A 44-year-old Fox News Media video editor who vanished on Monday was found dead inside a neighbor’s closet in Alexandria, Virginia, after the neighbor confessed to killing him, police say.
Joshua Cochran was reported missing after his mother couldn’t reach him. His family called police and asked them to check his apartment in the 5700 block of Merton Court. Officers found nothing there, NBC Washington reported Wednesday.
When the family called again Tuesday, police dug further and learned Cochran had been out at a bar with a neighbor, John Stremple III. Detectives tracked down Stremple’s apartment and knocked on his door.
Alexandria Police Chief Tarrick McGuire said the confession came immediately.
“When our detectives knocked on the door, they were just following up on the leads that had been established. And when they opened that door, the suspect gave an immediate confession,” McGuire said.
A search of Stremple’s apartment turned up Cochran’s body inside a closet. He had suffered blunt force trauma to the head, police said.
Police arrested Stremple, 63, charged him with second-degree murder, and booked him into the Alexandria Detention Center, according to a law enforcement press release issued Wednesday.
Stremple is a registered sex offender, convicted in 2014 of sodomy against a minor, according to the NBC report.
A female neighbor told WUSA 9, “It’s pretty scary. I wouldn’t expect something like that to happen in this neighborhood.”
Cochran’s family described him as a man with a great sense of humor who was intelligent, creative, and devoted to his son and dog. His mother said he “had a soft soul about him. And he was smart, funny. Oh, he was so funny. He was the funniest one of the family.”
Fox News Media issued a statement mourning his death. “We are deeply saddened by the tragic death of our colleague Joshua Cochran. He was a dedicated member of our FOX News Media team who will be dearly missed. Our heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to his family,” a spokesperson said.
