Trial date set for Detroit man charged in murder of prominent neurosurgeon
Desmond Burks, 34, appeared in court Thursday for a formal arraignment after being bound over for trial last week. Burks will head to trial on Jan. 5, 2026.
Burks is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, larceny of over $20,000, using a computer to commit a crime, possession of a firearm by a felon, and three counts of felony firearm second offense.
Hoover was found shot in the head and wrapped in a blanket in the attic of his Boston-Edison neighborhood home on April 23, 2023, after police conducted a wellness check at the residence.
An autopsy in May 2023 revealed Hoover was shot twice in the back of the head.
Burks was identified as a person of interest early in the investigation and was charged in August 2024. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said the investigation was complicated because many witnesses were reluctant to come forward with sensitive and personal information.
Following Hoover's murder, Wayne County prosecutors say fraudulent transactions were reportedly made using the doctor's various bank accounts, and more than $30,000 was stolen from his accounts, as well as a Range Rover and two watches valued at $13,500.
Authorities say Burks was seen on surveillance footage driving Hoover's Range Rover in the days following the doctor's murder.
Prosecutors allege that text messages between Burks and Hoover established that the two were in an intimate relationship.
Brian Douglas, a longtime friend of Hoover's, has attended nearly every one of Burks' court appearances, including Thursday's arraignment. He says Hoover's family and friends are finally one step closer to getting justice.
"I was devastated when I heard. I was devastated because we almost reconnected, and we didn't," Douglas said. "When I saw who was victimized, and I heard who that person was, and I realized that person didn't deserve that, there was nothing else I could do but show up."
Douglas says that after more than two years since his friend's murder, he still questions why such a good human being was taken away.
"The point of it is, he should still be here," Douglas said. "He was murdered. He shouldn't have been murdered."
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