Bonnie C Marrow

Bonnie Gayle Clarke Marrow was a woman defined by her caring nature, a dedicated registered nurse who spent her life helping others. The 56-year-old Henrico woman, a wife and mother, had a long career that included working at the Women's Clinic at MCV and the Richmond Health Department. She also shared her passion for nursing by teaching for Richmond Public Schools and serving as a school nurse at Carver Elementary School. Five years before her death, she was named second runner-up for teacher of the year. Friends and family remembered her as an extraordinary person with a kind-hearted and gentle nature, a beautiful woman inside and out who was always there to help anyone. She enjoyed fishing, arts and crafts, travel, and meditating on her porch. Her life, however, was marked by a profound tragedy just a year and a half before her own death: the unsolved murder of her 22-year-old son, Robert Lee Cox Jr.

The morning of December 22, 2011, just three days before Christmas, began for Bonnie with a visit to her son's grave at Oakwood Cemetery on Nine Mile Road. It was a frequent trip for the grieving mother. Surveillance images later released by police showed her buying food at a Wawa near the airport before 6:30 a.m. and then driving her black Acura. Her next stop was believed to be the cemetery. On her way to her job at the VCU Medical Center, between 7:15 and 7:20 a.m., gunfire erupted as she drove in the area of Nine Mile Road and Mechanicsville Turnpike. Bonnie was struck by a bullet but managed to continue driving for nearly a mile. Her car finally came to a stop in the 1100 block of North 25th Street in the Church Hill neighborhood, near the Richmond Police Department's 1st Precinct.

When an officer investigated a report of an unresponsive woman in a vehicle with the engine still running at approximately 7:20 a.m., they found Bonnie critically wounded. She was rushed to VCU Medical Center, the very hospital where she worked, but she succumbed to her injuries. The local community was shocked and saddened by the violent crime in their neighborhood. A long-time Church Hill pharmacist, Leonard Edloe, told a reporter, "It was just frightening this morning when I pulled up and saw it. We still don't know what happened or why."

The Richmond Police Department launched a homicide investigation, exploring several possible motives. Detectives considered that the shooting could have been a stray bullet, a carjacking, or a robbery attempt. Detective Michael Gouldman of the Richmond Police Homicide Unit expressed his frustration over a year into the investigation, stating, "My biggest frustration is not knowing what exactly the motive is and exactly how it occurred." Investigators stated they did not believe Bonnie's murder was connected to her son's killing, which also remained unsolved. Robert Cox Jr. had been found fatally shot in his car in a residential area of Henrico County in June 2010.

The family was left to mourn another devastating and mysterious loss. At Bonnie's funeral, the chapel was overflowing with loved ones. Her sister-in-law, Lenora Davis, described her as "a very sweet person... She just was out there for anybody. Just one caring person. You couldn't found a better person than Bonnie." The family found strength in their faith, believing that mother and son were together again.

Years have passed, and the murder of Bonnie Marrow remains an active but cold case. No suspects have ever been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made, leaving two generations of the same family taken by gun violence without justice. The family's grief is compounded by the lack of answers in both her and her son's homicides. As of January 2023, the case is still unsolved.

The Richmond Police Department continues to ask for the public's help. Investigators believe someone traveling along Nine Mile Road or Mechanicsville Turnpike on that December morning may have seen something suspicious that could be the key to solving the case. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Richmond Police Department at (804) 646-6741 or Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.