Kelly Cochran featuring Chad Flores

Kelly Cochran comes to us from Northern Michigan, Iron Mountain.  She managed to cause the murders of two people, possibly more if you listen to her stories.  This week we talk all about it.

Leaving you with a happy ending and on a good note, as always.  This week we are featuring: Chad Flores

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CHAD FLORES

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Transcript

Kelly Marie Cochran

MDOC #356714

DOB 6/05/1982

Huron Valley County WCF

• Kelly was born in Merriville/Hobart area of Indiana with the birth name of Kelly Marie Gaboya to parents:  Melanie and Timothy Gabohyan 

• Kelly was a hard kid to take care of as a youngster

• She didn’t follow her mother’s rules, and would frequently run away from home.

• She often came home drunk & high, so her mom finally kicked her out of the house when she turned 18.  

• Despite her crazy, care free life, Kelly graduated with honors from high school.

• However, a few years later, Mom lets Kelly move back home and she’s not alone.  
  Kelly had started dating her old neighbor, Jason who was 4 years older,  and they were an item so both of them moved into Kelly’s Mom’s house.

• The two were married in September of 2022.

• Eventually Kelly and Jason would fly from her momma’s nest and move to Lafayette, Indiana.

• Kelly had enrolled at Purdue University and she would eventually earn her bachelor's degree in psychology & sociology with a minor in forensics.  Which is super convenient.

• In 2011 Jason had some sort of accident and screwed up his back, he was unable to work and importantly, became somewhat impotent,

• They decided to move their toxic relationship to bum fuck nowhere. I mean, Iron Mountain MI in 2013.

• Which is bum fuck nowhere.

• There are articles that say they were running from Debt from their pool business

Iron Mountain had a population of 7,500 people in 2020.  It’s an absolutely dreamy town in summer and winter. 

• I learned that they have this insane ski jump that is used for the world cup competitions, the scaffolding height: 176 feet and was built in 1938.

• Plus, if you are a MI State fan, you might know a certain guy named Tom Izzo, he hails from Iron Mountain.

• OK, back to Kelly & Jason.  Jason had hurt his back working prior to moving to Michigan, he was on disability and it affected his sexual capabilities.

• The two of them bought a new home in a nearby town called Caspian.

• Caspian is 50 mile drive  from Iron Mountain and is insanely small.  With a population of approximately 800 people.

• Kelly found work here with the Oldenburg Group as an electrical assembler.  

• Rumors have it that Kelly started sleeping with her co-workers, and it wasn’t much of a secret. 

• One of those co-workers was a gentleman named  Chris Reagan.

• He was from a town called Northville, MI.  Which is northwest of Detroit.  

• Chris married right out of high school and enlisted in the U.S Air Force.

• Chris was known to be a very physically active person.  He and his wife had 2 boys but sadly they divorced after he was out of the air force.

• *** When did Chris move to Northern MI???

• Chris connected with an old friend, her name is Terri.  Terri was actually a supervisor at the Oldenburg Group.  

• The two of them seemed truly happy together, in fact I think they were making plans to stay together…until Terri found out that Chris was sleeping around.  

• Terri was heading to Europe, and she found information that Chris was planning to hook up with someone while she was gone.

• Turns out, he’s a sex addict and he literally needs sex.  But I didn't see anything wrong in that.  It’s just a need.  He loved Terri.

• The two of them broke up but remained friends.

• In the Spring of 2014 Chris’s son Chris Jr moved in with him.  The two of them started dreaming about moving out of northern Michigan and their harsh winters.

• Soon, it became a plan.  Chris had broken up with Terri and he and Chris Jr decided it was a good time to move.  They decided that North Carolina would be a great place to go.

• Chris Jr moves out of his dad’s place with plans to get together for hiking and other activities that the two of them enjoyed together. 

• Chris found work in Ashville North Carolina and they started setting up their living arrangements for the move.

• Chris Jr had not found work yet but figured he would do so as soon as they moved down there.

• On October 13th  2014  their apartment was rented and ready for them to arrive.

• Chris senior still had to do a drug pee drop for his new job, and was scheduled to do so on October 15.   Otherwise..they were set and ready to move to North Carolina.

• Chris had plans to meet up with Terri after his drop for a sort of celebration to his new life and goodbye to her kind of thing.

• Terri never heard from him again  It was weird to her

• He hadn’t let her know that he had left town …or even arrived at the new place.

• Terri went to his apartment and noted that it was a mess plus he wasn’t answering her calls or messages.  

• Christ actually rented a place from her parents, above a little storefront on the main street, so she was able to get a key and check his place out.

• On October 27, 2014 FOURTEEN days after she had last seen Chris, Terri finally goes to the police department and talks with Chief Laura Rizzo, who was literally heading to her car to go home but stopped to help a distraught woman.

• She let Rizzo know that she hadn’t heard from Chris in 2 weeks.  The last he was seen was on the 13th or 14th.  He was supposed to be at his last day of work the day after his pee drop and he just never showed up.  Which was totally unlike him.

