Homicide investigators believe a Houston man held in connection with the murders of a lesbian couple did not approve of his daughter’s lifestyle.
Larry Crosby, Jr., 46, is charged with 2 counts of tampering with evidence in the murders of his daughter, Britney Cosby, and her girlfriend, Crystal Jackson, both 24.
A beer deliveryman discovered the womens’ bodies next to a dumpster behind the Fisherman’s Cove Food Mart in the 700 block of Highway 87 in Port Bolivar, Texas on Friday, March 7. The bodies were dumped between the garbage bin and an abandoned, boarded up building.
According to a coroner’s report, Britney, pictured right, died of blunt force trauma to the head and her neck was broken. Crystal was shot to death.
Police arrested Cosby a day after he attended a candlelight vigil for his daughter on Wednesday.
At the vigil, Larry Cosby said he would miss his daughter’s “smile, her bubbliness, her spontaneity.”
“She was like my twin. She looked like me. She acted like me. Her features were like mine. Her hands were like mine,” he said. “Everything about her was just like me. When she was born, my mama said, ‘Boy, it looked like you had that child.’?”
Cosby spoke with investigators at the vigil. Then agreed to follow them to police headquarters for another interview. He was read his rights when he could not explain how his fingerprint was found at the crime scene.
Police discovered signs of extreme violence at Crosby’s residence in the South Acres area. Officials described a “blood bath” in the bedroom of Cosby’s house.
According to Chron.com, investigators armed with search warrants recovered carpeting, cleaning supplies, and other evidence from the home. A broken shutter found at the crime scene matched shutters from Larry Cosby’s home.
Britney Cosby’s mother, Loranda Remer, said Larry Cosby had difficulty accepting his daughter’s homosexual lifestyle.
“He would throw it in her face,” Remer said, adding that her daughter quoted Larry Cosby as saying, “Don’t throw that gay (expletive) around in this house.”
Family members defended Cosby, saying he did not have a history of fighting with his daughter.
Reached via phone by Chron.com, Annie Cosby, 90, said her grandson enjoyed a good relationship with his daughter.
“I never saw them having a misunderstanding or anything like that,” she said, adding that Larry Cosby was not homophobic.
Both women lived with Annie and Crystal’s 5-year-old daughter in Annie’s 1,200 sq. ft. Houston home.
Annie still mourns the loss of her great-granddaughter, Britney.
“She took good care of me,” said Annie, who is wheelchair-bound. “She paid my bills, would do my grocery shopping, cooking – all of that. I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”
Larry Cosby had an extensive criminal history. He served a two-year prison sentence for failing to register as a sex offender. He was convicted two decades ago of sexually assaulting Remer when she was 22.
Larry Cosby is being held in the Galveston County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. The charges may be upgraded to capital murder, officials said.
