We have been screaming, justice for Rob Cobain.
Screaming it. I'm screaming it.
Justice.
He was an artist.
He worked, supported his kids.
No criminal history whatsoever.
And he's found shot and killed in his own apartment,
for no reason that we have been able to find.
It's not just a homicide case anymore.
I take it personal that this is sitting
unsolved on my name.
Detective Shaffer, he was passionate about this case,
but he got promoted and put back on the road.
So I'm gonna pick up where he left off.
He was a beacon of light.
No matter where you saw him, he was smiling.
He was always encouraging.
And his biggest thing was unity.
He loved music, and he loved his kids.
That was his life.
He was a fan of all music.
Kurt Cobain, that was one of his idols.
And he took that moniker, and thus Rob Cobain was born.
He was just a phenomenal artist.
But as a father and an artist, his story got cut short.
He definitely did not deserve this.
We're all just so heartbroken.
♪ I must be Captain Planet ♪
♪ I feel the Earth's pain ♪
♪ My little heart is damaged ♪
♪ Heartbroken, heartbroken, whoo ♪
♪ I'm heartbroken, heartbroken ♪
♪ Whoo ♪
In North Charleston's
Forest Hills neighborhood,
the property manager of an apartment complex calls 911.
Is that your apartment?
Do we know whose apartment that is?
115 to dispatch, this appears to be a shooting.
I'm clearing the apartment.
North Charleston Police Department.
Hey, EMS, you guys are clear.
Check on him.
OK.
115 to dispatch, this can be a confirmed 10-7.
232 en route, arrived.
232.
Detectives on scene.
What's up, man?
What up?
This next-door neighbor at 5:00 a.m. heard two bangs.
Two loud bangs.
She thought it was a car accident or whatever.
At around 10:00-ish,
she noticed the glass was shattered.
And then at that point, she called for the maintenance.
When the maintenance man
spotted the victim,
he contacted the property manager,
who called 911.
40-year-old Robert Brown III,
known by his stage name Rob Cobain,
was a local hip-hop artist
who also worked at a jewelry store.
Recently divorced, he had a 9-year-old son
with his ex-wife and a 13-year-old daughter
from a previous relationship.
The front door was locked when I got here.
Deadbolted.
I made entry through this hole right here.
Check his body yet?
Rob was shot four times,
in the back, legs, and ankle.
He's in his underwear.
What is this, a PS4?
They were maybe playing a game.
Oh, there you go. Right there.
So one shell casing.
The team finds a shell casing
on the living room floor.
Another one behind the couch.
And one in the front hallway.
Whoever it was, he was very close
when they started shooting him.
There's blood all over.
There clearly was a scuffle at the door.
Guess is that him and someone else were fighting,
and that's when the shots started going off.
Maybe he's trying to flee.
Could have been shooting at him and put one through the glass.
And then from there, he had collapsed
right in front of the couch.
There's a bag of weed.
His phone is in his back bedroom.
The original responding officer
said he noticed that the front door was bolt-locked.
The window was open.
I'm thinking that's how they went in.
Could be.
Not impossible.
There's a possibility this was just
a random burglary gone wrong.
My personal opinion,
somebody else was let in the house.
Maybe possible girlfriend involved or something
because he's in his underwear in there.
And I don't think he would have been, like, hanging out
with one of his buddies or another dude in there, like,
half naked or whatever.
Right now, we have to canvass for video,
hopefully get lucky, because right now,
we don't have a lot to go off of.
It's gonna be a tough one.
Can I ask you a question real quick?
Did you hear anything earlier this morning?
Any shouting, arguing, or anything like that?
OK.
All right, well, I appreciate you guys.
Has anybody already talked to you?
OK.
Everybody must be at work.
Then...
OK.
One of Rob's neighbors comes forward.
His ex-wife--
know that they just got recently divorced.
He has two kids, um, Journey,
and then he has an autistic son.
OK. Did they live there?
Sometimes.
Rob's car was broken down,
so his daughter has been staying with his ex-wife
so she could get a ride to school.
And you don't know him to have any drama
or beef with anybody like that?
What are those two people named
that would live with him before?
OK.
When was that that he kicked them out?
OK.
Thank you.
Two hours in...
Neighbors next door made a call to her,
so she came over here to give us
a little bit more information.
OK.
Another friend of Rob's arrives on scene.
Hello. I'm Detective Shaffer.
So what's your relationship to Robert?
We're friends.
OK.
Has there been any drama recently
in the house over there?
Like arguments between people, fights, anything like that?
