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Settlement reached in lawsuit against town of Jonesville
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
Vernetta Cockerham poses for a portrait at the visitor's center Tuesday, June 23, 2009.
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Published: June 30, 2009
Yadkinville - The town of Jonesville has settled for $430,000 a lawsuit filed against it by a woman who claimed that the Jonesville Police Department and two of its officers failed to protect her and enforce a restraining order against her estranged husband, an attorney for the officers said today.
Vernetta Cockerham filed the suit in 2004, two years after her husband, Richard Ellerbe, killed her 17-year-old daughter, Candice, then stabbed Cockerham.
Under the terms of the settlement, the town admits no liability in the death of Cockerham's daughter, said William Hill, an attorney for the two officers, Scott Vestal and Tim Gwyn.
The lawsuit was closely watched by advocates for victims of domestic violence across the state.
On Nov. 13, 2002, Cockerham filed a domestic-violence protective order against Ellerbee. That order required that he not threaten her and her children, and that he had to stay 250 feet away.
Ellerbee ignored the order. The next day he broke into her house and left a note, Cockerham said in an affidavit filed with her lawsuit.
"I will kill you," the handwritten note said. "You will die."
Ellerbee dug graves across the street from Cockerham's driveway and later told Cockerham that those graves were for her and her three children.
Then on Nov. 18, the day before the killing, Ellerbee stalked Cockerham in his car, even passing by her father's house late that afternoon while Cockerham and her daughter talked to officers Vestal and Gwyn.
According to the lawsuit, Cockerham went to the Jonesville Police Department each time Ellerbee violated the protective order. The police department was across the street from her house.
She went to the Yadkin County Magistrate's Office to get an arrest warrant issued, and she talked to the police chief, Robbie Coe, who she said assured her that officers would be put on high alert and have him arrested.
Vestal and Gwyn also promised to arrest him, running to their cars and putting on flashing blue lights when Ellerbee drove by on Nov. 18 while they were standing in front of Cockerham's father's home.
Ellerbee was never arrested, and on Nov. 19, he fatally stabbed Candice, an honor student at Starmount High School. Then, he stabbed Cockerham in the foyer of their house when she got home after running an errand.
Three days later, police found Ellerbee dead in New Jersey.
He had doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire.
Vestal still works at the Jonesville Police Department. He is a sergeant.
Gwyn became police chief after Robbie Coe resigned in 2004. Two years later, Gwyn resigned, saying he was burned out from politics.
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