Tuesday marked the eighth anniversary of the strangling death of NWACC student Nina Ingram, whose accused killer remains in jail awaiting trial, according to court records.
Ingram, a business student at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, was discovered dead in 2006 in her home at what was then known as the Law Quad Apartments on Sycamore Street in Fayetteville.
Despite continued investigation by police, Ingram’s killing went unsolved for six years. A new detective was assigned to work solely on the case in April 2012, after which police arrested Rico Cohn in connection with Ingram’s death.
Cohn remains in the Washington County Detention Center awaiting his capital murder trial. The trial has been delayed several times for various reasons, including to determine whether Cohn is mentally fit to stand trial.
Cohn was declared mentally fit in December following an examination by the Arkansas Department of Human Services, according to documents from the agency.
Most recently, Cohn’s March 10 trial was pushed back to July 14 to allow for more DNA testing and analysis in the case, according to a motion filed March 7 in Washington County Circuit Court. Those items of evidence, which were confirmed Jan. 24, 2014, are now undergoing testing, according to the motion submitted by Cohn’s public defender, Tony Pirani.
Police said one of Ingram’s brothers and his friend found her body after they crawled through an unlocked window, police said. They went to the apartment to check on Ingram after the family couldn’t reach her by phone, according to police records.
Cohn told police he was a maintenance worker at the apartment complex at the time of Ingram’s death, although they said he might have been lying to create an alibi for being at the location, according to court documents.
Court documents state the suspect said he would not take a plea deal under any circumstances, saying he’s innocent in Ingram’s death. If found guilty, Cohn could face the death penalty, according to court documents.
