Cobra Killer by Peter A. Conway, Andrew E. Stoner Page B

however, a less-than-ideal living condition. “They both pretty much wanted me to stay there and work all the time and not have a social life,” Hensley said. “I couldn’t go out. I (could) go down the street to get lunch, but I had to come back. I could only leave on the weekends.” (87)
    Hensley rejects suggestions that Kerekes was domineering over Cuadra. Kerekes could be “a loud mouth,” Hensley said, and Cuadra “just kind of put up with it.” (88) “I grew to be, you know, a friend of (Harlow), because he took care of me and (Cuadra and Kerekes) had their disagreements about things, but I don’t think Harlow would do anything for Joe,” Hensley said. (89)
    Hensley said he finally decided to leave in March 2006 when a fight between Cuadra and Kerekes went too far, with Kerekes firing off a Glock 9mm handgun inside the house during a fit of rage. Kerekes himself admits to throwing table lamps, computers, and other items at Cuadra during other arguments. (90)
    Hensley left, he said, because “I was worried about my well-being.” (91)
    He said he did not witness the gun being discharged, but heard it from an adjacent room as Kerekes and Cuadra engaged in a disagreement that quickly grew to yelling and screaming. (92) Hensley said he could be certain that it was Kerekes who fired the gun “because I walked in there afterwards. He was the one with the handgun in his hand. I’m pretty sure if he wanted to shoot Harlow in close proximity, especially with a handgun, he would have hit him.” (93)
    Shunk would also later confirm he saw bullet holes in the walls of the Stratem Court house and “from what I was told, Joe discharged the weapon in the house.” (94)
    Whether Kerekes had the will to kill Cuadra or just scare him, no one will ever know. The relationship between Harlow and Joe could be complicated. The partnership of Cuadra and Kerekes was punctuated by their declarations of intense love for one another. Joe had Harlow’s last name “Cuadra” tattooed on his buttock. But they also were haunted by periods of growing jealousy as outside sexual partners were constantly being introduced because of the demands of their escorting and porn enterprises.
    Hensley recalled another frightening experience when Kerekes’ temper exploded. He described a scene where he and Cuadra were riding in a car driven erratically by Kerekes. “When they picked me up (that day), I don’t know what (Kerekes’) attitude problem was…but when they picked me up, we jumped on the Interstate …and (Kerekes) was flying through lanes, swerving through traffic and then got over to the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane and punched it; and he was going well over 140 miles-per-hour,” Hensley said. (95)
    Hensley also recalled a day when Kerekes was drinking heavily and grabbed him by the throat and pinned him, briefly, against a wall inside the Stratem Court home. Earlier in the same day Kerekes had kicked in the door to Cuadra’s bedroom and punched a hole in the wall. “(Kerekes) snatched me up and said, ‘If I ever needed you to do anything for me, would you do it?’ And I just kind of stopped and stared at him,” Hensley said. “I was worried about my physical well-being pretty much. I mean, I wasn’t going to let the man sit there and try and manhandle me, because I can defend myself.” (96)
    Hensley said he overcame his initial intimidation and fear of Kerekes. “He looks like he’s on steroids and, honestly, I saw the kind of weight he was lifting, and, you know, his anger and attitude problem,” he said. “But when I got to know him, no, I wasn’t intimidated by him. It was all size and mouth and that was it.” (97)
    He said he also witnessed instances where Cuadra stood up to Kerekes’ verbal harangues and told Kerekes to “shut up.”
    Cuadra, while on trial for the murder of Bryan Kocis, described Kerekes as “a sociopath” and said as a result, “We don’t have any friends.” Sociopath or not,