Buffalo man sentenced for destroying bodies in connection to narcotics conspiracy
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Buffalo man who in 2022 admitted to destroying the bodies of victims in a 2019 triple homicide connected to a narcotics conspiracy was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison, court records show.
Jariel Cobb, 52, pleaded guilty to a list of charges including narcotics conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct justice and use of fire to commit a felony in July 2022 for his role in the murders of Miguel Anthony Valentin-Colon, Nicole Marie Merced-Plaud, and Dhamyl Roman-Audiffred in September 2019.
Cobb had testified against co-defendant Deandre Wilson, who was convicted in the murders of the three Florida residents and dealt three consecutive life sentences plus 30 years in March 2023.
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“There can be no question that the defendant’s conduct pales in comparison to co-defendant Deandre Wilson,” assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Adler wrote in a sentencing memorandum for Cobb. “The testimony at trial even established that the defendant took actions to mitigate the worst of what Wilson might have done. Nonetheless, the defendant’s conduct warrants a severe sentence—and a just punishment—in accordance with the Guidelines range advocated by the government.”
On the evening of Sept. 15, 2019, Wilson, Cobb and James Reed — who pleaded guilty along with Cobb in 2022 — had arranged a meet-up to buy a kilogram of cocaine at a residence in Buffalo’s Schiller Park Neighborhood. They were purchasing the cocaine from Valentin-Colon and Roman-Audiffred, who drove up to Buffalo from Florida along with Valentin-Colon’s wife, Merced-Plaud, and Noelvin, their then 3-year-old son.
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Wilson killed Roman-Audiffred inside the home, before walking outside and shooting Valentin-Colon and his wife to death inside their van, officials said. Cobb and Reed dismembered Roman-Audiffred’s body and then burned the body parts in a fire pit.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2019, Cobb and Wilson drove the van to a non-residential area on Tonawanda Street and lit it on fire with Valentin-Colon and Merced-Plaud’s bodies inside. They took Noelvin and dropped him off on a stranger’s porch on Potomac Avenue, where the homeowner found him and notified police who began the search for his parents.
“In his plea, the defendant acknowledged his role in the obstruction of justice, by dismembering one of the victims with an ax and other tools,” Adler said. He admitted having moved the body parts in garbage bags. And he assisted in the destruction of the minivan and the burning of the other victims’ bodies.”
The following video aired on News 4 in March 2023:
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Justin McMullen is a Western New York native who joined the News 4 team in 2023. You can read more of his work here.
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