Police told her that they identified her missing daughter’s remains – the remains found last week in some woods in Henry County along with the remains of another woman.

They identified her daughter, Conteshia McCoy, 19, through DNA and dental records.

Cocoa McCoy said Wednesday that she kept trying to tell police the name of the man who might have taken her daughter –  the same man now suspected of killing the first woman.

And now, Cocoa is drained. Numb.

“I know at this point I’m tired of crying. I am. Last night I cried myself to sleep,” she said.

Cocoa McCoy’s voice faded, her eyes looking down, as she spoke in her Locust Grove home along with her husband Antonio.

Conteshia’s remains were found next to the remains of 23-year-old Mirsha Victor.

Victor was murdered earlier this month, police say, by a 41-year-old man named Dennis Lane, a convicted sex offender who lives nearby those woods.

Lane is now in jail.

Police have not yet charged anyone in Conteshia’s disappearance and death.

Cocoa McCoy says Lane is the same man who had been stalking Conteshia for weeks, claiming he wanted to marry her, just before she disappeared this past February.

But in the past five months leading up to Mirsha Victor’s death, Locust Grove Police, Cocoa said, never pursued the leads that she gave them – that Lane might be responsible for her daughter’s disappearance.

“And I hate it for the Victor family, that they had to endure that. You know, all this could have been avoided if you (police) would have just went to his house like we kept telling you to do. If you just would have went – you couldn’t save my daughter but you could have saved somebody else child,” she said.

11Alive will work to reach Locust Grove Police for comment.

Conteshia, Cocoa said, was funny, always sending her videos to make her laugh, taking good care of her younger siblings.

She was working to become a hairdresser.

Now, Cocoa knows, she is gone.

But she can’t believe it.

“I just thought she was going to walk through that door,” she said. “And I’ll never see my baby again.”

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The Henry County coroner has identified another set of human remains found July 19 as Conteshia McCoy from Locust Grove.

Last week, The Henry County Medical Examiner said one of the two human remains they found on July 19 are that of 23-year-old Mirsha Victor, who was reported missing earlier this month.

What we know about human remains found in Henry County

They were discovered in the area of Hudson Bridge Road and Oakwood Manor on July 19. Henry County Police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation carefully recovered the remains and gathered evidence in the woods next to the Spivey Junction shopping plaza.

Henry County officials were working with the GBI using DNA and dental records to positively identify the bodies.

On the afternoon of July 22, the Henry County authorities confirmed Mirsha Victor’s human remains were one of the sets found.

On July 28, Henry County Coroner Donald Cleveland identified one of the victims as a Locust Grove woman named Conteshia McCoy. She was reported missing in February. Officials have not shared any further information about her case at this time. No one has been charged in her death.

Captain Randy Lee of Henry County Police previously told 11Alive they may find more bodies.

“We have some leads of additional, potential victims that we’re following up on at this time,” Lee said.

What we know about Mirsha Victor’s disappearance

A missing person incident report from the DeKalb County Police department reveals Victor’s roommate reported her disappearance on July 8. 

DeKalb Police responded to the Creekside Apartments to meet with Victor’s roommate and mother just after midnight. Her roommate told law enforcement Victor left their apartment around midnight the previous evening and hadn’t been seen since.

She told police Victor did not specify where she was headed, but she did say she “was going to meet a guy.” 

According to the report, Victor’s roommate told police she couldn’t reach her cellphone and decided to check and see if the missing 23-year-old was at Kabobs on North Lake Drive in Lake City, where Victor works, but a manager told Victor’s roommate she never showed up.

An account from the Henry County Police Department states officers were dispatched to a Walmart located at 1400 Hudson Bridge Terrace to meet with a DeKalb County detective about a missing person case the day after Victor’s reported disappearance.

Police said an officer advised the detective that he needed help getting connected with the homeowner of Victor’s last known location.

According to a police report, they were able to ping the 23-year-old’s phone at two locations — Kabobs and a location on Hudson Bridge Terrace. 

Lake City Police officers found her phone inside a trash can at her workplace while investigating, detectives said.

What we know about the suspects in Victor’s case

Three people have been booked into the Henry County jail in connection with Victor’s case. Dennis Lane, Cleounsee Fisher, and Ronisha Preckwinkle are all facing a murder charge. 

After police found Victor’s phone on July 9, Lane called it, asking to speak with Victor’s mother in person at his house. When the victim’s mother met with Lane on Hudson Bridge Terrace, police say they overheard him tell her “he was not a bad guy” and that “everyone was blaming him” for her disappearance. 

Police say they tried to talk to Lane about Victor’s disappearance, explaining to him that his statements “didn’t add up.”

They escorted him to the back of a patrol car and continued the investigation, later discovering a white mattress laying on top of the dumpster across from Lane’s residence that appeared to have blood stains.

Authorities say they noticed blood on the floor, in the bathroom, and a missing mattress while executing a search warrant.

Lane is listed on the GBI’s Sex Offender Registry because of a conviction in Illinois for predatory criminal sexual assault.

New details in arrest warrants for the suspects obtained by 11Alive reveal Lane took video of himself on a cellphone at the scene. It’s part of the evidence police say they have supporting their case against him.

