Woman shot in shower before being wrapped and placed in refrigerator, court docs say

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A woman who was wrapped and placed in a refrigerator last week in Providence was shot in the shower after she smoked marijuana laced with crack cocaine with her boyfriend, according to documents obtained by ABC 6 News.

While police said they responded to Parkis Avenue on March 22, Nathan Cooper, 53, told officers Sherbert Maddox — also known as “Strawberry” — was shot once in the upper chest with a .38 revolver on March 16.

When officers arrived at the apartment, officers could “smell a pungent odor emanating” from the third-floor apartment, “which [was] consistent with decomposition of human remains.”

Police then made a “forced entry into the apartment,” where Cooper was found and placed in custody.

“In the immediate location in plain view on a kitchen counter was a .38 revolver, and a shotgun leaning on the wall,” read the documents.

Court documents also revealed that Maddox “laid in the shower bleeding profusely for almost two hours.”

After she stopped breathing, Cooper wrapped her body up in blankets, removed the shelves from the refrigerator, and stored her body inside, according to the documents. That refrigerator was moved from the kitchen and into the bedroom.

Cooper didn’t call 911 because he “didn’t trust police.”