It's much easier to say it's murder when you have a body.

But at first, all the Richmond police had last month was the blood-soaked mattress and bedding where 19-year-old Erick Younger had been sleeping in the East End house he shared with his girlfriend, court records show. The young woman had found the terrifying sight when she returned from a brief errand, and called police.

There was a bizarre call from an acquaintance of hers -- Willie Cooley --to the young woman, telling her to bring him the bloody sheet and pillow bedding and Younger's clothing so he could wash them, the records show.

There was the woman's report that things were missing from her place, and a neighbor who reported seeing a man loading items from the home into the trunk of his car.

And, when police arrested Cooley at the place he'd told the woman to meet him, they found bloodstains in the trunk, the records show.

But no body.

Richmond Detective Andre Boswell, just back from shoulder surgery and working his first case since his return, knew he needed to find Younger's body while Cooley was sitting in jail on a burglary charge.

No one in Richmond knew too much about Cooley, though.

Patiently working his way through driving and court records, Boswell learned the 48-year-old Cooley was originally from Louisa County.

Delving into land records at the Louisa County courthouse and working closely with Louisa Sheriff's Office investigators, he compiled a list of Cooley's family and friends in the area.

When it was time to call in the specially trained search dogs, Boswell's colleagues all suggested he start with Cooley's parents.

No, Boswell replied. It wasn't likely Cooley would leave a body in a place so easily tied to himself.

But Cooley needed a place where people wouldn't think it too odd to see him.

A place like, say, an ex-wife's.

She lived in Louisa, near U.S. 522 and the community of Gum Spring, Boswell had learned.

That's where we start, Boswell said.

And, in a field next to her place, that's where they found Younger's body, a bit more than two weeks after his disappearance.

It was the first place they tried.

"It was great, basic detective work," said Learned Barry, deputy commonwealth's attorney.

Younger left behind a 2-year-old daughter. He worked at a McDonald's on Laburnum Avenue.

With the discovery of his body, prosecutors indicted Cooley on a murder charge. He'll likely be tried this summer.
Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or dress@timesdispatch.com.