DETROIT – Desmond Burks, the man who admitted to killing Detroit neurosurgeon Dr. Devon Hoover, will be sentenced Friday morning.
For nearly three years, Burks denied guilt until the day jury selection was set to begin.
Last month, Burks pleaded guilty to several charges, including second-degree murder for the death of Dr. Hoover and manslaughter related to a road rage incident. His guilty plea came on the second day of jury selection, surprising everyone, including his own attorney.
In April 2023, a concerned family member requested a welfare check when Dr. Hoover did not show up to see his sick mother. When officers went to his home, they found his body in a third-floor crawl space.
A person of interest was questioned but not identified at the time. It was later confirmed to be Desmond Burks, who was released after several days of police questioning.
Almost a year later, Burks was arrested following a road rage incident in Detroit. The other driver, 67-year-old Reda Saleh from Dearborn, was punched by Burks and left in the street. Saleh died a month later from his injuries.
In May 2024, Burks was charged with second-degree murder in the road rage case. A judge set a $1 million bond, and Burks has been held at the Wayne County Jail since then.
In August 2024, Burks was charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in the Hoover case, including felony murder, larceny over $20,000, using a computer to commit a crime, and possession of a firearm by a felon. He also faces three second-offense felony firearm charges.
This year, Burks pleaded guilty to both cases in January and is now awaiting sentencing.
The sentencing begins at 9 a.m. Feb. 20, morning.
Here’s everything that we know about the case:
Hoover’s SUV found
On April 22, 2023, Detroit officers responded to a complaint about an SUV that was blocking a driveway in the 9900 block of Coyle Street, on the far west side of Detroit.
When they arrived, they found a white Range Rover blocking a driveway and saw what was believed to be blood on the inside of the SUV.
The vehicle was taken to a local tow yard, where authorities learned that its registered owner was Hoover, who lived about five miles from where it was found.
Later that evening, officers went to Hoover’s home on West Boston Boulevard and discovered that the driveway gate was left open.
They knocked on the front and back doors, but couldn’t get in contact with anyone.
Welfare check request
The day after that, on April 23, 2023, the Detroit Police Department received a call about getting a welfare check for Hoover.
A family member of Hoover’s had requested the welfare check because he was expected to visit his dying mother in Indiana, but never showed up.
Hoover found dead
Police then returned to Hoover’s house and saw that the gate was still open.
As they were investigating, they discovered blood on the back door and forced entry into the home.
Officers found Hoover’s body wrapped in a blood-soaked carpet in an attic crawl space, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. He was found face down and was only wearing socks.
Hoover’s cellphone, wallet, money, credit cards and at least one watch were missing from his home, according to police.
In addition, fraudulent transactions showed up on Hoover’s bank accounts right after his death.
Cause of death
An autopsy confirmed that Hoover died after he was shot twice in the back of his head.
Person of interest questioned, released
On April 28, 2023, less than a week after Hoover was killed, a person of interest was questioned by police.
The prosecutor didn’t identify the person at the time, but later confirmed that the person being questioned was Burks.
He was released from police custody on May 2, 2023. Burks still hadn’t been identified or charged at this point in the case, but the prosecutor later said their investigation had focused on him.
While Burks was being held, a break-in happened at Hoover’s home overnight from April 29 to April 30.
Authorities did not reveal if items were taken during this break-in, and haven’t released any other information about it.
Hoover’s funeral
Hoover’s funeral was held at 1 p.m. on April 30, 2023, hours after the break-in at his home had happened.
Separate road rage case
Nearly a year after Hoover was found dead in his Detroit home, Burks was allegedly involved in an unrelated road rage attack.
The attack happened at around 6:45 p.m. on April 17, 2024, at the intersection of West Chicago Street and Greenfield Road in Detroit.
Police said Reda Saleh, 67, of Dearborn, bumped into the back of Burks’ car. After that, the two men got out of their cars and started to argue.
Burks then allegedly punched Saleh and left him lying in the street.
Police found Saleh unresponsive with a serious head injury. He was taken to a local hospital but died from his injuries on May 11, 2024.
Road rage attack charges
On May 15, 2024, four days after Saleh died, Burks was taken into custody.
He was charged with second-degree murder in connection with Saleh’s death and given a $1 million bond.
