Arrest report details circumstances around Basic High School choir teacher’s slaying

Two teen brothers strangled a Henderson music teacher so they could take his electronics, including two laptop computers, an iPod and a Wii video game system, according to an arrest report.

Jose Antonio Delatorre, 18, and Juan Enrique Aguirre, 17, told Henderson police that they choked Matthew Cox in his car after he drove them home the evening of Dec. 21, then drove his body back to his house, where they placed it on a couch before stealing his electronics and car, the report said. Both teens were booked on charges including murder and robbery.

Aguirre, a Basic High School student who took two of Cox's music classes, told investigators they didn't mean to hurt the teacher. Before fleeing the house, according to the report, Aguirre kissed Cox on the cheek.

Aguirre's relationship with the 32-year-old Cox appeared to go beyond one of student and teacher, according to the report.

Jamie Quashnock, a friend of Cox's, told investigators that he had "been in a relationship with one of his students," and that student recently told Cox he was gay, according to Delatorre's arrest report.

Cox told his friend that if he weren't the student's teacher, he would have pursued a relationship with him, the report said. The name of the student was redacted by court officials.

On the night he was killed, Cox was dining with friend David Sonnichsen at a restaurant in Henderson. During dinner, Cox received several text messages on his cell phone and told his friend he was to meet someone at 8 p.m. and maybe go to a movie.

After dinner, Cox picked up Aguirre and Delatorre and drove them to his house on the 700 block of Solitude Point Avenue, off Horizon Ridge Road near Gibson Road. While Delatorre played video games downstairs, Aguirre and Cox went upstairs, where Cox packed for his upcoming holiday trip home to Michigan, the report said.

Aguirre told police that Cox "started to get sexual with him, making him uncomfortable," the report said.

A short time later, the trio climbed into Cox's 2007 Volkswagen Beetle with personalized license plate "KRMTFRG" and headed to downtown Las Vegas, where the brothers lived with their mother, the report said.

As Cox parked outside the teens' home, Delatorre struck first, punching Cox in the head from the back seat and pulling him backwards. Aguirre then grabbed Cox's throat. They held him for about 10 minutes, until he stopped moving, Aguirre told investigators.

They bound Cox's hands and feet with a neck tie they found in a gift box. They put his body in the back seat and drove the car back to Cox's house, where they carried his body inside and placed it on the couch, the report said.

They grabbed the electronics, put them in the trunk and headed back home, where they confessed to their mother, Norma Sanchez. She took the car and abandoned it at the Club Fortune casino off Boulder Highway, the report said.

Sanchez had not been charged in the case.

A friend found Cox the next afternoon when she went to his house to feed his pets. She thought his recent heart troubles might have killed him, but an autopsy determined his throat had been crushed.

The next day, someone called the Crime Stoppers tip line and said "he and his brother committed a crime," and led police to the abandoned Volkswagen, the report said.

Detectives also tracked down Caralee Beynor, who worked with Aguirre at Dunkin' Donuts on Boulder Highway. She told them he had confessed the details of the slaying to her when he came to work the day after Cox's body was found.

When investigators arrested the brothers outside their mother's home on the 2300 block of Stewart Avenue, they both gave similar statements about the slaying, the report said.

A source familiar with Delatorre's history said he was a troubled foster child who bounced around area high schools. He was also sent to the Spring Mountain Youth Camp, a correctional facility for juvenile offenders.

A woman who cared for Aguirre said she screamed in shock when she heard he had been arrested in the slaying. He was a mild-mannered and affectionate teen who solved problems with words rather than fists, she said.

Aguirre was in two of Cox's music classes, including one that started at 6 a.m. When Aguirre, who lived outside the school zone, had trouble getting to the class on time, Cox volunteered to pick him up and drive him to school, said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Cox also served as the boy's school-appointed mentor. He helped Aguirre create a time management calendar to keep track of his classes and work schedule, she said.

She still couldn't believe the teen she knew could be involved in the teacher's slaying.

"It just seems like a mistake," she said. "It doesn't seem like it could be the same Juan. ... He's just too nice."

Outside Basic High School, where Cox had taught for about two years, students created a makeshift memorial to their beloved teacher.

"We love you Mr. Cox. R.I.P." read a prominent sign. It was surrounded by memorial candles, a couple of bouquets of wilted flowers, two wooden crosses and a Starbuck's mocha frappuccino bottle with "Mr. Cox R.I.P." written on it in black marker. The memorial also included a photo of choir students wearing Santa hats and singing in a mall.

Brian Ballard, a teacher who worked with Cox in the small-farming town of Hopkins, Mich., several years ago, said Cox was passionate about music and tried to instill that same feeling in his middle and high school students,

"He would beat himself up trying to challenge his kids," Ballard said.

Cox's mother, Debbie Armstrong, said he helped his students produce school plays and musicals, and he helped mentor his students. In Michigan, Cox volunteered as a Big Brother and helped turn around a drug-using teen who has since joined the U.S. Air Force, married and had children, she said.

Armstrong was at Cox's house Monday afternoon trying to pick out the clothes for his funeral, which was scheduled for Friday in Michigan.

School officials were also planning a memorial service.

Review-Journal reporter Jim Haug contributed to this report. Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281.