NEWS 8 Austin Story http://news8austin.com/content/top_stories/?ArID=55152 {snip} The search for Rachel Cooke continues almost a year after her disappearance. Her family and friends are left without the closure they need during the holidays. "We need closure, it's not fair to Rachel's family or anybody. We'd like to know where she is," Louise Cooke, Rachel's grandmother, said. Though Louise says this Christmas will be hard, she still recalls how wonderful last year was during this time. {snip}
COSMO Leter to the Editor I posted my orignal letter back in November, but I will repeat it here so you can compare what they received with what they actually printed. Original: I am the father of missing Rachel Cooke. I would like to commend you on your November 2002 article "Could you be a Predator's Next Target?". Something I would like to point out is that Rachel Cooke and Elizabeth Smart are both still missing. Please publish contact information for Rachel and Elizabeth in case any of your readers might have information about their disappearance. Readers with information on Rachel Cooke's disappearance may call 1-800-253-STOP or access her website: http://www.rachelcookesearch.org/ . Those readers with information on Elizabeth Smart's disappearance may call 1-800-932-0190 or access her website: http://elizabethsmart.com/ . Rachel loved COSMOPOLITAN magazine, and she is a current subscriber. I wish this important article had appeared in time to help Rachel, but it CAN help other young women. I still see women fumbling for keys in parking lots and others that jog alone. What happened to Rachel can happen to anyone. Please attend a women's safety class and learn how to protect yourself. Do it for yourself and do it for your family. Sincerely yours, Robert Cooke Rachel's father
RC Someone actually had Cosmo at work today. The article is more accurate than a lot of things I have seen printed. Congrats on getting the additional information published.
Williamson County Sun 12/29/02 - Page 1 RC, sorry I didn't post this immediately, I didn't even read the paper until tonight.
KVUE report Cooke family struggles for answers 01/06/2003 By Sonta Henderson KVUE News This Friday will mark the first anniversary of the disappearance of Rachel Cooke. And -- despite heroic efforts by her parents to search for clues and keep their daughter's name in the news -- her whereabouts remain a mystery. "She was very outgoing, an extrovert," said her father Robert Cooke. "She loved running cross country track, she also loved to sing." Rachel went out running on Jan. 10, 2002 while visiting home for the holidays. She never came home. "It's basically like living a nightmare," said her father. "You wake up in the morning and realize one of your worst fears is true. You live it day after day." The woman was last seen walking near the Cookes' Georgetown home after her morning jog. People who live nearby saw her that morning. What happened next is anybody's guess. "We've thought about old boyfriends, neighbors, construction workers in the area," said Robert Cooke. "I think, and law enforcement thinks, it was someone who knew her, knew of her and had been watching her." Without her, there's a void in the family. The Cookes are hoping for some sort of answer to her fate. "We need to have something so we can go on with our lives, right now we have nothing and it's tearing us apart," said Robert Cooke. Robert Cooke's year is chronicled in a daily journal published on KVUE.com.
New Media links page I created a news/media links page on Rachels site. It contains news text and videos since January 2002. I don't think any of them require registration to view. http://www.rachelcookesearch.org/newslinks.html
Thanks RC for letting us know and for providing a link. Haven't seen you around much...we were getting a bit worried.
Smart case renews hope for Cooke family 03/13/2003 By Clara Tuma KVUE News The parents of Rachel Cooke watched Utah teen Elizabeth Smart make it home alive and well -- eight months after being abducted from her home. Now the Georgetown couple hopes for the same -- more than a year after their daughter's disappearance. ***snip "Heaven just opened up and handed them a miracle, and I'm so happy for them," says Robert Cooke. Rachel Cooke disappeared while jogging on January 10, 2002. The search to find her was re-energized when Elizabeth Smart was discovered alive. "It really drove home the point that we need to keep Rachel's face out there because she could be in the area, and nobody would know it," says Janet Cooke. Rachel's father says interest in Rachel's disappearance was waning before Wednesday, and some have even taken down flyers and ribbons in her honor. "They think there's no hope, but this shows there's a reason to keep going. Miracles happen. One happened yesterday," adds Robert Cooke. ***snip "We have all the reason to hope now. I mean, miracles happen," says Janet Cooke. At Georgetown High School a tree has been planted in honor of Rachel. The Cooke's removed Elizabeth Smart's name from its branches Wednesday. http://www.kvue.com/news/local/031303kvueCookereact-eh.58904f53.html Note: There is a video clip at the site address.
