GLOUCESTER, Va. (WAVY) – A Gloucester family has been fighting to get back what belongs to their loved one, who was killed in a gruesome crime in Colorado. After not getting results, they reached out to 10 On Your Side for help.

When some Black Widow Spiders mate, the female kills and eats the male. In some ways, as this story unfolds, you’ll find Colorado resident Cynthia Wilkinson is like a black widow. At least that is what the family of her boyfriend, Derek Michael “Mike” Brock, thinks.

Our investigation uncovered that former Gloucester County resident Mike Brock was murdered in 2016, but his family didn’t find out Mike was dead until just last year. His girlfriend Cynthia Wilkinson kept it a secret, in the hopes of selling off all his belongings, including his home.

Brock’s former wife Betty Belcher and his daughters Gail and Jessica Brock live in Gloucester County, Virginia.

“He was murdered for his belongings. We are just trying to get his stuff back; that’s all we have left. We will never see our father again,” said Gail Brock, who is the executor of her father’s will.

THE ARREST

Brock was killed on April 21, 2016, but no one would know he was dead until after Cynthia’s husband Jesse, who was in jail at the time, came forward and told investigators what she had told him.

Body cam video from an investigator captured when Cynthia was finally brought to justice.

In March 2022, Wilkinson was taken into custody for setting up and participating in Brock’s murder.

Capt. Bob Coleman with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office interrogated Wilkinson.

Coleman: “Will killed him, and you were there. You knew it happened and you helped cover it up – yes, or no?”
Wilkinson: “Yes.”
Coleman: “How did Will kill him?”
Wilkinson: “I think he choked him.”
Coleman: “You know Will killed him.”
Wilkinson: “Yes.”
Coleman: “How do you know?
Wilkinson: “He walked down the stairs with him over his shoulder. I put him in a freezer, and I knew that it was, you know.”
Coleman: “He was murdered.”
Wilkinson: “Yes.”

The spider’s web unraveling.

Wilkinson ended up pleading guilty to second degree murder for her participation. She was sentenced to 30 years, and would be the only one charged.

It turns out Brock was killed in April 2016, but Wilkinson kept the death secret, even from Brock’s family, almost six years until February 2022.

THE GRUESOME DETAILS

What the family has since learned about Mike’s death is so graphic the daughters had to leave the room before Belcher discussed the details with WAVY.

Cynthia, along with accomplice Charles Gable, went shopping. Gable was not charged due to an immunity deal.

“Charles and Cynthia go out and buy gallons and gallons of acid and then they come back to the house. Charles cuts the body up with a chainsaw into pieces, and Gail doesn’t know this and neither does Jessica,” Belcher gets choked up with emotion as she continues, “They boiled his body in a large pot in the garage until mostly all of it had dissolved except the bones, and then Charles takes what’s left out of the pot and takes the bones and crushes them up with a hammer, and then he puts them back in the pot and boils it until it’s all dissolved and it goes down the drain and that was it.”

Mike’s body was never found, and Belcher says that is why.

After Mike’s murder, Cynthia started selling off his property, including his home in Colorado, which she sold for $335,000. She kept every penny.

During the interrogation Capt. Coleman said to Wilkinson, “You knew he was murdered. You knew he was dead. You sold that house for your benefit.”

Wilkinson responded, “Yes. Two years later. I did, yes.”

“Painful is an understatement. Every day. I wake up this is what I think about. I think about my dad’s last moments on earth,” said his daughter, Gail.

Mike Brock had roots in Gloucester County. He was a taxidermist with Betty when they were married from 1982-1989.

The last time Brock was in town was in 2015.

Gail remembers, “My dad came to Virginia before he was murdered to see his grandkids, and to see me and my sister, and me and my dad had great communication at that time.”

Communication fell off, the sisters unaware their dad had been killed until 2022.

Through the years, their calls were intercepted by Cynthia who was also texting on Mike’s phone making it look like he was still alive.

Jessica was very emotional as she thought back on how it all unfolded, “I didn’t hear from my dad anymore, and I continued to call — 2017, 2018, 2019. I called all these years and every time I was fooled by Cynthia. I spoke with her on the phone she told me my dad was ok.”

WAVY asked why they didn’t contact the police after they couldn’t get in touch with their dad for so many years.

Gail responded, “I never believed that something bad happened to him. I thought he was working. Like the wife, no, the monster who claimed to be his wife, told me.”