• Terri also explained that his car was at the park n ride….and his truck at his apartment,  if he moved, it should be in NC.

• After Terri told Chief Laura all the things,  Chief sent an on duty officer with Terri they went to Chris’s apartment.  

• Chris’s apartment still had boxes and was messy…. Looked like he was about to move.  Besides his stuff and cars being there,  nothing was obviously sending red flags up.

• They did notice one major thing and that is that all of his medications were there.  Nobody is going to move without their vehicles and their meds.

• Then, they went to the park n ride to inspect Chris’s car.  Doors were locked and again nothing jumped out at them, they gained access and all they found was a sticky note with directions on it.

• Cpt Rizzo called MI State Police, who literally didn’t even want to look into it.  They assumed Chris is a grown ass man, and he’s gone.

• Said he was probably in the woods near the park n ride, having killed himself.   Cadaver dogs were brought in to no avail.  Neither Chris nor his body were found.

• Cpt Rizzo had the instinctive feeling that it just wasn’t right, she wasn’t about to drop the disappearance of Chris.

• Rizzo made calls, and started investigating.  She called the Oldenburg Group and saw what they could find out about Chris.  They were told that they think he’s seeing a co-worker by the name of Kelly Cochran.

• It is realized that the sticky note from Chris’s car has directions to Kelly’s house.

• When she questions Kelly about Chirs, Kelly states that she hasn’t seen him.  

But does admit that they have had sexual encounters.

• Kelly’s demeanor during the questioning is hilarious.  She attempts to use her psychological and sexual prowess to wooo any male officer interrogating her. 

•  Says she called & texted him but he didn’t answer.  She also figured he just left for North Carolina without saying bye.

• During their investigation, it’s learned that Chirs never showed up for the drug drop.  He never showed up for work at his new job in North Carolina and those employers had not heard from him in two weeks either. 

• It is now one hundred percent obvious that Chris did not just move to NC. 

• So Captain Rizzo found surveillance footage of the area near the park n ride.  October 14, 4 pm between Cochran & park n ride.  Last footage of Chris alive.

• October 28 Kelly is hauled back in for more questioning.  She admits to having two affairs.  One with Eric Ericson and also Chris.

• She says her husband Jason knows, as his back doesn’t allow him to be super sexual…it’s an agreement between the two to fulfill Kelly's needs.  Apparently all the involved parties know the situation.

• Jason breaks down during questioning and pukes up all their relationship crap.  Says he doesn't like Kelly having affairs but he agrees to it because he has to.

• Of all her friends and family interviewed they are saying Kelly tends to be a bit more abusive in her marriage, that she wears the pants so to speak in hte relationship.  A bit dominating,  they’ve noticed.

• He declined the offer to take a polygraph test. 

• Eric Ericson, the other - other man, was questioned and also polygraphed, even letting Rizzo look through his phone.  He had nothing to do with the disappearance of Chris and was cleared.

• November 10 both Jason and Kelly are questioned for the 3rd time I believe.  Jason says the same bs again adds that he doesn’t know where Chris is and that he's never even met the guy and again declines the polygraph test.

• Kelly however,  she has added some things and her stories aren’t adding up. 

• Kelly actually called Michigan State Police after the 3rd interview to complain about Captain Rizzo harassing her.  

• Michigan Back Country Search & Rescue joined the search.  This guy is an ex-MSP and volunteers his time.

• The information that they gathered was priceless.  They found leaves in the car and a stocking cap with hair.

• Chris’s apartment.  No trees.  Kelly's place.  Trees   just sayin

• Gps in Chris’s car shows that he did, in fact, go to Kelly's house.  

• After obtaining all of the phone records, they discovered that Kelly & Chris were texting with blatant flirting on the 13th of October with plans to meet the next day.  The 14th..the last day Chris Regan was ever seen.

• October 14th the cellphone info is nuts.  There are texts and calls between Kelly, Jason & Chris all to each other.  Thruple calls?   I think not.

• At 5:45 all phone activity on Chris’s cell phone stops and it never starts again.

• With cell towers they were able to place all 3 of them at the Cochran’s home the 14th of October. 

• Chief Rizzo had fought her way through this entire investigation but now she had a little more proof.  In March 2015 just 6 months after Chris disappeared, they had a warrant in hand to search the Cochran home.

• During the search, they found a boat load of swords, yes swords.  8 of them and  a few guns including a 22.  They also found a collection of knives, baseball bat and .38 cal bullets.

• The Cochrans had spiffied up their place recently.  Painted over the blood splatter, hole in the kitchen door, bleach stains on the carpet under the couch.  

• They still couldn't arrest them because they had to build their case and none of the evidence was enough.  The cell information is not enough to prove murder.

• Kelly and Jason knew this and they freaking took off.  Just hopped in their car and went back to their family in  Hobart, Indiana.   

• Second search of the home and property uncovered a fire pit where buttons from a pair of jeans were found along with a broken sawl saw blade.

• Dogs were brought in and they hit on the fire pit, proving that there had been a body in there at some point.

