Warren Was Here

In March 2021, Terri Cohee was in her son’s room, putting clothes away and cleaning up, when she found an unfamiliar container at the bottom of his wardrobe. She was curious, and opened up the container to see what was inside. Terri pulled out a heavy plastic bag, but when she lifted it up, she realized that it was covered in maggots… and, against her better judgment, she opened it.

There was a second plastic bag inside, but Terri “couldn’t bring herself” to open it. Instead, she called her son’s father, telling him, “You need to come over right now.” Then, the two of them called the police, telling the 911 operator that they believed their son, 19-year-old Brian Cohee Jr, had killed somebody.

The plastic bags that Terri had opened contained a decomposing human head, and a pair of dismembered human hands.

On the 911 call, Terri acknowledged that for Brian’s entire life, he had been overly interested in death and murder. “He has always had a little bit of a fascination with the morbid,” she said. “He was channeling it, I thought, into becoming a crime scene investigator…but not so much.”

Law enforcement rushed to the Cohee family home, where they began to question Brian. One of the officers calmly explained the situation to Brian, saying, “Your parents have raised concerns about some items they may have found in your room. Can you elaborate?” Brian didn’t seem surprised or alarmed, and he didn’t try to prove his innocence either. Instead, he matched the officer’s tone, saying, “Yes, I believe so… a human head and hands from that man who went missing. I killed him with a knife.”

The victim that Brian was talking about was Warren Barnes, a 69-year-old homeless man who was well-known in the area. Warren had gone missing in late February, and there had been no sign of him in his usual haunts since. Brian had no connection with Warren - in fact, Brian didn’t even know his victim’s name.

When investigators grilled him about why he had murdered a complete stranger, Brian simply responded, “I always wondered what it would feel like to commit murder.”

In all of his police interviews, Brian didn’t show any remorse about the crime. Instead, he appeared to be excited to finally talk about what he had done, and he was eager to share as many details as possible. He explained that, before he had killed Warren, he had spent at least six months planning out how he would commit the perfect murder. To avoid raising suspicion, he had decided that he would target a victim who he believed wouldn’t be missed, such as a sex worker or a homeless person.

He began to describe the night that the crime had taken place - the 27th of February. It had been a full moon, so while Brian had been driving around the streets looking for a victim, he’d been able to easily spot the shape of a homeless man in the distance. Warren Barnes hadn’t bothered Brian at all - in fact, he’d been sleeping and unaware when Brian approached, intent on killing him.

“I grabbed my knife,” Brian said, “[And] I put on three layers of gloves…because plastic gloves can betray their users because they’re so thin. [Then] I took the knife, pulled back the canvas, and stabbed his neck.” Brian provided a detailed account of the crime, saying that while he had been stabbing Warren, he had been “making animalistic noises” and “growling.” Warren hadn’t fought back - he had been terrified, repeatedly asking Brian why he was doing this. Brian didn’t answer. He just kept inflicting more and more wounds until Warren finally fell silent.

Once he was sure Warren was dead, he inflicted several post-mortem wounds, including stabbing his eyes and making incisions in the corners of the mouth to create the appearance of a Joker-like smile. Then, he used the same kitchen knife to dismember the body, making it easier to dispose of. While he explained the process to investigators, Brian laughed, saying, “Sorry, that’s morbid.” He had decided to keep a few of the dismembered body parts - Warren’s head and both of his hands - but wanted to get rid of the rest.

He loaded the rest of Warren’s body into the trunk of his car and then tried to dispose of in the Colorado River at a nearby boat ramp, but ended up getting his vehicle stuck. The car was towed to Brian’s father’s house, with Warren’s blood still in the trunk. Brian had made up a story about how the car got damaged, and, at the time, nobody had any suspicions that he was lying. Shortly after the killing, however, Brian had gotten a little paranoid about whether he’d gotten away with the crime. He had made a couple of incriminating google searches, asking, “Does a river wash evidence away?” and “How long does it take before a dead body smells?”

Brian’s trial took place in early 2023. He attempted to get out of the charges by pleading not guilty, claiming that his mental health removed his responsibility for the crime. However, the jury were not convinced that Brian was not guilty by reason of insanity. He might have had a history of diagnosed mental health issues, but he had also clearly, carefully planned out the crime. For half a year, he had romanticized the idea of committing a murder, going as far as trying to pick a victim who wouldn’t be missed. When he had approached a sleeping Warren Barnes, he had already been wearing his gloves and holding a knife.

More than ten of Warren’s loved ones decided to speak at the trial, talking to the jury about the impact that Warren had had on their lives, and how much they would miss him. One of the speakers was Warren’s sister, Geraldine. Her birthday was on the 26th of February - the day before Warren was killed - and she had spoken to him on the phone. Since the murder, Geraldine had been devastated that she would never receive another phone call from Warren. 

Terri Cohee took the stand, re-telling the story of how she had found Warren’s head in Brian’s closet. She was interviewed by the prosecution for several hours, and was so distressed that she required an emotional support dog during her testimony - meanwhile, her son appeared to be completely unfazed. Terri told the jury about how Brian had struggled with anxiety and was diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and also shared that, several months before Warren’s murder, she had discovered that Brian was carrying around a backpack that contained duct tape, a hammer, and several zip ties. The prosecution described the backpack as a “kill kit” that Brian hadn’t had the chance to use yet.

Finally, the jury reached their decision. Brian was guilty of all the charges against him: first degree murder, as well as tampering with evidence in an investigation, and two counts of tampering with a dead body. When the trial’s verdict was read to the courtroom, several of the attendees burst into tears or began to celebrate, but Brian, who was now 21 years old, showed no reaction.

Brian Cohee Jr had been wrong about one thing. He had decided to target a homeless victim because he believed that, if a homeless person went missing, nobody would notice or care. However, from the moment he disappeared, Warren Barnes was deeply missed. He had become a familiar friendly face to locals in Grand Junction, Colorado, who appreciated him for his extroverted personality.

Warren was often seen with his nose in a book, and his love for reading was so well-known that several Grand Junction businesses would set out a chair for him to sit in while he read his latest book. “Passersby would stop to chat about what he was reading,” said an article printed in the Colorado Sun, “And if they bid [Warren] ‘Have a good day’, he invariably responded, ‘And you, also.’” Not everybody in the area knew Warren’s name, but if you mentioned “the reading man”, they knew exactly who you were talking about. 

In late 2021, artist and metalworker Tim Navin erected a memorial dedicated to Warren. It was installed in Grand Junction, close to Main Street. The metal sculpture took Tim almost 300 hours to create. It consists of a curved metal chair, a recreation of the same chair that Warren would sit and read in, with a pile of metal books sitting on the seat. The spine of one of the books was engraved with the title “And You Also” - the same thing that Warren had always said to strangers when they wished him a good day.

Warren Barnes’ memorial says one simple phrase: “Warren was here.”