No.
That's what we were trying to figure out,
because he--honestly, he's not that type of person.
Right.
He's really a happy-go-lucky guy.
Hm. So.
How's the relationship with the ex-wife?
Is everything good?
Yeah, they're fine.
They recently just signed their papers.
OK.
But it wasn't a heated divorce.
It wasn't bad.
Do you know him to be involved
in anything bad, like drug dealing
or anything like that, narcotics,
anything to that extent?
No.
He smoked a little weed.
OK.
What about friend-wise?
Who all would Rob hang out with?
He was a ladies man.
He hung out with different girls.
He just had been going through some things,
you know, going through a new divorce,
trying to figure it out.
Yeah. OK.
This summer, he allowed
people to live with him.
She gives to Shaffer the names
of Rob's former roommates.
Did everything work out when they got moved out,
or was it like a bad move-out?
It wasn't that good? No.
OK.
This is wild.
No, I know it's a lot for everybody.
Thank you, ma'am.
As word of Rob's murder continues to spread...
The manager of the jewelry store
where he worked shows up on scene.
She says last night,
a woman picked Rob up from work.
What kind of car they left in?
So he left last night from work with a girl.
But that's the last time she saw him.
Then...
Another possible break.
Rob's neighbors remember that
he has a security camera in his living room.
OK, let me go check that out real quick.
Give me one second.
Maybe that Ring camera was on during the whole incident
and just recording things, which would tell us
exactly what happened and who did it.
That would be huge.
The camera's on 'cause he's getting
Ring notifications on his phone.
So we have high hopes for that.
We're hoping it's been on since this morning,
which means that it just-- it would have been activating
from whatever happened inside.
My name is George Robert Van Tine, Jr.
I've been with the North Charleston Police Department
for 23 years.
I spent just shy of five years
in the persons unit working violent crime and homicides.
I'm honored with working in cold cases now.
The department set up this unit to help bring justice
to the victims and the families
where the case agent has moved on.
They've either been transferred out or they retired,
and the case still isn't solved.
Detective Shaffer has transferred back to the road.
So we're gonna continue looking into Lowell Drive
and pick up where he left off.
Looks like in the report when Shaffer left
the crime scene that night, his head was spinning.
Probably had half a dozen potential motives.
It could be a burglary gone bad
because there is a window partially opened.
There's been indication that he is a ladies' man.
He's in his underwear.
So it could be something with a lovers' quarrel.
The ex-roommate may have been involved.
There was some type of argument.
And then there is a female that picked him up from work
and who was the last person to see him.
Once Shaffer goes home,
evening shift starts running with it,
trying to get into the victim's phone.
Maybe there's some indication of who that female
that picked him up from work may be.
Seven hours in...
Mm-hmm.
Digital forensics examiner Sam Riedel
was downloading Rob's phone...
And found a text conversation between Rob
and the woman who picked him up from work last night.
Get her in here, see what she knows.
Two hours later...
Amanda agrees to talk.
I sent my husband over there after he got off work.
OK.
All right, so you saw him yesterday, correct?
Yeah, I picked him up from work yesterday.
It was about 10 till 6:00,
and we went to the Publix to get a sandwich.
And once you guys were there, what happened?
We smoked for a little bit.
And we watched "Yo! MTV Raps,"
and we ate our sandwich.
And we smoked some more.
I don't know, like, why her husband
would think it'd be cool if she goes
to some other dude's house and smokes weed with him.
Is he, like, jealous of their relationship?
It's weird.
And I took off about 9:30.
He walked me outside.
We didn't spend too much time outside because it was cold.
He just said, I love you.
The last that I heard from him was last night
when I told him I'm home, and he responded,
the little heart thing.
And roughly how long is the drive?
About an hour.
OK.
And did he mention having any plans afterwards?
No, I think he was gonna go to bed.
He had to work today.
How did the two of you meet?
And how long have you known him?
Since April of 2016 in Northwoods Mall.
She says she and Rob have
been friends for eight years.
We had a conversation about Prince,
the singer, and we've just been friends ever since.
Have you and Rob ever had, like, a sexual relationship?
So it's just friends?
- Exactly. - OK.
Is he--he's pretty cool with your husband?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
What was Rob wearing
when you saw him last night?
Um...
I think it was a black long sleeve
just shirt that he had on,
jeans.
And do you know what his relationship was like
with the guy that used to live with him?
No.
But he was there for quite a while with his girlfriend.
So what happened?
I don't know, honestly.
Rob just referred to them as houseguests,
and I didn't ask too many questions.
