Report: Former UConn, South Carolina player Eric Cobb charged with murder of his mother

Former South Carolina and UConn basketball player Eric Cobb has been arrested and charged with the murder of his mother in Jacksonville, Fla., according to the Florida Times-Union.

Cobb, who is from Jacksonville, has been jailed on a second-degree murder charge after his mother, Erika Winford, was found wrapped in blankets and towels in the backyard of their home Tuesday, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Jacksonville police were called to the family’s home Tuesday morning for a wellness check, the sheriff’s office told the Florida Times-Union, after a family friend noticed “a large area of blood outside and what appeared to be a body wrapped in a blanket,” according to the Times-Union.

Investigators reportedly learned a neighbor heard a woman screaming “He’s going to kill me” on Monday evening, as well as a second neighbor that heard multiple gunshots around the same timeframe.

Cobb was found alone inside the home when Sheriff’s officers arrived Tuesday morning, according to the arrest report, and when the officers unwrapped the victim near the bloody rear doorstep, they found multiple gunshot wounds to her head, stomach and left leg, according to the Times-Union.

Officers also identified multiple apparent bullet defects on the floor of the main hallway with blood, while parts of the hallway also appeared to have been clean, according to the Times-Union.

Eric Cobb dismissed from South Carolina after 2016 arrest for shooting vehicles with BB gun

Cobb appeared to have a bed in the living room, and at the foot of his bed was a soft case containing an AR-style rifle as well as a Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic handgun, with live 9mm and rifle rounds found inside the case alongside the weapons. A nearby trash case have 14 spent 9mm shell casings, according to the arrest report.

Winford’s friend told police he had spent most of Sunday with her and when he dropped her off, she appeared apprehensive about getting out of his car. When he went to visit Winford the next day, no one answered the door, prompting the friend to walk around to the back of the house, where he found a large amount of blood on the rear doorstep and a pile of blankets in the driveway.

Friends of Winford told police she was “afraid of her ‘possessed’ and schizophrenic son” who had been prescribed medication but was unable to afford it, according to the arrest report. Winford’s other son revealed he moved out of their shared house more than a month prior after Cobb “cursed out” their mother. A 2023 resisting arrest report listed Cobb as homeless at the time of the prior arrest.

Cobb, 28, was a 6-foot-9 forward for both Connecticut and South Carolina between 2015-19, but was one of two Gamecock players dismissed April 2016 by then-head coach Frank Martin after an arrest for shooting vehicles with a BB gun. After transferring to Chipola College for the 2016-17 season, Cobb landed at UConn, where he played in 47 combined games between 2017-2019, where he averaged 3.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in the 2018-19 season.