Jessica thought her father was ignoring her, “I was wondering, why won’t you answer me? Your grandkids are growing up, why are you not answering me? And it fell off because I thought he didn’t want to talk to me because it is the way Cynthia made it to be. It wasn’t my dad, and she even took that from me. She took everything from me,” Jessica now crying. “But I did look for my dad.”

HOUSE FOR SALE

The family believes Mike was either poisoned or beaten to death. Shortly after his death, Wilkinson started selling off his property and keeping the money.

In the interrogation room, Capt. Coleman was joined by Detective Tyler Thomas with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.

Thomas: “Cindy, you signed his truck over in your name within seven or actually eight days of his death.”

She nods her head yes and says “I did.”

Thomas: “For your own benefit?”
Wilkinson: “Yea. I’m not denying any of that.”

Records show Wilkinson also stole Mike’s home, then sold that too.

Coleman: “You knew he was murdered. You knew he was dead. You sold that house for your benefit.”
Wilkinson: “Yes, two years later, I did. Yes. I did.”

Brock’s family in Gloucester think what Wilkinson has admitted to makes her look like a black widow.

“These girls are victimized again and again and again by the Bank of England, lawyers, and people who don’t give a damn that this was a horrible crime here,” said Belcher.

The crime includes fraud. Wilkinson forged a quitclaim deed, transferring ownership of Brock’s home from him to her about a month after she helped kill him.

Cynthia forged Mike’s name, even misspelled it three times on the document, writing “Brook” instead of “Brock.”

The quitclaim deed is a document which transfers ownership in this case from Mike Brock to Cynthia Wilkinson and her husband Jesse, who was in prison at the time.

Investigators tracked down the Notary, Sandra Maldonado, who the family says failed to get and confirm proper identification for the quitclaim transaction.

An investigator asks Maldonado, “Do you remember anything about this transaction?”

Maldonado answers, “No, I am sorry. I don’t.”

The investigator shows Maldonado Mike Brock’s driver license picture, and sums everything up with this, “So you are sure you’ve never seen this guy?”

Maldonado responds, “I am positive I have never seen him.”

Investigator: “Because that is Dereck Michael Brock. That’s the one who signed it, and he was dead at the time this was filled out, so he couldn’t have been present at the notary.”

Maldonado refused to return repeated phone calls from the 10 On Your Side investigative team.

Maldonado did tell investigators, “So, the guy who came with the ID, they did a better job making an ID than others. I did not catch it.”

For the Brock family, that is an understatement.

Mike’s former wife Betty Belcher said, “It seems there were balls dropped all along the way, and there is no way he signed his house over to a woman who ended up killing him.”

There is video of the new owners who bought Mike’s house from Cynthia. WAVY is not identifying them because they bought the house in good conscience, apparently unaware of the fraud.

In the taped interview one of the owners says, “Well, I guess one of my questions can this come back on us since she sold it as a fraud. I mean we have the title and everything. Right, I really have no idea.”

Then the owner starts thinking about Mike’s family, “I’m just worried about the future of our investment and can it be taken away? I mean that guy had relatives and would be wanting the place back.”

That owner was correct. Mike’s family does want the house back.

Belcher says, “It’s amazing – no one questions anything about this. Who would give away a half million-dollar home?”

Sensing issues with the title, the lender Arkansas Based Bank of England who holds the mortgage has offered a settlement agreement to Gail Brock for $115,000, which is up from an original offer of $15,000 determined through mediation.

Belcher adds, “That her father gave to a woman that murdered him the house, and they want her (Gail) to swear in the statement that the transfer is valid and there is no way Gail is going to do that because it is a lie.”

Adding insult to injury, Attorney Robert Smith from Denver, who refused to return repeated calls from WAVY, wants the Brock sisters to state as part of the settlement that the fraudulent quitclaim with forged signatures, signed one month after their father had been murdered, “is valid.”

Gail adds, “I won’t sign it because it is not true. My father didn’t sign over something after he was murdered. I will never sign anything that states that; that will not happen.”

In April, Gail wrote the Colorado Secretary of State in reference to the fraudulent quitclaim deed, requesting that Maldonado be held liable criminally and civilly.

10 On Your Side has spent weeks investigating this crime and its aftermath, working the phones, gathering documents, looking at interrogation video.

The Brocks have tremendous legal bills fighting to get back Mike’s home. They have set up a GoFundMe page. Here is a link to it, if you are interested in donating to their efforts to get back what they know is theirs.