Donna Cochran
Appearances
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
You know, we just thought it was wonderful. We just thought they were doing so good that we were so proud of them.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Him and Natalie drove up in a 1965 Shelby Cobra. It was a kit car. It was just something that they bought, and we were just very happy. We even took a ride in it.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
It was on a Tuesday night on December the 23rd, 1980, 1036 p.m. Michael Brandon Cochran was born into the world. Tell me about Michael as a boy. He was a good kid. He always minded me. You know, Eddie came into his life when he was eight years old.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
We'd ask. I'd say, Natalie, we need our money. I said, you know, our car's going to break down. We need the money back. She would say, it's coming, I promise. And then she would send me text messages and say, your money is going to be deposited in your bank account within the next 24 hours. And we'd wait. And it was never there. You didn't get anything? No.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Every time that I received any kind of message, it was a text message from Natalie. It was she and I that was constantly going back and forth with contracts.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Natalie would tell me, we're being audited. There's a government shutdown. There was always some excuse with her.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Michael Brandon was always playing baseball, basketball, football. He lifted weights as a hobby. He had a weight bench in his room. He got his first sand-filled barbell set around 10 or 11 years old. And he would just go in there and turn his music up loud and just start working out. He just loved being healthy. Of course, he loved the muscles. He loved the way it made him feel.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
We're feeling bad for her. You know, she even told us that she had cancer, that she wasn't going to do anything about it. She was going to let God take care of it. And if he took her on, then that would be fine. And I just got so distraught and emotional, and I kept telling her, She needed to fight not to give up.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
In high school, they started having powerlifting competitions. And Michael, he got first place.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
We came home from church, watched a little TV. I was in the bed. Eddie brought me my phone. He said, you got a text message from Natalie. It's 10.30 at night.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
We had to go out to the sporting goods place one day, and there she was working behind the counter. And she was flirting with him really bad, you could tell that. And then the next thing I know, they were dating.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
She sent me a picture. There's Michael Brandon in the bed, and he's on the ventilator, unconscious, unresponsive.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Michael ran and he was fighting, fighting to breathe. He was trying his best to live.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Did anybody take insulin in the house? No. I said, insulin? What are you doing with the insulin in the refrigerator? Prosecutors called that the murder weapon.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
They got engaged in November of 1999. And when Michael got on the phone, I just said, Michael Brandon, what in the world are you doing? Were you happy for him to be marrying Natalie? I wanted them to wait. He had just graduated high school like maybe five months before. And I wanted him to just focus on his schooling. And then six months later, they were married.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
$511,000. Almost a quarter of a million dollars over the course of two and a half years. We loved her and we believed her. Everything she told us, we believed everything she said to us.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
And then she went off to prison for 11 years for fraud. She did. May 1st of 2021 is when she finally went into the prison at Hazleton.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
It's a beautiful home on almost four acres of flat land. Michael renovated that house. He just completely gutted it and remodeled it from top to bottom.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Yes, information technology. Yeah, it was like running cable wire, coaxial cable and things like that.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
She said, oh, they came here and they took everything. And she said they even took the insulin out of the refrigerator.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
I said, insulin? What are you doing with the insulin in the refrigerator? I keep that here, she said, for Gavin when he came over, if he needed a shock, because he's a diabetic.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Yeah, it was really hard to believe because, I mean, how do you kill somebody that you're supposed to love and they're your children's father? But why would Natalie want to kill her husband?
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
I can't say that I really even thought about her. We just had to get justice for Michael.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Did he take steroids? He never took any steroids. If you would see him, everything that he has, all the muscles he has, is natural. Hard work.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
You know, they love their mother. Of course, they're going to defend their mother. But the things they said about their father was really heartbreaking.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
We were so happy because we're finally getting justice for Michael after all these years.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
We, along with our family and friends, have sat quietly and graciously and painfully watched and listened as Michael's good name has been murdered time and time again.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
This spoiled, evil, narcissistic murderer had seldom, if ever, been denied this which she wanted. She will try to blame my precious son, Michael, for her evilness and deceit.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
When I said that, please, please, don't give her any mercy. We ask that you please, please, no mercy. She never gave Michael any mercy.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
As far as I'm concerned, justice has been done. She's where she needs to be.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Yes, we have. But we have each other, and we're strong for each other. That's the only way we can get by. And because of God,
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Right now, I think it's best the way that it is. I don't see them coming around, and we have to accept it and just go on.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
Do you remember what she said? Yeah, she asked us if we wanted to do the government contract. She said that she wanted to help us out, you know, when we got ready to retire.
20/20
Small Town, Big Con
About a month later, she told me that she was doing it for her parents, that they'd made $60,000 in five months. And so we thought, well, you know, maybe we'll give it a try. That's a pretty good return. Yes, ma'am. It sure is.