Merle Cogburn

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Merle Cogburn
Vital Statistics
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair color	Blond
Eye color	Black
Status	Deceased
Other Statistics
Occupation	Police sheriff
Affiliation	Crystal Cove Police Department
Family	Earl Cogburn (self-proclaimed brother; deceased)
Production Details
First appearance	VEL: The Mystery of Teen Romance
Played by	Stephen Root

Merle Cogburn was the self-proclaimed brother of Sheriff Earl Cogburn, replacing him as sheriff of Crystal Cove following his death.

Physical appearance

Cogburn was a plump man with blond hair in a mullet, a mustache, and chest hairs. He wore a blue baseball cap with a chevron-shaped logo on it, a yellow polo shirt with the same logo, purple sunglasses clipped to his collar, and a gold necklace. He also wore a black arm brace, blue shorts held up with a white belt, white socks, and sandals with blue straps. He had a gap between his two front teeth and spoke with a lisp.

During his campaign, he wore a white T-shirt with the words "MERLE 4 SHERIFF" in bold blue. However, when he became sheriff, he started wearing a sheriff's uniform consisting of a khaki dress shirt with breast pockets, a black cap, green pants with a black belt, and black shoes.

Personality

Despite Donna and Linda Blake doubting they were brothers, Merle Cogburn reacted very emotionally to Earl Cogburn's death, intruding on police business to see his brother's body. However, he began rallying against Donna and Linda Blake and challenging them for the position of police sheriff. Though he lacked the experience of Donna and Linda, he took advantage of emotionally-driven rhetoric to gain public support, including mass hysteria and relying on misogyny to discredit Donna and Linda. He accused Amber of being a witch with little evidence. Though he did not expect the mob to burn Amber at the stake, he took no responsibility for his actions and relied on Velma to stop the mob.

When he became sheriff, he furthered his chauvinistic measures against women, detaining all female citizens of Crystal Cove in the mines. Velma suspected he only did this so the killer would only kill off women, keeping the men safe, but Fred defended him.

History

Velma

Season two

Following the death of Sheriff Earl Cogburn, Merle Cogburn, claiming to be Earl's brother, broke into the funeral home, demanding to open the casket and see the body. Velma, Norville, and Fred previously found the casket empty, so they hid from them inside the casket. Donna and Linda Blake caught him and escorted him out.

However, after discovering that Velma, a teenager, had been aiding the Blakes in the investigation of Earl's death, Merle announced his outrage to the public, challenging the Blakes for the position of police sheriff in an election. However, during his campaign, after Velma made a social media post accusing Amber of being the killer, Cogburn organized a witch hunt against Amber, promoting mass hysteria and organizing a mob to surround Daphne's house. Cogburn privately admitted to Velma that he only used the witch hunt to advance his sheriff campaign, but the mob became even more radical than him and threatened to burn Amber at the stake. The mob only dispersed after Velma made another social media post, claiming the killer targetted those with large penises. Merle, afraid of admitting he had a small penis, left with the rest of the mob, and according to Donna Blake, the public responded negatively to Cogburn's witch hunt.

Later, during the trial of Don Gigisfather for an accidental missile strike, the killer made a threatening announcement by phone in a female voice. As the public was convinced the killer was female, Donna and Linda Blake lost public support, with Cogburn winning the election. On his second day in office, he enacted a law temporarily sealing all women in the Crystal Cove Mines. Velma criticized the policy, claiming Cogburn intended the killer to target the women in the mines, keeping men such as himself safe.

Eventually, after Velma discovered the true killer was a supersoldier named Scrappy-Doo, Velma worked with Sheriff Cogburn to capture Scrappy in a sting operation at Nana's Nipples, a strip club. Scrappy attempted to ambush Don Gigisfather at Aman Dinkley's bachelor party. However, all the strippers were equipped with vacuum cleaners, which subdued Scrappy into submission. Merle arrested Scrappy and kept him in the police station where vacuum cleaners were used to prevent his escape. However, days later, Scrappy had the police dogs unplug the vacuum cleaners, allowing Scrappy to escape his cell. He killed Cogburn and the other guards on patrol.

Appearances

• Velma
  • 201. The Mystery of Teen Romance
  • 202. Creaky Friday
  • 205. Burning Woman
  • 206. Private Velmjamin ^{(no lines)}
  • 207. Female Utopia
  • 209. The Real Villain
  • 210. Til Death