Funeral planned for slain Basic High teacher

By Jeremy Twitchell, Frances Vanderploeg

Published Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008 | 12:54 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008 | 6:29 p.m.

Funeral services for the Basic High School teacher found dead in his home last week will be held in his home state of Michigan.

Viewing for Matthew Thomas Cox, 32, a Michigan native, will be Friday at Pawlak Funeral Home in Temperance, Mich., with services the following day. He is to be buried in Toledo, Ohio.

Two brothers have been arrested on suspicion of murder, burglary and robbery in Cox's Dec. 22 death.

Cox was the choir teacher at Basic, and one of the two men charged was one of his students.

Cox had last been seen the night of Dec. 21, when he had dinner with a friend. His body was discovered in his home the following afternoon by another friend who had arrived to take care of Cox's cats. She initially thought he might have died of a recently diagnosed heart problem, according to a police statement.

Debra Armstrong, Cox's mother, expected him to be home later that day to celebrate Christmas, she said.

On Dec. 23, Henderson police arrested Jose A. Delatorre, 18, and a 17-year-old whom his co-workers at Dunkin' Donuts identified as Delatorre's brother. Delatorre was being held with no bail set in the Henderson Detention Center. The 17-year-old was booked into the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center.

Delatorre was scheduled to appear in Henderson Justice Court at 9 a.m. Jan. 6.

Cox, who began teaching at Basic in fall 2006, had reached out to the 17-year-old student to help him, Armstrong said.

The night he was slain, according to the arrest report, Cox had dinner at a Henderson restaurant with a friend, but during dinner he sent text messages to someone on his cellular phone and told his friend he would meet the person about 8 p.m. and possibly go to the movies.

Police say the 17-year-old told them that he and Delatorre were picked up by Cox and taken back to his house, where they played video games. Cox went upstairs to pack for his trip, and the 17-year-old joined him, the statement says.

After a while, Cox drove the two back to their home in downtown Las Vegas. After he stopped in front of the home, the teen’s statement says, Delatorre struck Cox in the head and the two choked him. They used a tie in a gift box to tie his feet and hands, the teen reportedly told police.

They then drove the car back to Cox’s home, where they took laptop computers, a Wii console and games, DVDs, and an iPod. They left Cox on the sofa, with a blanket over him, according to the statement.

The brothers only meant to rob Cox, not to kill him, police said the teen said.

Cox began teaching at Basic in fall 2006. Previously he was the Hopkins School choir director in Hopkins, Mich., where he started a choir program for kindergarten through 12th grade students, Armstrong said.

He graduated from Western Michigan University, and was active in the Nevada Music Educators Association.

Cox's life goal was to help children succeed, Armstrong said.

Basic High Band Director Mark McArthur, who has worked closely with Cox in the years since Cox arrived at Basic, remembered him as "a fantastic choir director."

"He took over a really good program at Basic and has just done a great job," McArthur said. "As a teacher, he was incredibly dedicated to his students and to enhancing the program."

McArthur said Cox arranged a trip to New York for the choir and just completed a busy slate of holiday performances. He said that in addition to his duties as choir director, Cox took on a number of side projects to help students interested in other areas of singing.

"He was a well-respected member of our faculty and he will be missed," McArthur said. "The biggest thing now is to take care of the kids and make sure that the choir program keeps going and all the great work that (Cox) has done keeps going."

In addition to his mother, Cox is survived by his father, Timothy Armstrong and sister Kristen Cox of Lambertville, Mich.; grandparents Robert and Margaret Graham and Alice and Walter Armstrong, of Toledo, Ohio.