You Won’t Believe Where This Black Virginia Woman Was Found

When we emphasize that Black women need to be protected, we’re referencing stories like this one.

Last week, the body of a Virginia woman who was found dead in a trash truck was identified as 30-year-old Taty’ana Zakiyyah Cooks. Police were only able to discover her body because family members asked officers to do a welfare check on March 21 after her child had not been picked up from daycare.

According to Fox 5 DC, when they visited Cooks’ home all her belongings were still there, but she wasn’t home. They later discovered 28-year-old Brendon Devon White driving her vehicle in Newport News City, VA, and took him into custody.

To find more evidence of Cooks’ whereabouts they stopped and searched a trash collection truck near her home. Instead, what they found was the dead body of the 30-year-old Black mother.

More from Fox 5 DC:

“They were concerned about evidence being in that truck. They immediately secured the truck and unfortunately, our victim was found deceased inside,” said Lieutenant Jonathan Perok with the Prince William County Police. “There is not a time limit to report a family member missing and just, if you are concerned over the welfare of a loved one, family member, co-worker friend, please reach out to police as soon as possible. The family did that in this case and we credit them for that. It’s an unfortunate outcome but they recognized a concern and reached out to police right away.”

On Saturday, White was arrested and charged with murder in connection to White’s death, according to the Prince William County Police Department.

“Additional evidence was discovered which indicated the accused was involved in the victim’s death,’’ police said in a statement

The Prince William County Police Department confirmed that White and Cooks were previously in a relationship together and still lived in the same home.