‘It was definitely an execution-style shooting’: The unsolved murder of a Marine whose story inspired ‘A Few Good Men’

updated on March 29, 2025

6 minutes to read

David V. Cox, 27, left his home in Natick in January 1994 and never came back. *Elaine Tinsley*

When he was in the US Marines, David V. Cox testified in a court case that helped inspire the 1992 movie “A Few Good Men,” starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, and Jack Nicholson. Just over a year later, Cox disappeared, and a few months later his body was found along the banks of the Charles River.

More than 30 years later, his murder remains unsolved.

Cox had been out of the Marines for a little more than four years when he went missing on Jan. 5, 1994.

The 27-year-old was living with his girlfriend on Water Street in Natick and working part-time for UPS.

He had applied for a full-time position at the company and was waiting to hear if he got the job when he vanished.

Steve Cox, David’s older brother, said his brother wanted to work in loss prevention at UPSand shortly before he disappeared had told him about some suspicious — and potentially illegal — activity he had witnessed while working at the UPS terminal in Somerville.

“He was talking that there was some unloading of boxes that weren’t addressed correctly, somebody unpacking them,” Cox, 69, said in an interview. “He didn’t elaborate in high detail. He felt something was going on.”

The day he went missing, a UPS supervisor called and left him a message that he had gotten the job. But he never got to hear the message.

SEMPER FIDELIS

David Cox grew up in Needham and joined the Marines after graduating from Needham High School in 1985.

David Cox as a teenager, relaxing at a high school party. – Kevin Banks

In an interview with the Natick Bulletin newspaper that was published in February 1993, Cox said he was 19 years old when he was stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and became part of a group of elite Marines known as “The 10.”

”They only let the best Marines in, the most loyal ones, the ones in the best physical condition, the ones who could keep their mouths shut,” he said in the interview. ”We worked directly under the base colonel and company captain. We were out there on the fence lines every day, shooting at Cubans, trying to instigate a war.”

Cox said it was part of their initiation into “The 10″ to fire at their “mirror,” the Cuban soldier stationed across from them.

In 1986, when it was discovered that a Marine on the base had reported these illegal activities to a congressman, an order came down for a “Code Red” to teach him a lesson, Cox said.

“Our platoon commander pulled us aside and said, ‘Don’t take him up to the roof and throw him off and kill him, but if he were to fall down the stairs in the middle of the night, oh well,’” Cox recalled in the interview.

David V. Cox was 27 years old when he disappeared. *Elaine Tinsley*

Cox said one night the group went to the Marine’s room, tied him up, stuffed a pillowcase into his mouth, and started to shave his hair. During the assault, Cox said henoticed the Marine wasn’t breathing and they stopped hazing him.The Marine was seriously injured but survived, and the 10 Marines were arrested and charged with attempted murder.

Seven of the 10 Marines took plea deals and left the Marines with an “other-than-honorable” discharge.

Cox and two other Marines, however, decided to fight the charges. Cox’s testimony during the court-martial helped his lawyer make the case that they were following orders when they carried out the attack.

Cox was ultimately convicted of simple assault, a misdemeanor, and found not guilty of aggravated battery. He was able to continue serving in the Marines and was honorably discharged in 1989.

“David took a lot of pride in being a Marine,” said Don Marcari, an attorney who represented Cox during the court-martial case. – Photo courtesy of Steve Cox

According to court records, writer Aaron Sorkin obtained a copy of the transcript from the court-martial proceeding and went on to write a play, “A Few Good Men,” which he then turned into a screenplay for the 1992 movie. (Sorkin found out about the case because his sister had represented one of the 10 accused Marines.)

The makers of “A Few Good Men” never said the movie was inspired by a true story. In fact, a disclaimer in the film states that the characters and story are fictitious, and any similarities to real life are “purely coincidental and unintentional.”

But after seeing the movie, Cox was angry, believing the movie had been based on his experience.

In the 1993 interview Cox said he planned to sue Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced the movie.

Less than a year after the interview, he disappeared.

When his live-in girlfriend, Elaine Tinsley, came back to their house, histruck was parked in the driveway, but he was nowhere to be found.

The door was unlocked and there was no sign of forced entry. But their pet rabbit was loose and hopping around the house. A few glasses were knocked over. Tinsley later noticed that Cox’s camouflage Marine Corps jacket — which he almost never wore — was gone.

David V. Cox with his girlfriend, Elaine Tinsley, in her dorm room at Wellesley College in 1992. *Elaine Tinsley*

As the hours went by and Cox didn’t come home, Tinsley became increasingly concerned. Cox was reported missing to police the next day.

GRIM DISCOVERY

On April 2, 1994, a Saturday afternoon, someone canoeing on the Charles River in Medfield spotted a white sneaker in a wooded area along the banks and called police. It was Cox. His body was covered with snow and tree branches.

He had been shot multiple times: once in the back of his neck and three times in his torso. He had on the same clothes he was wearing when he left his home in January: a pair of jeans, his black Marine sniper school hoodie, and his camouflage Marine Corps jacket, which he hadn’t worn since his military days.

His body was found about a half-mile from the nearest road. There were no apparent signs of a fight or struggle.

“It was definitely an execution-style shooting,” said his brother, Steve Cox.

In a 1995 interview with the Globe, Rick Nagle, a State Police investigator, said whoever killed Cox probably knew Medfield well enough to know that there were two gun clubs in the area, so the sound of gunfire would not have been unusual.

“That’s a very hidden place,” Nagle said. “I think that only someone who really knows the area could’ve found it.”

Don Marcari, the attorney who represented Cox during the court-martial proceeding, said it was strange that Cox left his house that day wearing his Marine Corps jacket and that there was no signs of a struggle.

Why would a former Marine, even under duress, agree to leave his home, be driven to a secluded area miles away, and agree to walk a half a mile into the woods?

“I think whoever killed him, killed before,” Marcari said. “It seemed like it was meant to send a message.”

Robbery didn’t appear to be a motive. When Cox’s body was found there was still cash in his wallet, according to his brother.

Steve Cox wonders if his brother knew about something — either from his military career or from working at UPS — that others did not want to come to light.

“Careers were ruined because of what happened in Cuba,” he said.

Whatever the reason, “this was a highly planned and orchestrated murder,” Cox said.

Cox’s murder was featured on the TV show “Unsolved Mysteries.” In that episode, investigators theorized that Cox probably knew the person (or people) who picked him up from his house and went with them willingly.

But why would anyone want Cox dead?

David Linton, a spokesperson for the Norfolk District Attorney’s office, said Cox’s murder is ”an open investigation,“ but declined to provide details.

“Anyone with any information should call the state police unit at the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office at 781-830-4800,” he said.

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Emily Sweeney can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22.