BELZONI – A man that stabbed his wife to death and tried to kill her co-worker has been sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years for kidnapping. Wemore Cosby, 48, was found guilty of killing his estranged wife, Vickie Edwards, and kidnapping her friend and co-worker, Yolanda Liddell on Feb. 6, 2009.
Authorities said Cosby had been stalking his wife prior to the Feb. 6 incident because he couldn’t accept that she was leaving him. Chief Deputy Ronny Buchanan, with the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Department, said the couple had only been married a few months when Edwards realized something “wasn’t right” with Cosby.
“It just didn’t work out,” Buchanan said. “She noticed something was a little off with him and she was filing for divorce.”
Edwards, originally from Itta Bena in Leflore County, was employed as a home health nurse and Buchanan said she and Liddell were visiting an elderly client in Belzoni on the morning of the assault.
“They were at the Bannerman Apartments,” Buchanan said. “It’s an apartment complex for senior citizens and Cosby came in the apartment and said he would kill all of them.”
Buchanan said Cosby forced Edwards and Liddell into a bedroom and the resident was able to flee the apartment and call police.
“The elderly gentleman was in a power chair,” he said. “And while Cosby had the women hemmed up in the bedroom he was able to escape.”
Buchanan said while Cosby was attacking his wife, Liddell ran to the bathroom, locked the door and called police.
“Yolanda was on her cell phone with the dispatcher telling her what was going on,” he said. “She was in a little closet inside the bathroom and she could hear [Cosby] killing Edwards and her hollering for help. And at one point the dispatcher lost the call and she was able to call her back and keep her on the line until the deputy arrived.”
Buchanan said when deputies arrived at the residence, Cosby was trying to force his way into the bathroom where Liddell was. Edwards was lying by the door.
“When we kicked the bedroom door in with our guns drawn, he went straight down to the ground and dropped the knife pretty quick,” Buchanan said.
Liddell was rescued from the bathroom and Edwards was pronounced dead at the scene. Buchanan said she had been stabbed 24 times.
“I’ve been in law enforcement for 24 years and this was one of the bloodiest homicides I’d ever seen” he said. “She had been cut in the chest, the neck and legs. And when he had her in the living room, he caught hold of her and cut her neck. She had all different cut marks and stab wounds on her body. It didn‘t take long for her to bleed out.”
Cosby was arrested at the scene. He was charged with capital murder and kidnapping.
Buchanan said Cosby refused to plea at his trial this month and it took a jury less than an hour to come back with a guilty verdict.
“The trial didn’t even last two days,” Buchanan said. “We had witnesses, video and pictures. And it didn’t take the jury too long to deliberate.”
Buchanan said the district attorney prosecuting the case didn’t seek the death penalty for Cosby because he wanted to “make sure he never got out of prison.” Some death row inmates have been released due to technicalities or prosecutorial errors during trial.
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