Missing Woman’s Body Found Active Mom Vanished After Ugly Divorce; Murder Suspected

About the same time a daughter was at a candlelight vigil performing a moving tribute to her missing mother, “A Song for Mama,” deputies pulled a decomposed body from a river just a few miles away.

Friday, authorities identified the body as that of Debra Maciariello Cockes, a 43-year-old mother of three who vanished a month ago after dropping off her son for a ski trip.

Medical examiners said she had been murdered and her body had probably been in the Tualatin River for a month. The cause of death was listed as “homicidal violence,” probably drowning.

“We’re all sickened,” said Jana Hopkins, who organized a neighborhood campaign to distribute fliers and yellow ribbons. “We all had been clinging to this ray of hope that some how, some way she would be found alive.”

The body, spotted by a search helicopter Thursday, was found floating on a log in the middle of the river. Authorities say it was partially clothed, showed signs of trauma and appeared to have been submerged at one point.

Cockes was last seen alive Jan. 31.

Investigators suspect she knew her attacker because of an ominous clue - her station wagon mysteriously reappeared in her driveway hours after she vanished.

Sheriff’s investigators have not identified suspects, but say they are examining all aspects of Cockes’ life, including the recent and ugly end to her 22-year-marriage to James Maciariello.

In March 1997, a year after she filed for divorce, Cockes was granted a restraining order against her husband after telling a judge she had been physically and emotionally abused throughout their marriage.

“He is becoming increasingly more angry about the divorce process and my refusal to communicate verbally with him,” Cockes wrote in her petition. “I am afraid he will do something more. He has entered my home without permission and I’m afraid he will do it again when I’m there and hurt me.”

Her attorney, Tom Davis of Beaverton, said the disputes centered on money, specifically how much spousal support Cockes would receive. A judge eventually awarded Cockes about $2,300 a month.

“He was very upset with the judge’s ruling,” Davis said. “He whispered something to Debbie in an angry tone and slammed the door on his way out.” When Cockes and Davis went out to the parking lot, one of her tires was slashed, he said.

The couple’s three children, Benjamin, 17, Tom, 15, and Catherine, 14, have been staying with their father since Cockes’ vanished. Maciariello filed for temporary custody a week later.

Detective Mike O’Connell said Friday that the couple’s marital problems were not the sole focus of the investigation.

“We’re looking at that. But we are considering that along with other theories,” O’Connell said. “I will not quantify the weight we are giving it.”

He said the investigation has taken on a frantic pace since the body was found and he credited tips from the public with helping to make the discovery.

Counselors were on hand Friday at Fowler Middle School, where Cockes worked as an instructional aide and often volunteered.

As school let out, children gathered, hugged and sobbed in the same courtyard where just a day before hundreds gathered in a vigil of hope.

“We’re having a little bit of a meltdown ” said Lu Biado, a school counselor. “They’re very, very sad and they’re frightened. It makes them want their mommies.”

Friends in this middle-class Portland suburb say Cockes’ unexplained absence was completely out of character. She was obsessive about staying in touch with her children, they said, and always had a beeper.

Cockes was known as the “queen of behind the scenes” in the neighborhood. She drove her wood-paneled station wagon on car pool duty, organized card games and held garage sales each summer.

She had recently earned her college degree and was working toward becoming a school counselor.