Once the site of candlelit soirees and community events, Dr. Devon Hoover’s stately 1915 mansion on a quiet, tree-lined street in Detroit’s historic Boston-Edison neighborhood now sits dark.
As news of his shocking death became public, tributes poured in from former patients, co-workers and friends who remembered him for his warmth, generosity of spirit and talent as a surgeon.
“He was this very kind and gentle soul,” Hoover’s former neighbor, Jeanne Wyatt, 75, tells PEOPLE. “He was a very successful neurosurgeon, but had no airs. Just a real down-to-earth person and very involved in the community. It’s a terrible loss for all of us.”
Renowned for his surgical skills and gentle bedside manner, Hoover was also known for spending hours tracking down the perfect art and antiques to fill the nine-bedroom mansion he bought in 2008.
Dr. Devon Hoover’s Detroit home.Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK
Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK
“He had a very good eye for décor and restoration,” says Wyatt.
“Anytime he got a new piece of artwork or antique, he would invite us over for wine so that we could see them or the things that he’d done to the house,” she adds. “He did this so we could all share in the glory of helping our old houses come back to life.”
“You’re just always cautious,” says Murphy. “Being in that type of home, living alone and so forth, you always just had to have your eyes open. ‘Be careful. Be careful outside. Pay attention," was just something we’d always say to one another.”
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Murphy says he still cannot believe that what Hoover feared most about living alone became a reality.
At 8:13 p.m. on April 23, at the behest of a relative, Detroit police went to Hoover’s $1.2 million home section for a well-being check, Detroit Police Department spokesperson Corporal Dan Donakowski tells PEOPLE.
The body of the beloved doctor known for performing free surgeries for patients couldn’t afford them was reportedly found stuffed inside a crawlspace in the attic and covered with a comforter, sheet and a rug.
He was reportedly dragged to the attic facedown and naked with only a sock on his foot.
Police at Dr. Devon Hoover’s home.Michigan State Police
Michigan State Police
“This is not a random act,” James E. White, chief of the Detroit Police Departmenttells PEOPLE about the murder.
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Saying that the department’s homicide unit is investigating “day and night,” White adds, “We are confident that our victim and the perpetrator knew each other.”
Shortly after the murder, police arrested a person of interest, but released him. As of press time, police have not yet made any arrests in the case.
Dedicated to helping others, Hoover was known for sharing his stately home with the community. “He opened his house up for many house and garden tours and fundraising events,” says Wyatt.
Paying as much attention to the outside of his home as the inside, Hoover was particular about the lush green hedges in his perfectly manicured yard. “The hedges were his specialty” his obituary states, “and only he could meet his own standards. One of his friends jokingly threatened to burn down the hedges because Devon was declining too many social invitations, saying, ‘Oh, I can’t come because I need to trim the hedges.’”
Hoover had a wide circle of friends but was also close to his family, who he was reportedly going to see in Indiana the weekend he died. The fourth child of seven, Hoover and his six sisters grew up on their family’s dairy farm in Elkhart, Indiana.
Much as he loved milking cows and harvesting crops, he dreamt of becoming a doctor at an early age. After graduating from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1996, he completed his residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, going on to become a board-certified neurosurgeon specializing in neck and back disorders.
Dr. Devon Hoover and his parents and sisters.
“He was amazing,” says one of his patients, high school teacher Sheryl Leaver.
Hoover first operated on her severely arthritic back in 2021. After her second back surgery in 2022, “I woke up the next morning and I didn’t have pain anymore.”
Dr. Devon Hoover and Sheryl Leaver.Courtesy Sheryl Gibbs Leaver
Courtesy Sheryl Gibbs Leaver
Officials have said nothing about motive or where Hoover was in the days leading up to the discovery of his body.
What is known is that Hoover made a point to buy flowers at the city’s Eastern Market every Saturday, but didn’t come in on Saturday, April 22, florist Sara Dougherty wrote on theJustice for Dr. Devon Hoover Facebook page.
As police continue to search for Hoover’s killer, his patients lament his death and remember the gold standard-level of care he gave them. When Eric Kreutzkamp saw Hoover in 2022 for spinal pain, he was desperate for help.
“I literally broke down in his office crying because I didn’t even know what to do,” he says. “I couldn’t even walk. He' said, ‘We’re going to fix you. You’re in good hands.’ If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be walking again. He was kind of a miracle worker.”
source: people.com
