A Detroit man who provided intimate services to a Michigan neurosurgeon has been charged with his murder.
Dr. Devon Hoover, 53, was shot twice and his body was hidden in a third floor attic crawlspace in his mansion.
Police discovered his body on April 23, 2023, after his family requested a welfare check, prosecutors said.
“He was only wearing socks. He was wrapped in a blood-soaked carpet,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a press conference on Wednesday.
According to the prosecutor, Dr. Hoover exchanged over 4,000 text messages with a man named Desmond Burks. The text messages described sexual favors.
“On occasion, Desmond Burks would charge Dr. Hoover for these sexual services,” Worthy said.
The day of the murder, the doctor’s phone traveled from his home to the area of Burks’ home, then back to his own home, and then back again to the area of Burks’ home, Worthy said.
After Hoover was killed, two designer watches worth $6,000 and $7,500 were missing from his home, Worthy said.
Dr. Hoover’s Range Rover was also missing.
Additionally, multiple fraudulent withdrawals were made from the doctor’s bank account and credit cards.
Police pinged Dr. Hoover’s missing cell phone to Burks’ house and Burks was detained 5 days after Dr. Hoover’s murder in 2023.
But Burks was released because Worthy claims there wasn’t enough evidence to hold him, according to Click On Detroit.
The investigation took more than a year before Burks was arrested in May 2024. He was finally charged on Wednesday, August 7.
Worthy claims she didn’t have enough evidence to charge Burks last year.
Burks faces first-degree premeditated murder and possession of a firearm by a felon, Worthy said.
He is also charged with second-degree murder in the death of a 67-year-old man during a road rage incident last year. Worthy said the man bumped Burks’ car at a traffic light. They both got out, and Burks punched the man.
Worthy said Burks left the man to die in the middle of the street.
