HOLIDAY, Fla. — A dedicated husband. A fun-loving dad. A lover of Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, and Joe Satriani.
That’s how Melany Dzoba will remember her stepdad, Randall Cooke.
“He was the most perfect man,” Dzoba said Tuesday. “Such a happy guy. I mean, we all go through our ups and downs. We’re all still human, but he just — he was always just so happy and just trying to have fun and laugh — all the time.”
Pasco County
'This was demonic': Pasco sheriff details murder of Uber Eats driver
According to family members, including Dzoba, Cooke was the Uber Eats driver killed last week while delivering food to home in Holiday. The killing is believed to be random, and Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco has described it as “horrific” and “demonic.”
Tuesday, Nocco announced that Oscar Solis, 30, has been charged with felony murder for Cooke’s death.
According to Nocco, it appeared that Solis pulled Cooke into the home and attempted to rob him.
The sheriff said a roommate of Solis gave deputies a home security video of the victim, Cooke, walking to the door to deliver food at 6:55 p.m. on April 19, at which point the video ends. Solis was then seen on video on April 20 taking trash bags out of the house. Detectives got permission to search the trash bags and found body parts inside.
Nocco said Solis was affiliated with MS-13 in Indiana, where he was also on parole. The Pasco County Sheriff's Office said Solis had been released from an Indiana prison in January following a four-year sentence for assault and burglary.
“There’s no way someone in their right mind did something like this. I mean, doesn’t make sense. The minor details aren’t adding up,” Dzoba said.
It’s a sudden loss that’s hard for her to comprehend.
“I still have a voicemail on my phone from last Monday of just his voice and him telling me how much he loves me and how much he’s there for me,” she said.
But for all the tears, there are smiles and laugh, too, as she remembers Cooke, who came into her life when he met her mom in 2012 and married her in 2020.
“Perfect. A relationship I could always hope for,” Dzoba said. “Just conjoined at the hip. Soulmates until the very end.”
Dzoba said her step-dad hailed from the Palatka area and was a talented graphic designer by trade. Lately, he’d been driving Uber Eats to bring in extra money.
“He just had to do anything he could to make ends meet, you know,” she said.
Despite the struggle, she said her stepdad was a happy man who never had a bad thing to say about anyone.
“Randy just made everything better,” Dzoba said.
A GoFundMe page has been started to help pay for Cooke's funeral costs and assist his widow.
