Richard Ellerbe - Weequahic High School

Richard Ellerbee was born to William Ellerbee Sr. (born 1916) and Catherine Bercenia Harris (1928-1983), and he had eight siblings - two brothers, including Douglas Ellerbee (1952 - 1992) and six sisters. His life was full of abuse and anger beginning with a rough early family life as a child. It is said that he abused his younger sister, Karen, and that their father died of a heart attack while serving in the military. As an adult, Richard was in numerous abusive relationships and even threatened his ex-wife with a gun. He had several problems with authority. See Police Report - Monday August 4th 1997 and Police Report - Saturday March 29th 1997. Later, he married a single mother named Vernetta Cockerham. During Richard & Vernetta's 12 year relationship, he often abused and raped his wife. The violence was not just restricted to the couple. After 12 years, Vernetta and her husband were estranged, Vernetta having gotten a protective order against Richard. She worked with the local police and reported his multiple violations of the restraining order. A few days before Thanksgiving in 2002, he broke into Vernetta's home and murdered his 17 year old step-daughter, Candace Cockerham, who was a senior at Starmount High School, and then attempted to murder his wife, stabbing her multiple times. A long scar runs down Vernetta's neck to this day. Shortly after the crime, investigators found a burning body next to a plastic gasoline can. About 5 miles away from the body was Richard's 1996 Chevy Blazer. Later identified by dental records as the body of Richard Ellerbee, police count his death as an apparent suicide. See Police Report - Saturday March 29th 1997 for more details. On April 8th, 2018, the tv show Evil Lives Here aired an episode 'The Monster Inside Him" in which his sister Karen and ex-wife Vernetta were interviewed about their experiences with Richard. See I've found your grave - interview of Vernetta Cockerham, 40, Jonesville, North Carolina to read an interview with Vernetta about how she and Richard met, the progression of their relationship, and what she has done to keep Candace's memory alive. Two years after the attack, Vernetta filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jonesville and two police officers. About five years later, on Tuesday June 30th 2009 a settlement was reached, just a day after the case was about to go to trial. Vernetta was awarded a sum of $430,000 for the failure of enforcing the restraining order. Vernetta was quoted as saying "I was never there to beat up the town financially or get millions and millions of dollars. I began this case—I think we put in for $10,000 at first—because I wanted to try to start a shelter for battered women. It took a long time, but this was well worth the wait for the people that it's going to help. The strengthening of domestic violence laws is happening right now, and I love being involved. I'm hoping to be able to implement services and changes in Yadkin county; that's what the settlement means to me."