The only thing that Rob seemed to be stressed out about
is his neighbor smelling the weed.
And we did talk about that because he had his--
he propped his sliding glass door open a little bit,
so it would air out.
Do you know if Rob kept that door open
after you left?
Probably.
He made me nervous because he didn't lock things,
that being one of them.
Mm-hmm.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Give me one more second.
It does sound like her and the victim
had a good friendship.
Since she says that her husband was cool with it,
we do plan on following up with the husband
just to make sure that there wasn't any type
of jealousy on his end.
Yeah.
From glancing at this,
Shaffer did talk to Amanda's husband,
and it seemed like he was OK with his wife going over there,
that he knew the victim and he didn't
have any issues with him.
He did not feel the husband was involved.
So after the shift ended, they were no closer
to a motive behind this.
According to witnesses, Rob was a ladies' man.
So Shaffer's plan was to track down the women he was seeing
and track down the couple that used to live with the victim.
And he also wanted access to the footage
on the phone, a Ring camera that was inside
the victim's home that may have the possible suspect,
which would have been huge.
The next morning, Detective Parker Bush,
and Shaffer head out to try to find some of the women
that Rob had been seeing.
Could still be a chick.
Sleeping around with different women,
some chick could not like it.
Well, that and then
one of their significant others finds out.
Yeah, and shows up there at the door going,
hey, can I talk to you?
And things go south.
Yep.
Then...
Hey, sir, how are you?
The team gets a tip...
From Robert Brown's female ex-roommate.
She says she suspects her ex-boyfriend,
who's Rob's other ex-roommate, may be the killer.
OK.
All right, well, I appreciate it.
All right, take it easy.
Let's see what this chick has to say.
Hey, how are you?
What happened?
OK.
She says while they were living with Rob,
she and her boyfriend weren't getting along.
How did it end with y'all and Rob
and staying at his apartment?
Rob asked them to leave because his daughter
was coming back to live with him.
And shortly after they moved out,
she and her boyfriend broke up.
What makes you think
he would be the one involved?
Was there bad things between him and Rob
when they were living there?
OK.
Right, right, OK.
OK.
We're gonna continue investigating
and go from there.
We have to go based off where the evidence takes us.
I know you said your intuition, but...
Yeah.
No, 100%.
All right, well, thank you for your time, ma'am.
It was basically woman's intuition
that the ex-roommate may have been involved.
But Detective Shaffer did a search warrant
on the ex-roommate's phone.
And during the time frame of the murder,
that person's device was in Florence, South Carolina.
And I believe Shaffer spoke to that person on the phone,
and he was very cooperative.
So I think he ruled him out.
Detective Shaffer, in his notes and what he told me,
seems like everyone he talked to, whether it be
girlfriends, anybody, spoke very highly of the victim.
And he got the sense that no one
in the victim's social circle wanted to harm the victim.
And everyone was baffled as to who would do this.
Shaffer hit a dead end.
And so they had the Hail Mary of the Ring camera
that was inside the victim's home
that would potentially give us some glimpse of who did it.
As the first 48 slips away...
The camera covers the living room.
Shaffer gets an update on the security camera
in Rob's living room.
But the Ring camera that was in there,
the plan is inactive,
which means it will give you
notifications and alerts,
but it doesn't record any of it.
It's live view only.
So there's no video of the actual shooting?
Nope.
Oh.
Can't get freaking lucky on none of it.
Back to square one on that.
Felt too good to be true.
So yeah, things are going well.
Everything's coming together nicely.
And I mean that with the most sarcasm possible.
Six days later...
Number one, I am so sorry.
This is the worst way to meet someone, like I said,
in such a situation.
Shaffer speaks to Rob's mother.
He didn't deserve what he got
because the type of person that he was.
Before I leave South Carolina,
I need to go home with some kind of closure.
- Yes. - Not just leaving my child.
I want to help and tell you as much as I can,
but it is ongoing,
so there's a lot I can't tell you right now.
What I can tell you is this.
There's two possibilities.
It was either a random burglary gone wrong
or it was someone he knew.
The team turns to Rob's ex-wife and daughter.
Did your dad ever mention
that his house got broken into previously?
So tell me about that.
OK.
And did he tell you how he thought
the person was able to get inside?
Gotcha.
Like, what time of day did it happen?
So night time?
Thank you again for coming in.
I'm sorry for y'all's loss.
Give me one second, OK?
He did get his stuff broken into a couple of weeks ago.
And then I don't really see--
there's no calls for service over there.
