AL - Nancie Cowan, 19, Strangled 2007 & Eldee Henage, 46; *Arrest in 2019

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A man who authorities say confessed to murdering a woman in 2007 said he has heard voices for 12 years.

Eldee George Henage was arrested by the Mobile County Sheriff's Office Monday.

Eldee George Henage
Mobile County Metro Jail


Nancie Cowan
Sheriff's officials announced the arrest Monday morning and Henage made a bizarre comment on the way to a deputy's car.

I asked, "Something you must want to say?"

Henage said, "I heard voices."

I said, "Voices. You heard voices?"

Henage said, "12 years."

I asked, "What kinds of voices?"

Henage said, "People's voices."

I asked "Don't know who they were. huh?"

Henage said, "They sounded like yours, probably."

Sheriff's officials said they developed information last week that Henage was responsible for a homicide back in 2007 and he, according to Captain Paul Burch with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, "subsequently confessed to strangling and murdering a woman and burying her in his place of residence at the time in Wilmer."

On Saturday, the sheriff's office searched the property and said they found human remains three feet below the ground surface.

Michelle Quinley said she bought the property with her husband about a month ago and saw deputies on the property this weekend.
MCSO: Suspect in 2007 homicide confesses to murdering woman; man says he heard 'voices'

 

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He'll will be in court Wednesday after investigators say he confessed to strangling 19-year-old Nancie Cowan back in 2008.

According to the search warrant inventory form, skeletal remains were found in a shallow grave with a red lighter and a blue shirt and piece of cloth.

We spoke to Cowans family who says she was 5 months pregnant when she disappeared.

Investigators have not confirmed that and they're waiting for medical records.

Heange says he buried her body on a property in Wilmer and the woman who bought that property in foreclosure a month ago says she found bizarre writings on the wall of the mobile home.
Decade-old cold case murder suspect to appear in court Tuesday

 

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For the first time, we're hearing from family members about an arrest in the murder of a 19-year-old Mobile woman.

A family member says Cowan was pregnant at the time.

Charlotte Richardson is Cowan's great-aunt.

She described Cowan, who's also known as Larie, as full of life, "never thinking that someone could actually do what he did to to her."

Richardson didn't want her face shown, but she said Cowan's mother is heartbroken.

Richardson said, "You're hoping and you're praying that one day she'll just come back. She was so beautiful, such a beautiful girl. She was so beautiful and, I mean, I just don't understand it, how somebody so cruel could take a life like that."

Richardson said Cowan's mother hoped somehow, somewhere, Larie was still alive

She said, "Her mother, every week, you know, she's thinking, she's off having the good life somewhere and, then, when this happened and it materialized. Yeah, it's closure, but look at the pain: look at the pain and suffering the family has gone through."

Richardson said, "Five months and, see, I didn't... it had been so long that I didn't even remember that. But, to me, that's a double murder right there in itself. That's a double murder."

Richardson said she had never seen Henage, and was shocked when she did see him on the news.

When asked what she would say to Henage, Richardson said, "How dare you, how could you? How could you actually physically strangle the life out of some beautiful girl? How could you?"

Officials are awaiting forensic work to determine if the remains are a match for Cowan.

Henage is scheduled in court Wednesday morning.
Remembering Nancie Cowan: "She was so beautiful"

 

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Deputies say the remains were found in the 12000 block of Orbit Circle South in Wilmer.

Detectives interviewed Henage, who confessed to murdering a white female he only knew as "Rita or ReRe." He described her as having red curly hair and being in her late teens or early 20s.

"Henage stated he strangled the female and buried her body behind his camper, located at Orbit Circle South in Wilmer," a release states.

On Saturday, Mobile County deputies and KlaasKids Cadaver dogs executed a search warrant at the property. The Cadaver dogs then “alerted” to an area of the property.

"After several hours of searching, full human skeletal remains were discovered approximately three feet below the ground surface," the release states.

The evidence has been transported to the Alabama Department of Forensics Sciences for identification.

MCSO says an investigation revealed a Missing Person report from January 18, 2008. A white female named Nancy “Larie" Cowan, age 20, was reported missing by her mother.

Cowan was described as 5’2” and approximately 120 pounds with red shoulder-length hair.

Deputies have not yet confirmed the remains discovered are those of Cowan.
Alabama deputies find remains of woman after inmate confesses to murder

 

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News 5 has been digging into Henage’s past and we have found he is no stranger to law enforcement. He has been in and out of Mobile Metro Jail with a criminal history that dates back to 1993. The large majority of his charges have been for drugs or domestic violence.

In his recent confession, Henage told investigators he strangled Nancy Cowan to death in January 2008 and buried her in his backyard. Now a decade later, he’s accused of trying to strangle another woman. Henage was recently indicted on a charge of aggravated stalking. He is accused of trying to strangle and peep into the windows of a woman who had filed a protection order against him in 2018. In that case, he is set for a mental evaluation in December.
Man who confessed to 2008 murder accused of strangling another woman

 

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According to court documents, Henage’s criminal history includes unlawfully manufacturing controlled substances, domestic violence, harassment and escape.
Inmate confesses to strangling, burying woman behind his camper in Wilmer in 2008

 

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Mobile County Sheriff’s Office detectives stated at the bond hearing that they believe Henage strangled Cowan in his vehicle, brought her back to his home to have sexual intercourse with her corpse and buried her.
Wilmer man pleads not guilty to murder, had sex with corpse before burying, officials say