DETROIT (WXYZ) — The man who pleaded guilty to the murder of Detroit neurosurgeon Dr. Devon Hoover will be sentenced on Friday.
Desmond Burks was accused of shooting Hoover and hiding his body in a crawl space inside Hoover's Boston Edison home in April 2023. Last month, Burks pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, larceny - $20,000 or more, using a computer to commit a crime and weapons charges.
Watch Darren Cunningham's video report:
In exchange for the plea, the first-degree murder charge against Burks was dropped. Burks, 35, faces 35 to 60 years in prison for second-degree murder, plus another five years on a weapons charge.
See the full guilty plea in the video below:
Burks’ decision to plead guilty came two days into jury selection for his trial. It was a rare move but not unheard of, according to Todd Flood, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor.
The move still caught those closest to Hoover off guard.
Hoover's family released the following statement about the plea deal:
As a family, we are relieved to know that Desmond Burks pleaded guilty. We are glad that a long and difficult trial will not be necessary.
We spoke with Hoover's friend Carol Gove about the deal.
"I'm still a little bit in shock. Devon's sister just called me and gave me the news. I'm relieved that it's over. It's been very anxiety-producing thinking about going to testify. I'm relieved that his murderer will be locked away for the rest of his life. Nothing can bring Devon back; the people that are still suffering are his would-be patients," she said.
FULL INTERVIEW: Carol Gove talks about plea deal
In August 2024, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced charges 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.
Watch below: Trial begins for Desmond Burks, man charged in Detroit neurosurgeon's murder
Flood says Burks likely took the deal to ensure he’d one day walk free because the circumstantial evidence is too stacked to ignore.
“What were the circumstances? He was there the night of, right? He stole the car, the text messages, the electronically stored information for the phone, all of those things, taking the money,” Flood said.
Burks’ attorney Gabi Silver says it's unclear to her why her client came to this conclusion.
“It was a bit of a surprise to all of us, but at the end of the day, it was his decision,” Silver said.
“I’ve been in murder trials, too many to count and the victim’s family, it’s trauma. It’s peeling back wounds. It’s taking off the Band-Aid," Flood said. “So to spare them this ugliness, this trial of listening and going through all of this, that’s some mercy.”
