Post by Scumhunter on Oct 9, 2014 11:22:02 GMT -5
Admin Note: If you have any information on the whereabouts of Travis Cochran, please call New Orleans Crime Stoppers at (504) 822-1111
I know what some of you may have been thinking when you logged in and saw Travis Cochran-Louisiana 2013 in the recent fugitives on tv section. Huh? AMW was cancelled in 2012, the Hunt's first season already aired and might not even return until next year and he wasn't one of their fugitives, and even American Greed: The Fugitives hasn't been on in a while. Who is this guy?
That's because for the first time ever, we have a fugitive case from ANOTHER crime show- the A&E series The First 48, whose episode will feature the search for Cochran tonight. And if you read the article below- you'll realize this is a very dangerous man we need to get off the streets:
"More than a year ago, New Orleans police revealed that they had identified the man who allegedly killed a popular DJ in an execution-style murder inside a Prytania Street home the previous summer.
Travis Cochran, who was 25 at the time, has been on the run since, but investigators now hope that tonight’s episode of the nationally-broadcast show “The First 48″ will lead to his arrest.
“It’s fairly unusual for an individual to evade a warrant for a murder for that long,” said NOPD Sgt. Nick Gernon. “This, obviously, is going to give us good national exposure.”
Ahmad Sheppard, a 33-year-old Bourbon Street DJ, was in his neighbor’s apartment in a house in the 2000 block of Bourbon Street early in the morning of June 14, 2013, when Cochran and another man burst in — dressed as police officers claiming to have a search warrant, police have said. The intruders robbed Sheppard, bound him and gagged him, pistol whipped him and finally shot him in the head, police have said.
Neighbors were stunned, describing Sheppard as a gregarious, helpful guy and wondering why he had been so violently targeted. His family and friends vowed to do everything they could to help police find Sheppard’s killer.
The killers took the neighbor’s Jeep, and it was later found in New Orleans East. Detective Tanisha Sykes, the lead investigator on the case, used forensic evidence to identify Cochran as one of the intruders and announced that he was wanted on a first-degree murder charge in September, but he was never located.
Cochran had ties to Atlanta, Gernon said, and New Orleans investigators have worked with both the police there and the FBI to find him, but to no avail. When the latest episode of “The First 48″ airs on A&E at 8 p.m. tonight (Thursday, Oct. 9), Gernon said he hopes that someone who has seen Cochran will give New Orleans police or CrimeStoppers a call with new information to work from.
“He may not be in Atlanta any more. He may have moved on,” Gernon said. “It only takes that one really good tip that can send us in the right direction to find him and arrest him.”
Former NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas has touted the participation in “The First 48″ as a way of improving the department’s image by focusing on the actual police work of its investigators, and possibly even as a recruiting tool for new officers from around the country. In this case, Gernon said, the show could prove useful in another way — by reaching someone who has seen Cochran, or by convincing him that his run from justice is nearing its end.
“We would urge him to get a lawyer, get someone he trusts, and go to the nearest police department,” Gernon said. “We’ll give him a ride back to New Orleans.”
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Thoughts? Glad to see The First 48 giving this case attention as I just recently became hooked on this series despite it being around for about a decade.
uptownmessenger.com/2014/10/police-hope-the-first-48-episode-will-end-fugitives-long-run-from-justice-in-fatal-prytania-shooting/