Cleophus E. Cooksey Jr, 35, was named on Thursday as the suspect in nine murders

A suspected serial killer is in custody in Phoenix after a spree of shootings took nine lives in three weeks.

Police on Thursday named Cleophus Emmanuel Cooksey Jr, 35, as the suspect in nine fatal shootings in the Phoenix metro area between November 27 and December 17, saying ballistic evidence linked the murders.

The victims were of multiple races and both genders, ranging in age from 21 to 56.

Cooksey, an aspiring rapper who is the grandson of a civil rights leader, has been in custody since December 17, when police found him at the scene of his mother and stepfather's murders.

Using forensic evidence and witness statements, cops say they quickly linked him to seven other recent murders in Phoenix as well as in nearby Avondale and Glendale, and are now appealing to the public for further information in the shocking case.

Investigators say that the murder spree began on November 27 at 10.45pm, when Andrew Remillard, 27, and Parker Smith, 21, were found dead together inside a car near 1500 E. Indian School Road in Phoenix. Police have yet to identify a motive and are unsure whether Cooksey knew the victims.

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This map shows the locations and the victims of the nine murders Cooksey is accused of. The numbers refer to the order of the murders

Victim Andrew Remillard was one of the first two victims. It is unclear what relationship if any he had with the suspect Cooksey

Andrew Remillard, 27, (left) and Parker Smith, 21, (right) were the first two victims in the alleged murder spree. They were found dead together on November 27

Latorrie Beckford, 29, (left) and Kristopher Cameron, 21, (right) were killed on December 13 and December 15 respectively. Cameron was believed to be lured by a drug transaction

On December 2, Salim Richards, 35, was killed around at 7.44pm near 4030 N 44th Avenue in Phoenix. The victim was walking in the area when he was shot and killed. Some witnesses said Cooksey and Richards knew each other, police said. Property was stolen from Richards, including a handgun

On December 11, Jesus Bonifacio Real, 25, was killed around 3.30pm near 500 E Harrison Drive in Avondale. Officers responded to a shooting call for service and found the victim dead on arrival in an apartment complex, with the suspect having fled. The victim's sister was Cooksey's ex-girlfriend, police said.

On December 13, Latorrie Beckford, 29, was killed on around 6.53pm near 5038 N 55th Avenue in Glendale. Patrol officers were called to respond to a gunshot wound. The male victim was treated on scene and died. Police had information that Cooksey was in the apartment complex at the time, but don't yet know a motive in the murder.

On December 15, Kristopher Cameron, 21, was killed around 7.22pm near 5045 N 58th Avenue in Glendale. The victim was transported for care and died shortly after. Cameron came to that area to make a drug transaction with Cooksey, and forensic evidence links him to the murder, police say.

Maria Villanueva, 43, was kidnapped on December 15. Her body was found the following day with signs of sexual assault

Cleophus Cooksey (left and right) was arrested on December 17 when he was found in a residence with the bodies of his murdered mother and stepfather

Investigators provided this graphic tracing the homicides that they allege Cooksey was responsible for between November 27 and December 17

Hours later on the same day, December 15, Maria Villanueva, 43, was kidnapped near 58th Avenue and Camelback in Phoenix around 8.52pm. She arrived to an apartment complex and got into a car with Cooksey under unknown circumstances. Her body was found with evidence of a sexual assault the next day.

Finally, on December 17 around 7.50pm, officers are called to a disturbance near 1300 E Highland in Phoenix. The responding officer saw Cooksey with blood on him, and noted he appeared to be concealing something. Rene Cooksey, 56, the suspect’s mother, and his stepfather, Edward Nunn, 54, were found dead inside the residence.

Cooksey confronted the responding officer and shouted 'I'm the strongest man alive' and 'I'll cut your throat' as he was taken into custody, police said.

Cleophus Cooksey was then arrested and charged with murder. A task force including the Phoenix, Avondale, and Glendale police department, as well as FBI profilers and ballistics experts from the ATF, worked to connect him to the other murders.

Police said that evidence from shell casings tied at least some of the murders together, and that advances in forensic technology allowed investigators to get results from those tests within hours instead of weeks.

Cooksey's stepfather Ed Nunn (left) and mother Rene Cooksey (center) were the final victims. Cleo Cooksey was found at their residence with the bodies after police responded to a 911 call

The probable cause statement describing police's encounter with Cooksey on December 17. He was arrested at the time on suspicion of killing his mother and stepfather.

'At the end of the day what this came down to was a patrol officer answering a call for service and doing the right things - taking a person into custody and noticing there were abnormalities to his behavior,' said Glendale Police Chief Rick St. John at a press conference on Thursday.

Despite stereotypes of patient killers who wait months or years between victims, the shocking apparent burst of murders in just three weeks is an increasingly familiar pattern for serial killers, said Enzo Yaksic, the co-founder of Northeastern University's Atypical Homicide Research Group, in an email to DailyMail.com.

'Cooksey represents the next crop of serial homicide offender, one not beholden to rule structures or averse to risk and empowered by their self-assumed sense of importance,' said Yaksic.

The expert believes that advances in law enforcement have put pressure on serial offenders, making them more likely to compress their crimes into bursts of activity in a race against the clock before they are captured.

'While the hurried nature of these crimes can sometimes make it difficult for law enforcement to catch up, it is also ironically often the cause of their demise given that little time is dedicated to properly planning their homicides and preparing to evade the fallout,' said Yaksic.

Cooksey is seen in two mugshots: Left from a prior incarceration, and right in a mugshot provided to the press on Thursday

Cooksey is the grandson of civil rights leader Roy Cooksey, who was prominent in the Tucson area from the 1960s until his death in 2009, according to an obituary in the Arizona Daily Star.

Police said that Cleophus Cooksey was an aspiring musician, and homemade hip hop videos have emerged that show him showcasing his lyrical skills under the name 'King Playbola'.

Cooksey was previously imprisoned in Arizona for 16 years for manslaughter and armed robbery convictions.

Those convictions were in connection with the death of an armed robbery partner, police said.

State records show that he was released in July 2017 after being found guilty of 22 different disciplinary infractions while in prison, including assault of prison staff, disobeying orders, fighting, disorderly conduct, possession of drugs and more.

Cooksey faces two counts of premeditated first-degree murder and one count of weapon possession by a prohibited person in the December 17 murders.

He was ordered held pending $1million cash bail in that case and faces seven additional murder charges.

Anyone with information about the murders or additional connected crimes is urged to contact Silent Witness at 1-480-WITNESS.