Man 'having some drinks' with his neighbor found beaten to death inside the suspect's closet: Police

Background: A section of Merton Court in Alexandria, Virginia (Google Maps). Insets (from left to right): John Stremple and Joshua Cochran (Alexandria Police Department).

When police in Virginia knocked on a man's door inquiring about a missing neighbor, the man gave an "immediate confession" that he had killed him, authorities say.

John Stremple III, 63, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 44-year-old Joshua Cochran, the Alexandria Police Department announced on Wednesday. The defendant was booked into the Alexandria Detention Center.

On Monday, family members of Cochran asked police to check on him because he was "missing" and they were concerned, Alexandria Police Chief Tarrick McGuire recalled at a press conference. Officers arrived at the 5700 block of Merton Court in the city, which is just south of Washington, D.C., and after maintenance workers let them into his apartment, realized he wasn't there.

The next day, the family members again contacted police, saying Cochran did not make a scheduled phone call and that his vehicle was still outside his apartment. Officers investigated further, tracking his movements and learning that he had been at an Alexandria restaurant "having some drinks" and that "there was a person that was with him."

Investigators believe that person was Stremple.

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Detectives went to Stremple's apartment, which was in the same complex as Cochran's, regional NBC affiliate WRC reported. They knocked on the door, which Stremple opened. According to police, he "gave an immediate confession."

Cochran was in a closet in the apartment with "serious blunt force trauma to his head," the police chief stated, sharing that an "object" was used but not stating what that item was.

Police said the neighbors had been drinking at a restaurant, "went to several other locations and purchased some alcohol" before returning to their apartment complex. McGuire did not say whether they were friends but noted that they "knew each other or knew about each other."

Officers arrested Stremple and said the investigation is ongoing.