Since then, he has been held at the Wayne County Jail.
Competency exam request
During a court hearing for the road rage case on May 24, 2024, Burks’ lawyer had requested that his client undergo a competency examination.
Charges in Hoover’s death
On Aug. 7, 2024, officials announced charges against Burks in connection with Hoover’s murder.
Burks was charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, larceny over $20,000, using a computer to commit a crime, and possession of a firearm by a felon.
He was also charged with three second-offense felony firearms violations. Those are connected to the two murder charges and the possession of a firearm charge.
Burks was arraigned on Aug. 8, 2024, and a probable cause conference was held on Aug. 15, 2024.
Family and friends of Hoover previously said they knew that Burks was the doctor’s killer the entire time.
Hoover and Burks’ relationship
Records from Hoover’s phone revealed that Burks and Hoover knew each other and had exchanged about 4,000 text messages.
“The text messages established 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.
Data shows that on the day Hoover was murdered, his cellphone traveled from his house to the area near Burks’ home on Sussex Street, before traveling to Fairlane Mall in Dearborn.
After that, his phone never returned to his house.
“Numerous pieces of corroborative evidence place Dr. Hoover’s cellphone in the same location as Desmond Burks,” Worthy had said.
Officials also found footage of Burks parking Hoover’s Range Rover near where it was found on Coyle Street.
He allegedly left a fingerprint on the vehicle and was seen limping away from it with a backpack. The prosecutor said that Burks was known to be walking with a limp at that time because he had been shot in the hip.
When authorities searched Burks’ home, they found a Cartier watch that belonged to Hoover.
They also learned about another house that Burks was linked to, and when they searched that one, they found a $7,500 watch that Hoover had purchased the day before he was killed.
Extensive investigation
Charges against Burks weren’t issued until 15 months after Hoover was found dead, and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy revealed details about why it took so long.
The prosecutor said the investigation spanned five states -- Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Texas, and California -- and three countries -- the United States, England, and France.
At least 71 officers, including those at the local, state, interstate and federal levels, worked on the case, and the investigator’s report is 181 pages long.
The prosecutor also shared some other numbers that revealed the extent of this investigation. Worthy said:
- At least 87 witnesses were interviewed
- More than 77 pieces of body camera evidence were reviewed (spanning hundreds of hours)
- 40 cellphones that contained over 2 terabytes of data combined were reviewed
- 300 pieces of evidence were collected
- 134 police searches were performed
- 94 items were sent to the Michigan State Police crime lab
Worthy also shared that several of the witnesses were “extremely reluctant” to share personal information, which further complicated their investigation.
Burks found competent to stand trial
During a competency hearing on Friday, March 7, 2025, Burks was found competent to stand trial.
Preliminary examination held, Burks bound over
Burks’ preliminary hearing was held in June 2025. The purpose of a preliminary hearing is for a judge to decide whether there is enough evidence that a crime was committed and that the defendant committed it, allowing the case to move to a higher court for trial.
During the preliminary examination, 36th District Court Judge Shawn K. Jacque heard testimony from several witnesses, some of whom were granted immunity for their testimony.
One witness testified about how he helped Burks get rid of evidence, including Hoover’s surgical glasses, clothes, and a 9mm gun. Another witness, who used the doctor’s credit card to make purchases after he had been murdered, said Burks admitted to knowing Hoover.
The prosecution argued that evidence showed Burks had killed Hoover, put his body in the attic of the doctor’s house, stolen thousands of dollars from Burks, and then tried to conceal the evidence.
During final arguments, the prosecution also argued that Burks might have been jealous after Hoover suggested introducing other partners into their sexual relationship.
The defense claimed there is no direct evidence that Burks caused the death of Hoover and said that being angry or upset doesn’t mean that something was premeditated.
Burks’ attorney also argued that we only saw texts about Hoover being interested in inviting another person over on the day of his death, and we don’t know if the doctor sent text messages to other people on that day or if another third party had ever shown up.
After reviewing the exhibits and hearing testimony from several witnesses, the judge determined that there was probable cause to bind Burks over on all counts.
After reviewing the exhibits and hearing testimony from several witnesses, the 36th District Court Judge Shawn Jacque determined that there was probable cause to bind Burks over on all counts.