Inset: Dr. Devon Hoover (Verheyden Funeral Home). Background: Desmond Burks waves for the camera at his sentencing for murdering Hoover (WDIV).
A Michigan judge sentenced a 35-year-old man to decades behind bars for the murder of a renowned neurosurgeon in his mansion and then killing another victim about a year later.
Desmond Burks will spend between 35 and 60 years in prison for the murders of Dr. Devon Hoover in 2023 and Reda Saleh about a year later in Detroit, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said. Burks pleaded guilty to several charges, including second-degree murder, larceny of more than $20,000, using a computer to commit a crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. As part of the agreement in the case of 53-year-old Hoover's death, the first-degree murder charge against Burks was dropped.
The defendant also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the death of the 67-year-old Saleh. He had been charged with second-degree murder in that case, as Law&Crime previously reported. Burks will serve 10 years to 15 years. The sentences will run concurrently.
But anyone who expected Burks to be contrite left the courtroom sorely disappointed. Burks smiled and waved for the cameras, and even rolled his eyes and scoffed at Hoover's sisters when they made victim impact statements.
"My name is Desmond Burks," he told the judge with a smile, according to a courtroom report from local NBC affiliate WDIV. "I'd like to say I'm not a murderer. I'm not a killer. I'm just a regular person just like everyone in this room… I'm not a gang member. I love sports. I'm a people person… Just because I took the plea don't mean I did it."
But Circuit Court Judge Paul Cusick wasn't having it.
"Quite frankly, you are a murderer, sir," he said, per the Detroit Free Press.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Burks and Hoover are believed to have known each other before the older man's death in April 2023. In fact, as authorities including Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy put it, they knew each other well, having exchanged roughly 4,000 text messages.
"The text messages establish that Desmond Burks and Dr. Hoover were in an intimate relationship with one another, and that, on occasion, Desmond Burks would charge Dr. Hoover for these sexual services," Worthy said.
Burks was a convicted arsonist let out of prison during the summer of 2022, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records. Several months later, Burks murdered Hoover and stuffed the neurosurgeon's body in an attic crawl space at the victim's mansion in the historic Boston-Edison neighborhood of Detroit.
A member of Hoover's family called 911, asking law enforcement to conduct a welfare check at the home after Hoover had not returned home to Indiana to see his dying mother, Lauretta, who passed away four days after his murder. Police responded to the house and discovered his body on April 23, 2023.
The day before the chilling discovery, Hoover's Range Rover was found several miles away from his home blocking a driveway — with blood inside the vehicle. And back at the crime scene, Hoover was "face-down" in the attic crawl space, "only wearing socks" and "wrapped in a blood-soaked carpet." The medical examiner's office determined that he had been shot twice in the head.
Burks was detained as a person of interest in May 2023, but he was later let go "following prosecutorial review," then-Detroit Police Chief James White said. Authorities said that items belonging to Hoover — including expensive watches, a phone and a wallet — were stolen and that the evidence showed fraudulent bank account activity in the days after the murder.
The defendant apparently had a proclivity toward violence, as, about a year after killing Hoover, he encountered Saleh on a Detroit road. As the area's Fox affiliate WJBK reported, on April 17, 2024, Burks got angry when Saleh bumped the back of his car, and after an argument, Burks punched Saleh in the head and left the scene.
The older man was brought to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on May 11, 2024.
An obituary for Hoover recalls that he bought his Detroit mansion in 2008. He was a board member of the Detroit Opera and "hosted a picturesque Christmas party that became a bit of a tradition in his neighborhood."
The obituary expresses how much he loved the home where he would one day be found dead. "He was essentially the curator of his own museum, which he loved sharing with friends, family, and visitors," it reads.
Conrad Hoyt and Matt Naham contributed to this report.
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