COCINA PENN COMMITTED AN UNTHINKABLE MURDER IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT
Shocking footage captured on aresident’s doorbell camera was the crucial evidence required to seal the fate of acheating wife who murdered her husband. Cocina Penn, 42, was convicted in December 2023 of the brutal killing of 56-year-old Robert Penn.
She was due to be sentenced as this magazine went to press, and it was recommended that the Kentucky native spend the rest of her life behind bars for a crime the prosecution said was wholly premeditated.
FATEFUL NIGHT
It was on 4October 2022 that Penn’s elaborate scheme to kill her spouse was put into action. During her trial, investigators told the court, “Police were called at around 4.45am to areported stabbing at Seitz and Mississippi. Officers found Robert lying in the road with numerous lacerations. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”
The day after the killing, Penn was taken into custody, but during questioning, she told detectives that she and her husband had been the victims of an unprovoked and random attack perpetrated by astranger. Penn stated that the couple had gone for awalk in the early hours when, at approximately 3.10am, they were set upon. Penn then told police that an unknown man began afiercely unrelenting attack on her husband.
Aparamedic who attended the scene described the horrifying condition of Robert’s body in detail to the court. He said the deceased had been, “eviscerated, meaning his organs were no longer in his thoracic [abdominal] cavity, [but] were laying outside, on top of his stomach, on top of his chest.” Medics also noted that “the victim’s hands were cut to the point where they were nearly not connected to his arms any more”.
Penn maintained her innocence, but police were in possession of damning doorbell camera footage. In the video, two individuals can be seen running along the dark streets. Penn claimed it was her and her husband attempting to flee the unknown man, but in audio played to the court, aman can be heard screaming, “Baby, no! Baby, no!”, and several witnesses testified the terrified screams came from Robert. In yet more damning evidence, William Tabor –with whom Penn was allegedly conducting an affair at the time of her husband’s death –testified in court, telling jurors that she had previously att
