But he also rapped about leaving a woman to die in the dirt after sex, the same way Villanueva was found.ĭalton asked if there were “two Cookseys,” one light, the other dark. It’s true the man who also went by the rap name King Playbola penned sweet love songs to the woman who he called his queen and the light of his life. Later, after he calmed down a little, he told Detective Paul Dalton, “I love women,” adding, “If you listen to some my songs, anything I say about a woman is building 'em. What would I get out of killing an innocent woman that helps me?” I’ve never been that type of person,” he said. “I’m not gonna leave her, a woman dead!” Cooksey said as it dawned on him that he was now being accused of her murder. So when that detective showed him a picture of Maria Villanueva, told him she was dead, and that Cooksey’s DNA was found at the scene, Cooksey snapped. He boasted of thousands of women friends on Facebook and told the Phoenix police detective his nickname in high school was Playboy. The man Cooksey described as a brother, he shot point-blank in the face while he slept, police allege.īut in a three-hour police interview in January 2018 obtained through a public records request by Phoenix New Times, Cooksey depicted himself as a man of God, reformed in prison, someone who saw the light in people. He told police his mother was “a rock,” and “a great lady.” Maricopa County prosecutors have charged him in eight of those killings and are seeking the death penalty. shot nine people dead between Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2017. In the minds of Phoenix police detectives, Cleophus Cooksey Jr. Phoenix New Times illustrations/Photos courtesy of Phoenix PD, MCSO JailĬleo Cooksey is a lover, not a killer.

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