Woman's body found in Harris County home

CHANNELVIEW, Texas – Harris Co. Detectives are questioning several persons of interest in the murder of a Channelview mother.

April Cobb,33, was strangled in her family's trailer in the 15400 block of N. Brentwood in Channelview Wednesday morning while her three daughters slept in another room.

The children awoke to finds signs of a struggle and Cobb's body lying on the floor.

"We cant put our hands around why. Why this would happen for someone who would go out of their way to help?" the children's grandmother, Gabrielle Gunsacker said Thursday.

Cobb was the mother of twin girls, Alena and Alyssa, both 12 years old, and Alexis, 17, a senior at Channelview High School.

"Unfortunately this happened on the twins birthday. Their lives are changed forever," Gunsacker said. The oldest one is graduating early. Now her mother wont see her graduate."

Cobb lived in Georgia before divorcing the children's father in 2000 and moving back home to Channelview. Her family says she dated several men who have prison records in recent years, and Harris County Sheriff's Office detectives are running down those leads.

Sources told Local 2 one former boyfriend was arrested Thursday afternoon on an unrelated charge and booked into the county jail.

A second man exchanged angry text messages with Cobb the night before she died.

And Cobb was scheduled to testify in court the same morning her body was found as a defense witness for a third male friend charged with assault.

Sheriff's detectives will not confirm details of the investigation, or talk about a possible motive. Cobb herself had a previous conviction from theft in 2011, but family members say it's hard to believe anyone would want to kill her.

"She loved everybody," Cobb's sister, Lisa DeMarco said. "She didn't have a mean bone in her body. If you were sad she'd check on you. If you needed a cup of coffee, somebody to talk to or a hug, she wanted everybody to be happy."

Thursday the family was packing up Cobb's personal effects and preparing to move her children in with their grandmother.

Choking back tears, Gunsacker said,"She shouldn't been taken from me she's supposed to be taking care of her kids and watching her grand kids grow up, and watching her oldest daughter graduate. We're sort of frozen in time because we don't understand."

Cobb had no life insurance and her family is trying to raise money to pay her funeral expenses and provide for her daughters.

Friends are planning to hold a benefit to aid the family Feb.15 in Crosby at Joe Koolz Rock'n Country Saloon in Crosby.

Anyone with information should call the HCSO's Homicide Unit at 713-967-5810 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).