A 24-year-old man who stabbed a beloved grandmother at least 13 times before doing his laundry at her house in Texas, then taking a shower and eating a hamburger while her body lay in the living room was given two life sentences.
Before his trial was set to start, Marco Cobos pleaded guilty on Friday to murder and aggravated robbery in exchange for two life sentences in the death of Etta Nugent, 75, at her home outside Houston. The plea deal ensures he will spend at least 60 years in prison before being eligible for parole. He can’t appeal the conviction or the sentences, prosecutors said in a news release.
“This brutal murder was both senseless and premeditated, and this was the right result because we were able to get justice without the family having to go through a painful and traumatic trial,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a news release. “This killer will now spend decades, and hopefully the rest of his life, in prison.”
The killing happened after Cobos stole a truck in Arizona and drove to Houston in May 2019 to meet with someone he had met online. When the meeting did not occur, Cobos began sleeping in his truck parked in a quiet neighborhood in Sharpstown.
Residents noticed the truck and called authorities several times, but Cobos continued sleeping in the truck for several days until May 19, 2019.
Marco Cobos, left, and Etta Nugent (Photos from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office)
On that day, he knocked on Nugent’s door. Cobos asked Nugent for water and to charge his phone, but Nugent did not feel comfortable letting him in. Nugent, who lived alone after her husband had been moved to a medical facility due to his poor health, directed him to another neighbor who would help him and closed the door.
Cobos returned minutes later, pushed her door in and began stabbing her with two knives — one of them from her kitchen. He stabbed her at least 13 times over several hours until she died, prosecutors said. Cobos then did his laundry, took a shower, went and got a hamburger, then returned to her home and ate it as Nugent’s body lay in the living room, officials said.
He ransacked the house, took what he could, and drove her car to a motel, where he checked in and went to sleep, authorities said.
Nugent’s adult son went to his mom’s house to make the grim discovery and called the police. Police said Cobos returned to the home in Nugent’s car so he could move his truck away from the murder scene the next day while detectives were investigating the murder. He was detained for driving her stolen car and confessed to the killing, admitting she had pleaded for her life and had told him she was a mother and grandmother with an ailing husband, prosecutors said.
“This case is truly horrendous and is the worst possible nightmare for anyone who has an elderly parent living on their own,” said Assistant District Attorney Lynn Nguyen, who prosecuted Cobos. “You don’t want to believe that something like this could happen in our community, but when it does, we do everything possible to seek justice for the victim and their family.”
Nugent, a secretary at a Houston-area Catholic Church for 25 years, was remembered by family as kind, gentle and generous.
“The family of Etta Nugent is heartbroken and in absolute shock at the senseless tragedy that unfolded before them this week,” her relatives said in a statement. “Etta was a kind, gentle and generous woman who lived her life with unwavering dedication to her faith, family and friends. To see her life end in such a tragic, evil matter is simply unexplainable.”
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