RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Authorities have identified a 22-year-old Richmond man who was found fatally shot Wednesday inside a car that was parked in an alleyway behind a home in the city’s North Side.

Officers responded to the 3200 block of Cliff Avenue on the morning of March 4 for a report of a vehicle parked in an alley. According to Richmond police, the body of Ronald Cosby Jr. was discovered inside the car.

Police said Thursday that Cosby was found with a gunshot wound and that a homicide investigation is underway. Cosby lived on Fendall Avenue, less than a mile from where his body was located.

On Wednesday, 8News spoke with Rose Pemberton, the woman who lives at the home in front of the alley where Cosby’s body was discovered. Pemberton told 8News she first noticed the suspicious vehicle when the garbage men attempted to drive through the alley early Wednesday morning at around 5-6 a.m.

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“The garbage people were out back behind my house trying to collect garbage and they couldn’t get through the alley, so they started tooting the horn,” she explained. “I went out to see why (the garbage men) were right behind my house and there was a car parked next door in the alley and they wanted to know who car it was. I didn’t know. I told them to call the police to have it towed, and one of the garbage workers actually got in the vehicle and moved it.”

A few hours later, after the sun came up, Pemberton noticed the vehicle was still parked in the same spot where one of the garbage men moved it — unaware that a body was in the back of the car.

“After the sun came up, I noticed the car was still where they moved it so I called 911 to give them the license plate number to check and see if it was stolen,” Pemberton said. “When they got here they said there was a body in there.”

“I wish I had called earlier and wish I could’ve saved somebody. But they said there was no way I could’ve saved them if I called earlier,” she continued.

Detectives ask anyone with any information about this incident to call Major Crimes Detective P. Ripley at (804) 646-0423 or Crime Stoppers at 780-1000.

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