was in a disarray,” said Cooks’ aunt, Cassandra Cooks. “She would never leave her house in disarray. So, she left her baby, her house was in disarray and then we can’t find her … being a mother, from the first moment she was not there, she knew something was wrong. She just knew. Mother instinct.”
As family and friends gathered outside the apartment, a trash truck drove by, and police stopped it and searched it, finding Cooks’ body.
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“I would tell anybody as soon as you feel something or can’t find somebody, don’t wait, because if we had waited just one more minute we would still be looking for Taty’ana, now,” her aunt said.
Cooks had been removed from her apartment in a suitcase.
Investigators tracked down the baby’s father, 28-year-old Brendon Devon White, in Newport News. He is charged with murder.
Cooks’ family says she and White were no longer romantically involved but still lived in the same apartment. Her aunt said Cooks’ never expressed concerns about her safety.
The family is only now learning White was arrested for strangulation in 2018 for allegedly attacking his other child’s mother. The victim in that case failed to show up for court hearings, and the charges against White were dropped.
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