• A look into Kelly’s electronic records revealed that she had recently searched for Caspian Pit.  It’s called caspian pit but it’s now a lake, used to be an old mining pit.

• They searched that area and brought dogs.  The dogs did indicate at the edge of the water.  So divers were brought in to look for anything.

• They found something.  A barrel with a cement block and rope inside.  The rope was a clothesline and it would end up matching materials found at their home.  Same with the cement block.  Somehow, it still could not all be tied together strong enough to bring a case against Kelly or Jason.

• If you are wondering about the blood splatter, like I was….well when they painted over it, made it unable to read the dna.

• It turned into a cold case that Rizzo was still keeping at the front of her mind.  She never stopped working on it.  She was keeping track of what the Cochran’s were doing in Indiana.

• Kelly and Jason still galavanting around Indiana as  free people.

Kelly starts a serious affair with a woman in Indiana.

• Rizzo does not give up though,  there’s no body…so she can’t nail the Cochran’s despite the amount of shit they find at their house.

• Her break in the case came with Kelly’s next victim.  Jason Cochran.

• On February 20, 2016 Kelly called her local 9-1-1 saying that her husband isn’t breathing.  She also makes a comment that he’s been depressed.  Hinting that he killed himself.

• When EMT’s arrived they tried to revive Jason to no avail.  They stated that Kelly was in their way during their life saving moments.

• Jason Cochran died.  On his death certificate it would rule the death a homicide, he had been suffocated and had a ridiculously high amount of heroin in his system.

• Police Detective Ogden was put on the case and maybe because he was a male, but Kelly had a weird thing for him.  She would talk to him far more than anyone else.

• Det. Ogden followed and watched Kelly, keeping her on his radar.  He noted that she always went to a certain park and sat on a downed tree.

• He went and carved Chris here on the log.  When she saw it, she ran away when she saw it.  Diabolical.  I love it.

• Kellyh actually runs to Kentucky and is apprehended there.  Her pictures looks like she was on a drug binge for sure.

• This is when her interviews truly change.  It’s partly her psychological play and she claims there is just something about Ogden that she likes.

• It’s really gross.  Probably some of the worst interview footage I have personally watched.  She thinks she is so smart and she’s grossly flirting.

• She says to him, I will tell you what happens if you tell me what happened to Jason.  Playing dumb.

• Ogden doesn’t even hesitate.  He says:  he was shot up with a large dose of heroin and suffocated and you were the only person with him when it happened.

• Cards on the table, Kelly.

• Through over 100 hours of interrogations or questioning Kelly would tell Ogden everything.  

• She admits that she and Jason lured Chris to their house that evening with the promise of lasagna dinner and sex before he leaves town.

• She says that Jason shot him in the head.

• Then, she proceeds to tell Ogden how they DOWNSIZED him.  Those words.  

• She says at one point that Jason took Chris’s hand and waved goodbye to her with it.

• She states that Jason told her to remove the bullet from the skull.  She finds forceps and does just that.  Remove the bullet.

• Then, they took some remains, the torso and head to the woods in bags.

• Ogden tells her they are taking a road trip and she is going to show them where they dumped Chris’s remains.

• That’s what happens.  They road trip to the UP, long ass drive with her in the car.

• Rizzo comes along of course, along with her officers.  Sure as shit, Kelly leads them to the remains of Chris' body.

• They find his eyeglasses there and finally his skull.

• Rizzo gets really emotional during the telling of this story.  She crouched down and whispered, “I found you.”  to Chris.

• The remaining interviews with Kelly give more insight to her thinking.  She continuously flirts with Ogen.  

• When she talks of the night that she killed Jason, she is so evil.  She stated to Ogden that when they were shooting heroin that he started getting sick, so she held his nose closed and his mouth down.

• Her words:  “Can you imagine how it is drawing in your own fluids?  Probably painful and yet it was for revenge.”

• She was mad that Jason made her kill Chris, she loved Chris…not Jason.

• Kelly went to trial, she even went on the stand to defend herself, putting the blame on Jason.

• It didn’t work.  The jury deliberated for just 3 hours before finding her guilty of first degree murder.

• Kelly Cochran was sentenced to life without parole in 2017.

• THEN, Indiana caught up with Kelly and charged her for the Death of her husband Jason.   They gave her 65 more years.

• Later Detective Ogden would say that Kelly was the most manipulative person that he ever met. 

• RUMORS:

• Kelly often states throughout the numerous interviews that there are more people that her and Jason have killed.  I believe at one time she said that there were 11 others.

• Some articles state that they had a BBQ after Chris disappeared with their neighbors ( a mom & older son)  The son swears the meat was light in color and tasted weird.  This has never been proven and could just be the overactive minds.

• Finally,  the good news of this story.   Detective Ogden and Detective Rizzo and dating and say they will eventually marry.  They might even be married now.  I did not go looking into Laura’s facebook to find out.

• Years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Laura Rizzo.  It was a short introduction and she was not a police officer then.  It's just crazy how the world turns.  She wouldn’t even remember me but most likely remembers the situation.  Anyway, I am beyond happy that she has such a great life now.