DETROIT (WXYZ) — The man charged in the murder of Detroit neurosurgeon Dr. Devon Hoover has taken a plea deal, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Desmond Burks was accused of shooting Hoover and hiding his body in a crawl space inside Hoover's Boston Edison home in April 2023.
See the full guilty plea in the video below:
According to the court database, Burks pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, larceny - $20,000 or more, using a computer to commit a crime and weapons charges. He's scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20.
After more than a week of delays, jury selection on the case began on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday. The trial was expected to last six weeks.
Watch below: Trial begins for Desmond Burks, man charged in Detroit neurosurgeon's murder
In August 2024, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that Hoover was charged in the case. She said the investigation lasted over a year and spanned across five states — Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Texas and California — and three countries — United States, England, and France.
Worthy laid out the vast amount of information officials used to investigate this case, which included over 100 hours of video interviews, video surveillance from 24 different locations, over 300 pieces of evidence, more than 134 search warrants requested, a Range Rover, two luxury watches and 181 pages of investigators' reports. In total, police reportedly retrieved several terabytes of data.
Hoover, 53, was found dead on April 23, 2023, inside his Detroit home on W. Boston Boulevard near Woodward Avenue while police were conducting a wellness check. Police were initially called after Hoover didn't show up in Indiana to visit his mother. During that check, police noticed the driveway gate near the back of the home was wide open, with what appeared to be blood on back door of the home.
Inside the home, police found Hoover's body in a third-floor attic crawl space, wrapped in a blood-soaked carpet.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office concluded that Hoover was shot twice in the back of his head.
