Uncle denied wrongdoing in '97

Gary Elishi Cochran, indicted last week in the death of 9-year-old Sharra Ferger, told a detective he thought someone else had killed his niece.

By CHASE SQUIRES

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 28, 2001

DADE CITY -- Although he was indicted just last week in the killing of Sharra Ferger, Gary Elishi Cochran is no newcomer to the 3-year-old mystery, court records show.

In an interview with a sheriff's detective in 1997, Cochran, who is Sharra's uncle, admitted he was among the last to see her alive. But he denied any involvement in her death.

Cochran's name surfaced days after the 9-year-old girl was killed, in a transcript of a detective's interview with the first man arrested, Dale Morris. Although Morris was the first one blamed for the killing, he was not to be the last. He was freed after spending four months in jail. DNA evidence cleared him, and the hunt for the killer resumed.

Authorities waited until last week before taking their findings public. A grand jury indicted Cochran, 35, and Gary Steven Cannon, 20, on June 21. Details of the indictment have been sealed by a judge.

Both Cochran and Cannon, in interviews with the St. Petersburg Times, have denied involvement.

But Cochran also agreed to an extensive interview with a Pasco County Sheriff's Office detective in 1997 when authorities were following up on Morris' arrest. In the videotaped, half-hour interview, Cochran professed his love for his niece, floated theories about the killing, explained his whereabouts the night Sharra died and warned that Morris was the wrong man.

"I don't think that boy sitting in jail did it," Cochran told detective John Corbin during the interview.

"Why?" Corbin asked.

"From what I hear, I don't know, I'm just telling you from what I hear," Cochran said. "Hell, you could have done it, far as I know. Someone come in here and say he's the one that did it, a police officer. I don't know. I don't go by say-so until I find out the truth."

He wasn't pressed on the issue, and he didn't offer any reasons, but he did offer a theory involving an acquaintance he knew only as "Tux."

"From what I understand is that, that boy you just mentioned?" he said, looking at Corbin.

"Tux?" Corbin said.

"Tux and three black boys is the ones that killed my niece," Cochran said.

Again, Cochran offered no reasons other than that was something he had heard. There is no one named "Tux" in the courthouse case file on Morris.

Cochran told the detective he had been with his niece the day before she was killed. The two watched people in her neighborhood ride a dirt bike. He said he walked Sharra home, saw her go inside, and went out for a night of drinking. He said he learned of her death nearly 24 hours later.

Passages from the interview follow:

Cochran: "When I pulled up, Sharra seen me. She was out there walking around playing, like she usually does, she came down where I was, I said, 'Sharra, you hang out here with me. Don't be going nowhere, you don't need to be going up and down that dirt road 'cause its getting late.'

"We all hung out there, and I said, 'Well, Sharra, I'm getting ready to go to the bar, you better get home.'

"She said, 'Will you walk me home?' I said, 'Yeah,' so I walked her home, walked her up to the gate, watched her go through the gate.

"That was the last time I seen her."

Corbin: "How do you get along with (Sharra's mother) Karen?"

Cochran: "I'd soon as take that gun right there and shoot her in the head . . . I don't care for her. Never have."

Corbin: "You heard Friday that Sharra was killed?"

Cochran: "I heard Friday, 7:30-8 o'clock that night, when I got home from work, I heard Sharra was dead."

Corbin: "Did you go back out there?"

Cochran: "G------ right I went back out there, soon as I heard. My Uncle Charles took me, right up to the side of the road, they got the whole thing roped off. I walked up to the officer, I said 'Look, all I want to do, is -- what happened?' He said, 'I can't tell you nothing.' I said, 'Sir, let me tell you something, son of a b----, that's my niece out there. I want to know what the f--- happened.' I said, 'I'm not here to be an a------, I just want to know is what happened to my niece. He said, 'I can't tell you nothing.' I said, 'F--- 'em, Uncle Charles, f--- that son of a bitch,' and I walked off."

Corbin: "Who would do this to her?"

Cochran: "I really don't know, I swear to God. I know I would like to know."

Corbin: "Did you have anything to do with it?"

Cochran: "No. Why would I want to kill my own niece. That's my pride and joy. That's my family."

Corbin: "Did you have anything to do with it?"

Cochran: "No, I ain't got any reason to kill my niece or my nephew or none of my own family."

Corbin: "You understand why I've got to talk to you. You were probably one of the last people to see her."

Corbin: "What we're trying to figure out, would Sharra come outside for somebody?"

Cochran: "Sharra would not walk out that f------ house for no one, unless it was her mom. Other than that, Sharra did not come out of the house after dark."

Corbin: "What was your relationship with Sharra?"

Cochran: "Sharra, she couldn't have a better uncle than me. I take her fishing, take her camping, sit out with bonfires."

Cochran: "I still think about it every night. I go out there every day. Every f------ day when I get home from work, I go out to that cross, both crosses, and I get on my hands and knees and cry . . . I do go out there and respect my niece's grave. I pull the grass and s--- away from there, and clean it up. I do all that."

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright