A Michigan man who killed a 40-year-old mother of two in November 2021 will spend at least 32 years in prison for her death, a judge ordered Thursday.
20-year-old Jarren Cox was sentenced Thursday to 30 to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder, and an additional two years for a guilty plea to a felony firearm enhancement, in connection with the death of 40-year-old Andrea Tucker.
Tucker was killed Nov. 17, 2021, while getting out of her car at her eastside Detroit home after dropping her two children off at school.
The immediate suspect in Tucker’s death was her boyfriend, David Hammond, who was already facing charges alleging he assaulted Tucker and firebombed her home in September 2019. Hammond’s then-19-year-old son, Cox, was arrested a week after Tucker’s murder.
Cox said in court Thursday that he struggled to think of something to say during the sentencing hearing. He said his actions were senseless, that there was “really no reason for it.” He said he regrets his actions and apologized to the Tucker family.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a press release last year that the evidence showed Cox was the “actual shooter” of Tucker, but that the case was still under investigation.
Hammond’s attorney told The Detroit News last year that Hammond couldn’t have killed Tucker because he was appearing via Zoom for a court hearing in the assault and arson case at the time police said Tucker was killed.
Shortly before her death, Tucker had complained to police that Hammond was violating his bond by stalking her. Police asked prosecutors to revoke his bond, but an assistant prosecutor denied the request for an emergency bond hearing. Worthy’s office said the assistant prosecutor made that decision without checking with supervisors and did not feel there was enough evidence to ask a judge to revoke his bond.
Five days after the request for a court hearing was denied, Tucker was killed. Two days after her death, a Wayne County judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to revoke Hammond’s bond.
“We believe the system failed this devoted mother,” Detroit Police 2nd Deputy Chief Rudy Harper said in a statement shortly after Tucker’s death. “Our investigators took the necessary steps in this case. We look forward to bringing her family swift justice.”
Hammond was never charged with Tucker’s murder, but he remained under investigation until his August death, Detroit police said. His body was found in his downtown Detroit apartment with no signs of foul play.
Charles Tucker, Andrea’s father, said he thinks about his only daughter every day.
“I go to bed crying and I wake up crying because I am still hurting for the loss of my daughter,” Charles Tucker said during Cox’s sentencing hearing. “She wasn’t lost. She was taken. She was shot in the back four times by a coward.”
Andrea’s children, who were 11 and 15 when their mother was killed, have been depressed since her death, Charles Tucker said.
“Why did this happen to her?” Charles Tucker said. “I don’t have the answer. Only the person that did this has the answer.”
Charles Tucker said his daughter was an inspiration to others. She graduated high school with the goal of becoming a certified public accountant, he said, and she walked several miles for three weeks to get to her CPA class because there were no buses to take her there.
Tucker saved money for 13 years to give to his grandchildren once they finished high school, he said. He had to spend it all to bury their mother.
At times, he struggles to look at his granddaughter because she looks so much like Andrea.
“I just break down and cry,” Charles Tucker said. “I have to make an excuse why I can’t come and see her because it just hurts so much.”
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