(CBS-DETROIT) – Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced Wednesday that charges have been filed against a suspect in Murder of Dr. Devon Hooverwho was found shot to death in his Detroit home last year.
Desmond Burks, 34, of Detroit, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, joint murder, theft over $20,000, computer use to commit a crime, criminal possession of a weapon and three counts of repeated illegal use of a firearm.
Detroit Police Department
Burks was arraigned and remanded in custody Thursday morning. A bond hearing is scheduled for August 15.
Burks is currently being held in the Wayne County Jail on charges related to a road rage incident in which he allegedly fatally beat a man from Dearborn. Burks is being held on $1 million bail. Worthy says the two cases are unrelated. His next court date in the road rage case is Sept. 3 for a competency hearing.
Hoover was found dead in the attic of his house in the 100 block of W. Boston Blvd. in Detroit’s Boston-Edison neighborhood after police were called for a wellness check on April 23, 2023.
An autopsy revealed The neurosurgeon was shot twice in the back of the head.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Worthy said the investigation spans five states (Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Texas and California) and three countries (Engigan, France and the United States).
Worthy said that during the course of the investigation, officers found about 4,000 messages with a phone number associated with Burks. The text messages prove that the two had an intimate relationship and that Burks occasionally billed Hoover for sexual services. Worthy said the investigation was complicated because many witnesses were reluctant to disclose confidential and personal information.
“When we have reluctant witnesses in an investigation, sometimes it really hampers things, sometimes it actually takes longer, sometimes it takes years before we can try a case,” Worthy said when asked how witnesses who were unwilling to come forward might have affected the timing of the investigation. “But I think based on what you heard me say about the kind of relationship that Dr. Hoover had with this defendant, you can kind of extrapolate from that as to why people didn’t want to come forward.”
The investigation revealed that Hoover’s cell phone traveled from his home to the area of Burks’ residence before returning to the area of Hoover’s home. The cell phone then traveled back to Burks’ residence before being transported to Fairlane Mall in Dearborn. After that, the cell phone never returned to Hoover’s home.
Officials say immediately after Hoover’s assassination, fraudulent transactions were made through his various bank accounts. Worthy said more than $30,000 was stolen from Hoover’s accounts, as well as a Range Rover and two watches valued at a total of $13,500.
Worthy said that during the lengthy investigation, 300 pieces of evidence were collected, 134 search warrants were executed and 40 cell phones were examined.
