Michael Cochran: How Did He Die? Who Killed Him?

When a fit and healthy 38-year-old sports enthusiast named Michael Cochran was declared dead in early 2019, the entire community was perplexed and rocked to its core. Upon digging deeper into his sudden demise, the authorities unraveled a series of dark truths, with a Ponzi scheme at the heart of it. In ABC’s ’20/20: Small Town, Big Con’ and NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Devil’s in the Detail,’ we get a closer and detailed look at the mysterious case, involving the investigation that ensued.

Michael Cochran’s Health Deteriorated Before Passing Away at the Hospital

On December 23, 1980, in Beckley, West Virginia, Michael Brandon “Mike” Cochran entered the world of Michael Edward Cochran and Donna Cochran. In the following years, he witnessed his parents’ separation and his mother’s second marriage to Edward “Ed” Bolt, in whom he found a second father. As he grew up, he turned into a sports enthusiast, showing a passion for baseball, basketball, football, and pee-wee. Obsessed with being a healthy and fit sportsperson, he also developed a hobby for lifting weights, which soon got added to the list of his passions. During his high school years, he participated in power-lifting competitions and even earned first place. At the age of 17, Michael crossed paths with Natalie Jessup while shopping at the mall. While she stood behind the counter of one of the stores, they felt an instant and strong connection between them.

Soon, they started dating and graduated from high school, before attending West Virginia University together. While he studied computers, she studied to be a pharmacist. Five months later, in November 1999, the couple got engaged. Fast forward to six months, and they also tied the knot, making their relationship official in the eyes of the law. Over the next few years, Michael and Natalie became proud parents to two children — Nicole and Ashton. The family of four eventually settled in Daniels, West Virginia, where they became an integral part of the community. The Cochran family soon became friends with their neighbors, Chris and Jennifer Davis. The two families would go out on vacations together and spend a lot of time together. Apart from working in the IT sector, Michael was also a football and baseball coach.

Later, he and Natalie started a business called Tactical Solutions Group (TSG), which dealt with selling weapons and other items to the US government. The latter had quit her job as a pharmacist to become the majority owner of the company. In order to kickstart the company, she had reportedly gotten funding from her family and friends, including the Davises and Michael’s parents. Everything in their life seemed to be picture-perfect until Michael’s health started deteriorating. On February 6, 2019, Natalie found her husband unconscious in a fetal position in the kitchen. Several hours later, when he failed to regain consciousness, he was rushed to a nearby hospital. The 38-year-old sports enthusiast was determined to be suffering from cerebral edema. After receiving medical treatment for five days, he was declared dead at the Hospice of Southern West Virginia in Beckley, West Virginia, on February 11.

Michael Cochran’s Killer Was Charged with Defrauding Multiple People

Due to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the sudden demise of Michael Cochran, the police investigated the mysterious death. Digging deep into his personal and professional life, they found the Cochrans in the middle of a Ponzi scheme, which they ran through their company called Tactical Solutions Group (TSG). Given the couple’s lavish lifestyle and foreign vacations, it appeared that their business was thriving. However, when $15,000 went missing from a fundraiser raised by a middle school baseball league, members of the league committee suspected Natalie had something to do with it, as she was the treasurer handling the bank accounts.

Following a trail of suspicious activities, the investigators found out that TSG was never a real business. It turned out to be a front to scam people in the community. Despite Michael’s death, she continued running the Ponzi scheme in the name of TSG and made a deal to sell half of the company for $4 million. Before the deal could be finalized, the authorities searched the Cochran property and found enough evidence to charge Natalie with 26 counts in connection with the fraud on June 25, 2019. During the search, they also came across a vial of insulin inside the refrigerator. Eventually, in 2020, she pleaded guilty to an unlawful monetary transaction and to wire fraud related to the Ponzi scheme. Thus, she received an 11-year imprisonment sentence and an order to pay back a total of $2.5 million to the investors.

The Killer Was Finally Brought to Justice Nearly Six Years After Michael’s Demise

While Natalie was serving her sentence for the fraud charges, the detectives investigated Michael’s death further and believed that a vial of insulin inside the Cochran residence might be connected to the case. Soon, his remains were exhumed for testing, only to discover that he had died of an insulin injection. According to the investigators, Michael was unaware of the fact that his wife had been scamming people. So, when he was on the verge of finding out the truth, she allegedly injected him with insulin sometime on February 6, 2019, and made it look like he was just sick with the flu. As per law enforcement, she kept delaying the process of hospitalization until she couldn’t. Finally, in November 2021, Natalie was also indicted for the first-degree murder of her husband.

In January 2025, Natalie stood trial for killing Michael Cochran by injecting insulin into his body. The prosecution presented a series of circumstantial evidence against the defendant, including various witnesses. On the other hand, the defense argued that she might be guilty of defrauding several people, but there was not enough evidence to prove her guilt in the murder of her husband, who allegedly took insulin for bodybuilding. They also claimed that he was not in good health and had been hospitalized several times in the past few years due to poisoning from black mold. After less than two hours of deliberations, on January 29, 2025, the jury convicted Natalie Cochran of first-degree murder and sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole.