Man on trial in roommate’s killing ‘told lie after lie,’ Tarrant County prosecutor says
Erik Fernandez’s hand extended from the end of the rug in which his body was rolled, protruding from the wrap. Blood saturated the rug under his concealed head, through which two bullets passed. A string of Christmas lights bound the cocoon that stretched across the bedroom floor at his White Settlement apartment.
Fernandez’s roommate, Jeffery Cory, at first told a police officer that he found the body upon returning home from work at a restaurant in Dallas. Dogs scratched at an interior door. Cory said he opened it and his dead roommate was revealed. He called 911. Cory’s voice at times appeared to be choked with emotion and he confused the order of the numbers in his address. He struggled to clearly explain the circumstances as four call-takers separately asked questions.
Before firefighters and paramedics, a police officer arrived at the apartment in the 1200 block of Kimbrough Street on March 1, 2019. Cory led the officer down a hall to the rug.
He told that officer and others that he did not know what caused Fernandez’s death. His roommate’s vehicle was not in the driveway but Fernandez had talked of going out of town, Cory said. He said he last saw his roommate alive three days earlier.
Cory was 40. Fernandez was 43.
Police concluded that Cory’s position that he was unfamiliar with the circumstances of the death was a lie. Cory shot Fernandez dead, law enforcement authorities allege. On May 7, 2019, a grand jury indicted him on murder. His trial began on Monday in 213th District Court in Tarrant County.
A version of the account that prosecutors assert is closer to the truth came when Cory cracked in an interview with two White Settlement police officers, Tarrant County Assistant Criminal District Attorney Madeline Jones told jurors in an opening statement.
“He told lie after lie after lie to the police,” said Jones, who is prosecuting the case with Tarrant County Assistant Criminal District Attorney William Knight.
Luminol revealed blood and body drag markings in the apartment, and police found .40-caliber ammunition in Cory’s bedroom that matched the caliber of shell casings at the scene, Jones said.
Confronted by a detective and sergeant with the contradictory evidence, Cory offered a new version, Jones said.
Cory returned home after having drinks at a bar. As he moved about the apartment, the sound of his shoes roused Fernandez.
“Some of us have to be up for work at six in the morning,” Fernandez said, according to Cory.
The defendant had had enough of his roommate and fired a handgun at his face, he told police.
No round was in the chamber, and a projectile did not fire.
“Really, Jeff,” Fernandez said.
According to Cory’s revised account, Fernandez was shot in a struggle over the gun.
After the killing, Cory mopped his roommate’s blood and used Mr. Clean, the prosecution alleges. The mop was among the pieces of physical evidence in the courtroom.
Cory drove to Lake Weatherford in Parker County and submerged the gun, he told police. Divers searched for the weapon and did not find it.
After his arrest, Cory agreed to an interview with WFAA-TV. From jail, Cory said Fernandez was shot in the stomach as they struggled with the weapon.
Cory said in the television interview that he then intentionally shot Fernandez twice. “I shot him once in the face and he twisted to the ground and I heard a noise,” Cory said. “I popped him in the back of the head to make sure he was dead, so he wouldn’t suffer.”
Attorney Brian Salvant represents Cory. He did not offer an opening statement on Monday and reserved an option to present one later in the trial.
The most significant element of testimony on Monday came from Joshua Greer, who was the first White Settlement police officer at the scene. The officer testified that when he arrived, Cory was out of breath and emotional.
Later, as they talked outside, “he calmed down,” Greer testified.
Jones displayed for jurors photographs of the apartment taken by Greer, who is no longer a police officer. Jones also played a recording from Greer’s body-worm camera that showed video of the position of the rug and conversations with Cory.
Greer said there were no signs of forced entry on the single outer door at the apartment.
The thermostat was set about 60 degrees, though it is was cold enough outdoors that Greer wore a jacket.
The trial, in which Judge Chris Wolfe is presiding, continued on Tuesday with prosecutors presenting additional witnesses.
This story was originally published February 7, 2023 at 10:12 AM.