KXAN: Smart's Return Brings Hope To Cooke Family http://kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=1178672&nav=0s3cEYyk {snip} 03/13/03 - 6:01 pm Phone number available Smart's Return Brings Hope To Cooke Family It's been more than 13 months since Rachel Cooke disappeared, only two blocks from her family's home. On Wednesday, Elizabeth Smart was found within 20 miles of her home and that gives the Cookes hope that Rachel will come back alive. "I asked if she was alive and when I found out she was, I [said], 'Oh, thank you, Lord. Heaven has opened up a door and delivered a miracle,'" said Janet Cooke, Rachel's mother. For a brief second, Janet and Robert Cooke hoped Elizabeth Smart's return was one of two miracles. "They said she was one of two females with the man and they said the second one was a non-identified female," Robert Cooke said, so I called the sheriff's department and asked them to contact the Salt Lake City Police Department to see who that other female was. You never know. It might have been Rachel." It wasn't, but the Cookes say if Elizabeth Smart was found alive, maybe Rachel will be too. "We were gearing ourselves up for for the worst, but now, maybe, we think it may be possible that she'll be brought to us alive," Robert Cooke said. {snip}
DALLAS MORNING NEWS http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/nation/stories/031403dnmethope.a21f2.html Girl's return inspires Texas couple Smart case 'a shot in the arm' for families searching for missing children 03/14/2003 By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News Finding Elizabeth Smart alive in Utah after nine months gives Robert Cooke and other parents of missing children a newfound sense of hope. "This has been a shot in the arm to all of us: Miracles do happen," said Mr. Cooke, whose daughter disappeared 14 months ago. "It's re-energized the search for our daughter Rachel. ... We just need to work harder." Rachel Cooke, then a 19-year-old junior college student, left her parents' Georgetown, Texas, home Jan. 10, 2002, for her usual three- to four-mile morning jog. She hasn't been seen since. Elizabeth's return proves "that you should never give up," Mr. Cooke said. "You should always be hopeful, and you should always keep looking."
Sister of McDuff victim helping Cookes through ordeal 04/24/2003 By Jerry White KVUE.com One was a 28-year-old woman abducted as she washed her car on West Sixth Street near downtown Austin. The other is a 19-year-old woman who disappeared while jogging near her parents’ home in Georgetown. Their disappearances occurred more than a decade apart but they are tied by a compassionate deed being paid forward by the sister of the Austin victim. Colleen Reed was snatched on Dec. 29, 1991, from the Austin car wash by a serial-killing predator named Kenneth McDuff. She was tortured, assaulted and buried in a shallow grave near Waco. Her whereabouts remained a mystery until the months before McDuff’s execution for a separate murder in Waco. He struck a deal to lead investigators to Reed’s body and others if a drug sentence for a nephew was reduced. The deal was struck and Reed’s body was finally found, almost seven years after her disappearance. McDuff was executed weeks later. The recovery of Reed’s body ended the uncertainty for her family. “It’s really, really strange when they vanish and you just don’t know,†said Lori Bible, Reed’s sister. “If you know they’re dead, you can learn to try to cope. But when you don’t know, it’s ‘What if they’re still alive? What if they need help?’ That stuff just makes you crazy.†Bible said she made it through the ordeal with help from a large family, compassionate friends and coworkers. “At different points, different people would step in to give me what I needed to make it through the day,†she said Thursday. “Without that support, I never would have made it.†Bible said she knew she would look for opportunities to some day pass that kindness, compassion and support on to someone else in need. Then came the disappearance of Rachel Cooke and the much-publicized search for clues to her whereabouts. “When I first heard about it, I wanted to call Robert and Janet (Rachel’s parents), but I didn’t want to intrude so I waited,†she said. Then the Cookes contacted People Against Violent Crime, a crime victim’s advocacy and service group. That group put them in touch with Bible. The three met. Bible answered questions, gave them tips, and, mostly listened. “I’ve just tried to be there for them,†she said. “Not that I understand what it’s like to lose a child but I can understand what it’s like to live in that limbo where you don’t know if a loved-one is alive or dead and always fearing the worst.†Robert Cooke said Thursday that Bible’s perspective and insights have been beyond helpful. “Her experiences are much like our own,†he said. “Our conversations centered around Rachel and Colleen and what our feelings are. Lori has been a huge emotional help to us. No one can truly understand what we have gone through without having a similar experience. Bible’s unending efforts to prod law enforcement to find her sister also have been inspiring,†Cooke said. “Lori never gave up looking for her sister, Colleen,†Robert said. “She motivated law enforcement to find the serial killers who took her sister and now those creeps are off of the streets.†The two spoke Wednesday night, during one of the toughest periods for the Cookes. On Saturday, human remains were found in a Georgetown culvert. They were sent to San Antonio for examination. Rachel’s dental records were sent there Tuesday for comparison. The results will tell the Cookes whether their daughter is dead or if the mystery of her disappearance lingers. “I think last night, I think more than anything I was just trying to give Robert some hope†that, at some point, they will find out what happened, she said. “It took us seven years to get that answer but we finally got it.†Bible said her help for the Cookes isn’t always easy. “Sometimes it brings me back,†she said. “When I try to imagine what Robert and Janet are feeling, I put myself back when we were in that situation and try to recall how I felt. From those feelings I try to offer support.†The discovery of the remains and the wait for identification come at particularly poignant time for Bible. “Colleen’s 40th birthday would have been Saturday,†she said. “I’ve been thinking a lot about her lately, about both of them.â€
Very good article. God bless Lori Bible. Only someone like Lori can understand what Robert and Janet are going through.
What a great article of support RC, thank you for posting this. I know Lori has been a wonderful sense of strength for you and your family, as your forum family has tried to be as well, but she made a very important point...although you have our love and respect and our thoughts and prayers, we cannot support you in the same manner, because we have not "been there". But we will remain vigilant with you for as long as you need us.
Thanks, RC if the waiting is torture for us, I can only begin to imagine what it is like for you and your family as you wait for the results of the dental records. Moab is right - we are going to be here as long as you need us, no matter how long it takes.