So if he did, he never reported it to us.
That's interesting.
We'll have to chase that down too.
We're just gonna keep talking to more and more people.
We're hoping to get a bunch of video
from the surrounding streets and surrounding areas,
hoping that somebody's camera somewhere
caught someone running from the scene that we could track
or someone jumping in a car right afterwards.
Yeah.
We just need to get something.
Four days later...
The team watches surveillance video
from the grocery store
next to Rob's apartment complex.
The victim's building is right here.
Right there is, like, right by where the window is at.
We need, like, some video of somebody
running from the scene or some [bleep].
Otherwise, it's like a [bleep] "Dateline" special.
So far, not a lot of luck.
Then...
Where the green thing is at.
A thermal image of somebody coming around from the backside
of the victim's building at 4:15 in the morning
right before the shooting.
We think the murder time is around, like, 5:00 a.m.,
but this is about 55 minutes before that.
This figure is just wandering around.
Very suspicious to me
'cause he's not going into an apartment.
He's not walking a dog.
He's just wandering around behind buildings
in the middle of the night.
I think the temperature that night
was, like, 40 degrees or less.
So it was cold as hell out.
And you're wandering around at 4:00 in the morning.
So my curiosity is, why are you doing that?
They're looking to break into somewhere.
That's what I was getting a feel for.
Like, are they looking for open windows and [bleep]?
The homicide, he did have his window left open.
And his mother said that he did get broken into
a couple weeks ago.
Then I don't see him again.
And then this video we're getting
is from right about here.
Shaffer pulls up doorbell footage
they got from a neighbor down the street
from Rob's apartment.
This is at 5:12 a.m., minutes after we believe
the homicide occurred, of an individual
walking down the street.
Lowell Drive,
which is where the homicide occurred.
This could potentially be
the same person from the video walking
behind the apartment building.
This guy is a potential suspect.
But he's our best lead so far, as you can say.
Yeah.
It's possible that it was a burglary gone wrong.
He's laying down and someone was trying to break in.
Yeah.
Three weeks later...
Hey, Cason?
Yes, sir?
Detectives Cason Alex and Carlos Ochoajaya
are working a case that they believe
could be connected to Rob's.
So I have a rash of burglaries
in the Forest Hills area.
And that's the same area where the homicide was.
The most recent burglary
occurred around 10:00 last night.
He went into the window of their house
while everybody was inside the house
and just stole all their stuff.
The MO is exact same for this kid.
I dealt with him before, where he likes
to break into people houses while people are home.
Alex realized the MO of last night's robbery
matched that of a juvenile burglar
that he arrested three months ago.
The case I arrested him for back in September,
he broke in the house.
One of the roommates came home, confronted him.
He pulled a gun out on them.
When me and other detectives went to go pick him up,
he tried to pull a gun out on us,
but we were able to stop him before he was able to do it.
Charges against the juvenile for burglary
three months ago were dismissed.
So he may be connected into the homicide
because the MO is just the same.
The juvenile suspect was
definitely on the street at the time Rob's murder happened.
So did she see the guy who broke in?
The victim of last night's burglary
was in her bedroom when it happened.
So then, this morning,
a neighbor gives her video footage.
She see two Black males.
Out of that video that she sees,
she identifies the juvenile.
The burglary victim recognized
one of the suspects in the video
from the neighborhood.
He's the same juvenile that Detective Alex arrested
for the previous burglary.
So we think this may be our suspect from the homicide.
It's possible.
The fact that he was willing to pull a gun out
on three officers in uniform, the fact that he actually did
pull a gun out on my other victim and threatened her,
I feel like he could escalate that point,
especially if he's inside somebody house
breaking in there and they catch him.
I wouldn't be surprised he would do something like that.
Unfortunately, we don't have enough to arrest him
for this burglary.
So the goal right now is to work on building the burglary case
for those two.
We're gonna follow up with the victim.
We're gonna go out to her house.
We'll start going around the neighborhood
canvassing for video.
And then when we can get enough to charge them
with the burglary, we can pick them up.
And while they're up here,
talk to them about the homicide.
Detective Shaffer, in his notes
and what he told me, he wasn't able to develop
enough probable cause or enough evidence
for that one particular burglary to charge him.
And then Shaffer was beginning the process
of being promoted out of the unit.
Six months after Shaffer left the unit...
The property detectives, Detective Cason,
ended up charging that juvenile suspect
with yet another burglary.
When Detective Cason went to apprehend
that juvenile suspect, he had a backpack,
just like the suspect that is on camera,
walking back towards his residence
minutes after the homicide.
