BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A jury took less than two hours to convict former pharmacist Natalie Cochran of first-degree murder in the death of her husband, Michael Cochran, who died on February 11, 2019. The verdict, delivered after a swift deliberation, marks a dramatic turn in a case intertwined with financial fraud and deception.
Immediately following the verdict, the judge informed jurors they would next decide whether Cochran should be granted the possibility of parole.
At the time of Michael’s death, Natalie Cochran was operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors—including her own in-laws—out of millions of dollars. She pleaded guilty in 2021 to federal wire fraud and related charges, receiving a 135-month prison sentence. Though financial records linked Michael to the scheme, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Volk noted that Natalie remained the primary perpetrator. “Even while her husband lay dying,” Volk said during her sentencing, “she was attempting to continue the perpetration of her extensive fraud and even in a more robust and thoughtful way.”
Originally indicted for murder in November 2021, Cochran saw those charges dismissed in April 2023 when prosecutors sought additional testing following the exhumation of Michael’s body. However, she was reindicted in October 2023, leading to the trial that ended in her conviction.
Throughout the proceedings, Cochran maintained that Michael’s use of steroids and unregulated supplements contributed to his death. “When Michael began to take steroids and using illicit supplements, he was using far and above the normal doses and processing controversial alternative therapies,” she said during her federal sentencing. “It became his addiction. … Every day I wish Mike were here. I wish he hadn’t left me to deal with this alone. I wish that he had never started the drugs.”
Her defense at trial echoed this claim, arguing that some of the substances Michael consumed were not approved by U.S. authorities. Despite these assertions, the jury ultimately found her guilty of murder.
Cochran, who remains incarcerated on her federal fraud sentence, now faces the possibility of life in prison for her husband’s killing.
