Clifton Cousins

Serial Killer

Clifton Cousins: Convicted Serial Killer and Prolific Homicide Confessor

Background

Clifton L. Cousins, born September 15, 1968, is an Ohio murderer whose criminal history includes two separate murder convictions, an involuntary manslaughter conviction, aggravated robbery, felonious assault, arson, drug offenses, and later federal convictions involving threatening communications. He has also used the name Abdullah Jihad Al-Malik. Cousins is properly described as a serial killer on the basis of his two separate murder convictions. For years, however, the identities of the women in those cases were difficult to establish from easily accessible correctional records because the records described both victims only as adult females. Historical newspaper reporting identifies the women as 31-year-old Avis Robinson and 21-year-old Sonseearay Harris. Robinson was killed in May 1988, while Harris was killed in 1989. These two women correspond with the two homicide prosecutions that resulted in Cousins receiving two separate sentences of 15 years to life. The confirmed murders represent only part of the disturbing history surrounding Cousins. Prosecutors later stated that he had confessed to more than thirty homicides involving women in various locations throughout the United States. He also confessed to other specific killings, including the 1987 shooting of Robert Letson in Cleveland and the 1989 stabbing death of Sherry Armstrong in Newport, Kentucky. Those additional confessions did not result in murder convictions and must therefore be distinguished from the killings of Robinson and Harris.

Confirmed and Suspected Victims

• Avis Robinson, 31 - May 1988, Cleveland/Cuyahoga County, Ohio - confirmed victim: Historical newspaper reporting identifies Avis Robinson as one of the two women Cousins was convicted of murdering. She was 31 years old and was killed in May 1988. The prosecutor who later discussed Cousins's homicide history stated that the victims in the two murder cases he prosecuted against Cousins had been strangled. Cousins ultimately received a sentence of 15 years to life for one of the murders. An exact day of death for Robinson has not been sufficiently established from the available information, so May 1988 is the most precise date that can responsibly be stated.
• Sonseearay Harris, 21 - 1989, Cleveland/Cuyahoga County, Ohio - confirmed victim: Historical newspaper reporting identifies 21-year-old Sonseearay Harris as the second woman Cousins was convicted of murdering. Harris was killed in 1989. As with the Robinson case, the prosecutor who handled Cousins's homicide prosecutions later described his victims as having been strangled. Cousins received another sentence of 15 years to life for the second murder. An exact date of death for Harris has not yet been sufficiently established from the available records, so she should presently be listed as having been killed in 1989 rather than assigned an unverified specific date.
• Unidentified adult male - Cuyahoga County, Ohio - confirmed homicide victim: Cousins was convicted in a separate case of involuntary manslaughter involving an adult male. He received a sentence of 10 to 25 years, effective in June 1996. The correctional record does not publicly identify the victim by name. This conviction establishes that Cousins was legally responsible for a third death in addition to the murders of Robinson and Harris.
• Robert Hodges - Cleveland/Cuyahoga County, Ohio - indicted/possible victim: Historical newspaper reporting associates Cousins with an indictment involving the death of Robert Hodges. This makes Hodges considerably more significant than a victim identified only through one of Cousins's later unsolicited confessions: prosecutors apparently believed there was sufficient evidence to formally charge Cousins in connection with Hodges's death. However, an indictment alone does not establish a conviction. There is also a potentially important unresolved connection between Hodges and Cousins's later involuntary manslaughter conviction involving an adult male. It is possible that the Hodges prosecution was ultimately resolved through the involuntary manslaughter case, but a record directly identifying Robert Hodges as the victim of that conviction has not yet been established. Until such a judgment entry, plea record, sentencing document, or equivalent court record is located, Hodges should be classified as an indicted or probable possible victim rather than definitively counted as a separate confirmed victim. He should also not be counted separately from the unidentified male manslaughter victim unless records establish that they were different individuals.
• Sherry Armstrong, 33 - November 11, 1989, Newport, Kentucky - confessed/suspected victim: Armstrong was killed inside the Putnam Street residence she shared with her boyfriend. She had recently relocated to Kentucky from Wisconsin following a divorce and was beginning a new stage of her life. While her boyfriend was away at work, Armstrong was attacked and stabbed more than twenty times. Her boyfriend discovered her body when he returned home. Cousins repeatedly claimed responsibility for Armstrong's murder, first drawing attention to his claim during the 1990s and returning to the confession many years later. Despite the persistence of his claims, he was never convicted of Armstrong's murder. She therefore remains a suspected or confessed victim rather than a confirmed victim.
• Robert Letson - May 12, 1987, Cleveland, Ohio - disputed confessed/suspected victim: Letson was shot during the early morning of April 24, 1987, near West 76th Street and Lorain Road in Cleveland. He was waiting in his automobile while two female companions went into a nearby residence when a gunman approached him during an apparent robbery. Letson was shot in the torso with a .38- or .357-caliber weapon. Despite surgery, he suffered continued internal bleeding and catastrophic complications and died on May 12, 1987. Donell Parker was subsequently convicted of Letson's murder. Years later, Cousins signed sworn statements claiming that he, rather than Parker, had approached Letson's car intending to rob him and had fired the fatal shot. Courts ultimately found Cousins's claims insufficiently credible to justify overturning Parker's conviction. Letson therefore remains a disputed confessed victim of Cousins.

...

Confirmed Victims: (2)

Avis Robinson Age: (31), Date of Death: 1988-05-01

Suspected Victims:

Sherry Armstrong Age: (33), Date of Death: 1989-11-11

Robert Letson , Date of Death: 1987-05-12

Robert Hodges , Date of Death: 1988

Despite Clifton Cousins' confession