Background: The North Little Rock District Court in Little Rock, Ark. (Google Maps). Inset: Bruce Lee Cockrell (Hamilton County Sheriff's Office).
An Arkansas man who tried to blame bad wiring for the fire that killed his wife will spend the next few decades behind bars after he pleaded guilty to murder.
Bruce Lee Cockrell, 48, was sentenced on Thursday to 75 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to murder and arson in connection with the 2024 death of his wife, Tonya Marie Liggin-Cockrell, 35. According to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime, Cockrell doused his wife with "weed eater gas" after the couple had an argument on the night of July 8, 2024. When first responders arrived, Cockrell initially told police that the fire was caused by faulty "electrical work."
But Liggin-Cockrell, who had run out of the house while ablaze, was able to tell police what really happened.
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When first responders arrived at the Cockrells' home, Liggin-Cockrell was still alive and talking, while also suffering from burns over "what appeared to be 100 percent of her body." Cockrell even helped paramedics load his wife onto a backboard before she was brought by ambulance to a hospital in Texarkana, Texas. A deputy from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office noticed that Cockrell did not have any burns or injuries, even though he told the deputy that he and his wife were both in bed when the fire started.
Cockrell told the deputy that electrical work installed by the home's previous owner, "possibly illegal," must have been the cause of the fire. Then police found a jug of weed eater gas in the home's kitchen. When asked about what that jug was doing inside the house, Cockrell said "he had been working on a weed eater inside the residence."
After Liggin-Cockrell was taken to the hospital, a nurse who had treated her contacted law enforcement to tell them what her patient told her, that Cockrell "poured weed eater gas on her and set her on fire." Cockrell, who was still at the scene with police, was arrested and charged with domestic battery. He denied setting his wife on fire, still claiming that the fire was electrical.
The charge nurse at Christus St. Michael Hospital told police that Liggin-Cockrell repeatedly said, "He set me on fire, he set me on fire" while she was treated in the emergency room. She also told the nurse that Cockrell "was hitting me and punching me, and telling me how ugly I was, and then he poured gasoline on me and set me on fire."
The next day, Cockrell, while in custody, apparently came clean. When asked by police to go through the events of the night before, Cockrell told them that he and his wife got a bottle of whiskey and started arguing. Among the topics were their two children, Cockrell's unemployment, the couple's financial situation, and previous relationships.
Cockrell said he got the jug of weed eater gas from the kitchen and upon seeing it, Liggin-Cockrell said, "You ain't gonna pour that gas on me." He then proceeded to douse her with the gas while she sat on the side of their bed. Cockrell told police that Liggin-Cockrell grabbed a cigarette, and he warned her, "Don't light that cigarette."
According to Cockrell, his wife responded, "F— you. I'm gonna light this cigarette because I don't wanna have to deal with this s— anymore." She then purportedly lit the cigarette and burst into flames, then ran past him out the home's front door.
Liggin-Cockrell was transferred to a burn unit at Arkansas Children's Hospital. She died of her injuries on July 9, 2024.
Police said that at the end of the interview, he asked, "How'd she stay alive so long?"
Cockrell was charged with capital murder and arson. After entering a guilty plea, a judge sentenced him to 45 years for murder and 30 years for arson, to be served consecutively for a total of 75 years.
