Missing Sara Lee executive found frozen; 2 arrested

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – A retired Sara Lee executive missing since he met with a couple about buying his sport utility vehicle was found dead Thursday, frozen in a rented storage unit. The couple was arrested in what federal authorities believe was a bungled carjacking.

James Dale Cockman, 71, of Greenville, S.C., had been missing since Sept. 14, the day he was to meet David Wendell Edens and Jennifer Annette Holloway.

Authorities believe Cockman may have suffocated from duct tape that Edens, 34, and Holloway, 27, used to cover his mouth.

“The interpretation I have right now is that his death was an accident,” said R. Joe Clark, special agent in charge of the FBI office in Knoxville.

Edens and Holloway were charged with carjacking.

Additional charges for kidnapping and possibly for murder were expected, Clark said.

Cockman was last seen buying a cup of coffee at a convenience store near a parking lot where he was supposed to meet a couple interested in his 1996 GMC Suburban. Edens and Holloway gave him a $100 deposit the day before and were to pay him the remaining $8,400 the next day.

In a statement to authorities, Holloway said she and Edens met Cockman, forced him into the Suburban, placed duct tape over his mouth and drove to their home.

“When they got here they realized their victim was dead,” Clark said in Sevierville. “Mr. Edens put him in a deep freeze and took the (body) to a storage facility and left it there. Why, I don’t know.”

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