So that's a strong person of interest.
So needed to somehow find some way
to convince him to come to city hall
to put him in a room and interview him.
13 months after Rob's murder...
That juvenile suspect just
came in today to pick up some items from another case.
So a phone, his backpack.
So I'm gonna try to interview him and see what he says.
See if we can get him to admit to this.
Hey, how's it going?
I'm Detective Van Tine.
So you're looking to get some items back?
You're talking about, like, a backpack.
You're talking about a phone.
OK, Apple iPhone was seized,
and then you said your--
I got you.
Do you always--how long you had that backpack for?
We had some burglaries in the area.
And I'm wondering if-- if I show you a picture,
if you ever hit this place or remember it.
Yeah.
December 3rd, early in the morning, 2024,
this place was broken into.
This window is open.
This was shattered.
The thing is, I think you do.
You would go into, like, different places, right?
And so I'm asking about this particular one.
Get it off your chest. What happened?
Let me ask you this.
When you did these break-ins,
did you have someone with you?
What do you do?
How do you get in usually, though?
You always go through, like, a window?
This window is open.
You ever go through this window and chill?
Have you ever gone to a place
where somebody lives while they're in there?
Yeah, well, not knowing they're in there.
When you go and chill in these houses,
you usually have a weapon on you?
You were arrested with guns in the past.
Right.
The phone, do you know the passcode to that phone?
He gives Van Tine the passcode.
I'm gonna be honest with you.
I won't be able to release it today, that's for sure.
Well, I got you.
I feel you.
Yeah, you're good.
Just denying, denying.
He mentioned that he did usually go through the windows.
And this is entry through a window unsecured.
But I just don't have enough to say--
I don't have any DNA putting him there.
I don't have any video putting him there.
I got the passcode to his phone so we can do the phone dump.
So maybe there's something in the text message
that will either rule him out or rule him in.
The burglary suspect that we just interviewed,
we did dump his phone.
Unfortunately, there's nothing to prove
that he committed this crime,
but he is still a strong person of interest.
As far as the community, maybe somebody knows something
or he confided in somebody.
Maybe someone has some crucial information
that will help solve it.
I know this suspect commits burglaries
with other juveniles.
Maybe they will cooperate
and they'll be able to come forward.
I think the thing is just trying to--
never giving up and just hoping that something will break.
♪ And I won't let them break me ♪
♪ Them demons, they won't take me ♪
♪ I keep spreading love ♪
♪ And you'll continue hatin' ♪
Unsolved cases are never closed.
♪ Is what it is, I'm the last one standin' ♪
♪ I'm the heartbreak kid ♪
I'm gonna do everything in my power
to figure out who did this.
Rob's life was taken.
Thank you.
And so I feel it's important to let the families know
we are still actively trying to solve it.
Yeah.
If it's been over a year or two years or three
or ten or whatever the case is,
we're never gonna give up hope.
We're never gonna stop trying.
I'm never gonna quit on it.
Never.
He made people laugh just by stepping in the room.
He was just that silly.
Just proud of him, you know?
Never had nothing bad to say about my nephew.
I just can't wrap my mind around
why somebody would do that to him.
Whoever did it, they took something
away from me that could never be replaced.
They took a daddy away from his kids.
It's been a struggle.
With Kingston, he doesn't understand.
So he asks for him, and I can't really explain
why he's not there.
With Journey, it's a different type
of difficulty, 'cause she knows.
She's angry and upset
because somebody took something so valuable
away from her, from all of us.
And I want to be able to look at the person in their eyes
and ask them why.
Father God, we gather today in honor of Robert,
hoping that this will bring justice.
Somebody knows exactly what happened,
and I pray that their conscience will allow them
to tell somebody so that we'll know
who did it and why.
Put yourself in our shoes.
What if it was your family member
and you know somebody know?
Wouldn't you want them to say it?
It would help a lot.
Please and thank you, whoever you are.
I know you know something.
In loving memories, Robert LaNorris Brown III.
Justice for Rob Cobain.
Say it loud.
Justice for Rob Cobain.
Amen.
♪ World ain't stoppin' ♪
♪ Even if the people dyin' ♪
♪ And their bodies keep droppin' ♪
♪ Heartbroken ♪
♪ I must be Captain Planet ♪
♪ I feel the Earth's pain ♪
♪ My little heart is damaged ♪
♪ Heartbroken, heartbroken, whoo ♪
♪ I'm heartbroken, heartbroken, whoo ♪