Friends, family baffled by killing of couple in Stanton

Friends and family of a couple found dead early Thursday are baffled as to why the pair were on a secluded road in Stanton and why someone would shoot them. 

Family members of Isabel Cooper, 30, and Thessalonians Berry, 34, have repeatedly said they do not know why the couple were found in their car on Kiamensi Road and Rothwell Drive at 2:30 a.m. with bullet wounds. 

Cooper was seven months' pregnant with Berry's child, family said. New Castle County police said her fetus died in the shooting.

"I don't understand how this happened," said Andrew Charles, a cousin and friend of the couple. 

Charles saw his protective older cousin two days before he got the call she had died. He said Cooper and Berry were in the middle of the family celebrations at a cousin's birthday party. 

"She was there just enjoying herself. We were all having fun, just having a good time," Charles said. 

Latoya Jenkins, Cooper's goddaughter, said she will miss her infectious laugh the most.

"Her laugh was incredible. When you heard her laugh, you would start laughing, too. You didn't even have to know what she was laughing about," Jenkins said. "She had this bright laugh; I won't forget."

She and Cooper were automatically connected when they first met 12 years ago, and Cooper began to call Jenkins her first daughter.

The fast friends were inseparable, and Jenkins would spend her weekend with Cooper, who would then drop her off at school. 

They would sing Kelly Price's "Don't Say Goodbye" to each other and stop the song just to make sure they hit the notes. Jenkins said the song isn't the same without Cooper.

"Isabel was a very special and amazing person. I would stay so close to my godmom 'cause I loved her and always thought she was the coolest person," Jenkins said.

Cooper, who had a 3-year-old daughter, was so excited to have another baby girl and called Jenkins to tell her the good news.

"Her first child is my little sister. We used to joke, and I would pretend to be jealous," she said. "The last message I got from her was on Facebook saying she loved her first daughter and she missed me."

Berry and Cooper had known each other for about three years, Jenkins said, but she never got to meet her "goddad." Berry and Jenkins were cousins.

Cooper was Jenkin's support, and now she isn't sure how she will cope with tough times.

"Whenever I feel like I can't do it anymore or I need someone to talk to, I could call her," she said.

On Friday, flowers rested near the site where police responding to a report of a crash the day before found Cooper and Berry shot. High-voltage power towers stood tall across the street from where tire tracks dug into the grassy slope along Kiamensi Road where the couple's car was found.

Motorists drove by or into the nearby Kiamensi Road Business Park on Friday unaware a crime had occurred the day before. Even the owner of the property where the car was found said he became aware of the incident at about 7 a.m. Thursday only when his driveway was blocked by investigators.

Thursday's homicides double the number of killings county police have reported so far this year. 

Jenkins has lost count of how many friends and family members have died because of gun violence in the county.

"I just want to know, when is it going to stop?"

Cooper and Berry's killer remains at large. Anyone with information should contact detectives at (302) 395-8110, by email at JSendek@nccde.org or by calling the New Castle County police non-emergency number at (302) 573-2800.