The documentary ‘Evil Lives Here: The Monster Inside Him’ on Investigation Discovery follows Vernetta Cockerham as she recounts how she endured a horrific tragedy but found the strength to fight for victims of domestic violence everywhere following her experiences. The uplifting story of a woman who, after the death of her only child, Candice Cockerham, fought against the city and the system to make things better for abused people.
Who is Vernetta Cockerham?
Vernetta Cockerham was born in 1969 in the town of Paterson, New Jersey. Due to her parents not being able to provide a safe environment for her and her siblings, their maternal grandmother, Marie Edmonds, took care of them from an early age. She was the youngest of three sisters. The sisters moved to the quaint community of Jonesville, North Carolina with their mother Marie when they were old enough to start attending public schools. Marie worked as a nurse at a nearby nursing facility. Marie’s education of her grandchildren was very traditional; for example, she took them to church on Sundays and gave them canned vegetables.
Marie is the one who taught Vernetta to defend herself and fight. This lesson was properly established in her and therefore she would continue to fight the system and change it. Vernetta moved to Newark, New Jersey, when she was 14 in order to get to know her mother. After that, she moved to Paterson, New Jersey, to live with her father and attend high school there. Vernetta, a math tutor, had Kevin Baker, a linebacker, as a student during the summer before his sophomore year. Baker was a pupil of Vernetta. They had a whirlwind courtship that led to her becoming pregnant in the middle of the school year. Both were surprised by the news.
Candice was born in Jonesville when Vernetta was just 15 years old. After moving back to Paterson, Vernetta married Kevin, who was 18 at the time. Richard Ellerbee, who dated Kevin’s sister, is the one who broke the news to Vernetta that her boyfriend was cheating on her with another woman. Vernetta felt indebted to Richard, who was 13 years her senior, for encouraging her to end her marriage to Kevin. After their separation, Richard became one of Vernetta’s closest confidants. After graduating, she began working for the Paterson Police Department in the department’s records office. When Candice was six, her mother and son uprooted their family and moved to Jonesville, where the mother worked two jobs while raising her daughter.
Richard moved to Jonesville in 1993 in order to find work, and it was around this time that he began dating Vernetta, who was 24 at the time. In 1995, despite having decided she wanted no more children following Candice’s difficult labor and delivery, she discovered that she was pregnant with Richard’s first son, Rashieq. Richard forced her to marry him in December 2001 against her wishes after finding out she was pregnant with their second son, Dominiq, in 2001. Dominiq was born the same year. By this time, Vernetta had begun to recognize Richard for who he really was, which was someone who had major problems controlling his rage.
Vernetta was a victim of daily domestic violence at home, so on July 4, 2002, she had Richard arrested on charges of felony assault with a dangerous weapon. Richard was charged with assaulting Vernetta with a deadly weapon. Despite this, Richard was released on bail almost immediately and the abuse continued. Although she filed numerous complaints with the police, had him arrested several times and obtained a restraining order against him, Richard remained unfazed by her actions. He followed her everywhere, harassed her, and even broke into her home, leaving threatening notes and digging small graves around her property in an effort to terrify her. He did it because he was obsessed with her.
Vernetta continued to press charges and abide by the law in all other respects, but Richard was never arrested for a long time. All the assaults and threats eventually led to Richard killing Candice and nearly killing Vernetta on November 12, 2002, before setting himself on fire three days later. This act of violence and harassment culminated in Richard’s suicide.
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Where is Vernetta Cockerham today?
Vernetta’s injuries took a long time to heal, but she eventually recovered and in November 2004, she filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jonesville and two police officers. After a legal battle that lasted five years, she finally reached a settlement with the city council in June 2009 and was awarded a sum of money equal to $430,000. She added that although it took a long time, it was something well worth the wait for the people it was going to help. Efforts are already underway to strengthen legislation governing domestic violence, and I am delighted to be part of this process. What the settlement means to me is that I have high hopes that I can bring positive change and service to Yadkin County.
Through the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Vernetta continues to advocate for victims of domestic violence. “…what really impressed me about Vernetta was that she immediately went into advocacy mode, providing support to other victims and looking for systemic holes and how we can fix them,” said Rita Anita Linger, the group’s executive director. Vernetta has been working to push a bill through the Senate that would continue to help people who are victims of sexual or domestic violence and campaign for the prosecution of people who disobey restraining orders.
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