Inside the search for justice in Eduardo Cota’s murder

SELMER, Tenn. — We spoke to McNairy County Sheriff Guy Buck to learn more about the unsolved murder, how it went cold, and what role the community plays in helping to solve it.

Five years ago, on March 25th, Eduardo Cota was murdered outside of Selmer in his home on Beverly Lane.

Originally from California, and a former military veteran, Cota had just gotten off of work from his job at a restaurant in Lexington.

As he walked through the door of his house his alleged murderers were inside waiting for him.

“We believe that he had a couple of people waiting for him at his house and he was basically executed; shot multiple times and very little evidence left at the scene,” said Buck.

Sheriff Buck says they believe the people waiting on Cota only arrived maybe 17 minutes before.

He also says getting leads on this case has proven difficult.

“I mean we had nothing, absolutely nothing. This guy had absolutely no ties to the community at all. Wasn’t from here, he was from California, had been living in the Jackson area for a couple of years and had recently relocated to Lexington,” said Buck.

Sheriff buck says that evidence gathered at the scene presented a shoe print, tire tracks from a vehicle, but unfortunately none have led to a suspect.

One promising lead was video footage captured of a possible suspect vehicle.

“It was a small white four door car. That’s about as vague as you can be, but we just found out we may have an agency that is going to help us with enhancement of that video that would lead us to better identify the make and model of the car,” said Buck.

Sheriff buck says with advancements in technology and community assistance this case could finally be solved.

“But there are people that knew him. There are people that we haven’t talked to yet. There are people that knew things about him that could help us with this investigation,” said Buck.

Sheriff buck says in his 14 years as Sheriff, this is the only murder case that has gone unsolved.

“Having this one unsolved murder, obviously it pushes it to the front plate. There’s nothing more important to us, so any leads we get we’ll follow up,” said Buck.

If you have information about Eduardo Cota or his murder, call the McNairy County Sheriff’s Office at 731-645-1004.

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