The warrants now indicate that Victor was killed in Lane’s apartment off Hudson Bridge Road, some 20 miles from Victor’s apartment within about two hours after she left her apartment.

Victor’s family says they have since learned that Lane also worked at that Kabobs, and that Victor and Lane knew each other from work. They believe that after Victor was killed, Lane took her phone to work, and put it in the trashcan.

The warrants state authorities found additional physical evidence of Victor’s murder, and other possible murders, inside the residence on Hudson Bridge Terrace. Henry County Police Captain Randy Lee said investigators may find more bodies.

“We have some leads of additional, potential victims that we’re following up on at this time,” Lee said on July 21.

What we know about Conteshia McCoy’s disappearance

A missing person report from Locust Grove Police shows a man accused of murdering  23-year-old Victor in his apartment last month was listed as a friend of Conteshia McCoy. He faces no charges in the McCoy case. 

The incident report said officers met with McCoy’s mother at the police station on Feb. 26. She said her daughter, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and wasn’t taking her medication, left in an Uber on Feb. 23 and hadn’t been seen in days.

Her mother told police McCoy’s phone was off and there was no activity on her bank accounts or CashApp. Her iCloud account was also disabled, the report said. 

McCoy’s step father told police March 2 she worked at a Walmart and after contacting friends and family, he only knew she left in a gray car and didn’t take a bag with her. Managers at the Walmart pulled surveillance video for officials, showing McCoy walk out of the store on Feb. 11 and getting inside a dark sedan. The report said McCoy told one manager an ex-boyfriend was stalking her.

What we don’t know

It’s unclear at this time how McCoy died. No one is charged in her death at this time.

11Alive is working to gather more information about the investigation.

CUMMING, Ga. — The Internet Crimes Against Children Unit or ICAC at the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office is doing things a little bit differently in targeting sexual predators.

But it’s caught attention – the unit was recently recognized for their outstanding work by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

In the fall of 2019, the unit made 24 arrests during an undercover operation called “Operation Just Cause.”

It led to the arrests of suspected predators, as young as 19 and as old as 65. Most were from North Georgia, but others traveled to Forsyth County from surrounding states to meet children.

“We handle sometimes 40 cases at one time, and the national average for a deputy in any given department is about 20,” says Detective Jeffrey Roe, an investigator at the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office.

Roe said he believes a major component to their success is attention to detail and the talent of their team.

“I was so humbled to be recognized by GBI, but it’s the combined efforts of each team member that makes our success possible,” he said.

“It has been hugely successful for us, and it helps us communicate with our undercover officers on the ground about a suspects whereabouts for a smoother arrest,” Finley explained.

Both Roe and Finley said they place a emphasis on understanding that there is no “type” for a sexual predator.

“In my 18 years of doing this, we come across all types – young or old,” Roe said. “We’ve arrested law enforcement officers, judges and even pastors.”

Both men also attribute the unit’s success to focusing on singularity and assigning one task to each member of the team, in order to eliminate multi-tasking errors. The agency said they have anywhere from 40 to 100 officers working on an operation, at any given time.

The agency also is a big proponent of collaboration, often working with other agencies across Georgia and bordering states to make arrests. Unit officials said that internet crimes against children continue to worsen and evolve, which is why they focus on community engagement.

Detective Roe said he speaks at area schools to inform parents and families of the dangers of social media and peer pressure online. Roe said he also works to debunk terms like “kiddy” porn and child porn, because “these are sexual abuse crimes, and we want to make people aware of the gravity of that term and to make parents pro-active.”

John Savior, who runs the group OPHIS posted on social media that he has been asked by law enforcement to stop making the videos – otherwise, he could be charged.

The videos shocked metro Atlanta when they were first posted. They quickly went viral.

In the first video posted online, Savior confronts 35-year-old James Crews, who allegedly planned to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old boy at a Walmart in Griffin.

“You think it’s alright for a 35-year-old man to have sex with a 14-year-old boy?” Savior asked in the video. 

“If he consents to it,” Crews responded.

The videos were reminiscent of the old NBC show To Catch A Predator. However, that show often worked with law enforcement while Savior worked alone.

“There’s a reason we have law enforcement. I don’t want everyone in the world … to go out and make traffic stops and pull people over,” said Attorney Randy Kessler who is not affiliated with this case.

On his Facebook page, Savior writes that he will no longer attempt confrontations in Henry County.

“We will be continuing our operations in all other cities and counties at a higher rate. It has been made (abundantly) clear that O.P.H.I.S is not welcome in the Henry County area,” wrote Savior.

11Alive reached out to Henry County Police to see if they, in fact, told Savior to stop. The agency never responded.

The suspect in the original video, James Crews, is still behind bars in Lamar County. He’s charged with enticing a child.

Kessler believes the suspect’s lawyers could have some legitimate concerns about his arrest.

“As a lawyer, if I was defending the guy, I would want to know about the person who caught him. Who is he? What’s his baggage?” said Kessler. “They’re trying to do the right thing. But work with law enforcement”

Savior said he doesn’t plan to stop. He wrote on his Facebook page that, instead, he’ll change his strategies.

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