WHO KILLED DR. DEVON HOOVER?

A BELOVED DETROIT DOCTOR WAS FOUND MURDERED IN HIS HOME. NOW, POLICE ARE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHO WANTED HIM DEAD

- K.C. BAKER

Neurosurgeon Executed in His Mansion

Severe arthritis left high school teacher Sheryl Leaver struggling to walk and in constant pain so she requested an appointment with renowned Detroit-area neurosurgeon Devon Hoover in 2021. Esteemed for his surgical skills and warm bedside manner, Hoover was normally booked months in advance-but as soon as he saw an MRI of her damaged spine, "Dr. Hoover said, 'Get this person in right away,"" says Leaver, 55. "He didn't have to do that. That shows how caring he was." When Hoover came to check on Leaver after surgery, she greeted him from her hospital bed by exclaiming, "There's my hero!" she recalls. Hoover politely declined her request to take a picture with her, only relenting after she told him it would mean a lot to her. "I told him I love to capture memories," she says.

Just two years later that very photo would become a lasting part of the 53-year-old doctor's legacy in his obituary. On the evening of April 23 Detroit police conducting a welfare check at the request of one of Hoover's relatives, arrived at his $1.2 million mansion and found him dead. Hoover had been shot in the head, wrapped naked in a rug and a comforter and stuffed inside an attic crawl space.