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The Search for Rachel, a father's journal |
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Thursday, August 1 I completed all but one of the Guidelines to Follow sections of rachelalert.org. Tomorrow I will add the contact information and make some final checks before I release it to be linked by other web sites.The kidnapping and rescue of the two teenage girls in California today was amazing. The Amber Alert went out, and the girls were rescued before they were killed. The abductor was shot because he pointed a gun at one of the law officers in the rescue attempt. I can't really say that I'm sorry that they killed him. He was an evil man, and he would have continued to abuse females until he was caught. I'm sure that his defense attorney at the trial would have tried to deface the two girls that he took. At least the girls won't have to face that. They will have enough dealing with the horrible memories of today for the rest of their lives. Friday, August 2 The rachelalert.org site is complete. I will be testing it over the weekend and sending out the announcement of the site creation to several contacts on the Internet.I have identified the search area for tomorrow's search. An investigator at the Sheriff's Office will be on call if we find anything. Usually the searches don't turn up anything, but hopefully one day we will find something that will help bring Rachel home. It's been so very long since she disappeared. We want to bring her home more than anything. Saturday, August 3 Our search today moved back to an area near my home. After looking over the search records, I decided a few properties were not covered well enough back in January.We had 6 new searchers today. They were a welcome sight. In all, we had 13 of us searching. KEYE TV came out and filmed the early part of the search. The media is always welcome on our searches. Our team searched the area well today. I can mark those properties down as complete now. I will announce soon if we will have a search next Saturday. Sunday, August 4 I tried to relax a bit today and just do work over the phone. Janet and I are going to appear on the Austin cable access channel next Saturday. My friend Thad is setting that up.Tricia, one of the leaders of Forums for Justice, called. She wants to coordinate some media coverage here and in Salt Lake City when the bumper stickers are given to Dick Stanley Trucking. Dick Stanley has agreed to put Rachel's stickers on their trucks, which travel interstate. Tricia also has some connections with television talk show hosts. We discussed having me appear on a few of the shows to try and get Rachel's story out on a national level. The prime time television shows have ignored us so far. Tricia contacted AMERICA'S MOST WANTED, and we were turned down again by one of their producers. Perhaps the talk shows will get the attention Rachel needs. Monday, August 5 The Guidelines to Follow section is complete on rachelalert.org. I have created an acrobat reader version of the information and will add it to the site later. The acrobat version will be printable from the web.I gave my friend Thad two videotapes for the cable access program this Saturday. One tape contains video of Rachel running and singing, and the other contains video of her jogging path and of our neighborhood. The access channel broadcast on Austin Time Warner Cable will probably be from 2:00-3:00 p.m. Saturday, August 10. The exact time will be confirmed later. Tomorrow night I have a meeting with my search team staff. We plan to discuss search areas and review the list of leads that were given to us by people to pass on the Sheriff's Office. We will prioritize the leads because some of them involve cars that probably have no connection with Rachel's disappearance. Tuesday, August 6 President Bush announced a forum on missing children next month. I spoke with Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, and we would both like to attend. The forum is probably by invitation only, so Tim and I asked for some help from certain people in order to be included.When I talked to Tim, he mentioned a missing girl from Austin that he had heard about. The 17-year-old girl ran away to be with a guy she met on the Internet. A few minutes later I received an e-mail from the chairperson of Gabriel's Gifts requesting my help in getting media coverage for the same girl. I usually don't get involved in runaway cases, but this one was different. I called the mother of Nikki Brown and found out the details of the disappearance. Nikki took a flight to LA from Austin last Saturday. No one knows who bought the ticket, or how she got to the airport. Upon checking her computer, they found some love letter e-mails. Those e-mails are being checked out by law enforcement. I called three different television stations, and KVUE sent a camera crew out. They did a nice report about Nikki on the 10:00 p.m. news. We all are praying that Nikki is okay, and that the person whom she went to meet is not going to harm her. Wednesday, August 7 The Austin Time Warner Cable show this Saturday will probably be on Channel 16. The broadcast is scheduled to be on from 2:30-3:30 p.m. August 10. The first half will be a background story with video of Rachel and interviews with newscasters, Texas EquuSearch, and others. My wife Janet and I will be on live around 3:00 p.m.The short UNSOLVED MYSTERIES segment on Rachel is scheduled to air Monday August 12 on Lifetime Network. Rachel's part will be short, only about one to two minutes. Check your local listings for the broadcast time. KVUE reported some new information on missing 17-year-old Nikki Brown. She supposedly called a girlfriend in Austin and told her that she was okay, but she didn't want to speak to her parents. Due to the cable access program, I decided not to do a search for Rachel this Saturday. The next search for Rachel will be Saturday August 17. We will meet at Faith Lutheran Church at 8:00 a.m. Thursday, August 8 The Austin Time Warner Cable broadcast with my wife Janet and me has been confirmed. We will be on Saturday August 10, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on cable channel 16. Several people who have helped with the search for Rachel will also be on the show.I keep thinking of new suggestions to add to the Guidelines to Follow section of rachelalert.org. That document will probably be forever changing. Janet and I have been invited to attend the Search and Rescue training offered by Travis County Search and Rescue. The class will take place in November, and Janet and I are both interested in taking it. Friday, August 9 I gave my friend Thad some more information and contacts for tomorrow's public access TV show on Rachel. The guests on the show will include Jerry White from kvue.com, Pastor John Selle from Faith Lutheran Church, Tim Miller from Texas EquuSearch, my wife Janet, and me. The producer of the show already has some video of Rachel and of the search for her.Saturday, August 10 Today marks seven months since Rachel disappeared. It's very hard to deal with the fact that we seem to be no closer to finding her than back in January. Finding her alive now is probably next to impossible. This is something my wife Janet and I have had to deal with every day for the last seven months.Pastor Selle and I drove to the Time Warner Cable Access studio together. It gave us a chance to talk. He is such a good man. It has been a blessing from God to meet him and become his friend. Jerry White, the manager of kvue.com, was the first to be interviewed on the cable access program. He talked about the role of the media and how he set up a special section for Rachel on kvue.com and suggested that I write this journal. Pastor John Selle was next. Pastor Selle talked about the responsibility of churches and religion to help in a crisis. He and Faith Lutheran's other Pastor, Bill Lowrey, have opened up the church to the Rachel Cooke search time and time again. They have moved bible classes to other rooms to accommodate the search center, had a prayer service for Rachel, and most of all, they have given my family spiritual support throughout the whole ordeal. Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, was interviewed next by telephone. Tim had offered to drive to Austin from Houston just to do the interview. I told him it was not necessary for him to make the trip for a five-minute interview, which turned out to be the right suggestion. Texas EquuSearch found another girl today, and she was sitting in Tim's pickup as he spoke on the phone. His organization brought one more person home to her loved ones. Janet and I were interviewed next. We talked about the loss of Rachel and the whole spectrum of emotions that we have had. We discussed everything from the good local media coverage to the almost non-existent national media coverage. I explained the rachelcookesearch.org web site and told the viewers that both English and Spanish flyers of Rachel may be downloaded from the site. At the end of the program, Janet and I talked both about our plan to help with the prevention of abductions and about the advice that we will give the families and friends of missing persons. That is the mission of the Rachel Alert Network, rachelalert.org . The producer of the cable access show did a great job. He is planning to distribute videotapes of the show to other cable access channels throughout the United States. This will be done free of charge. Sunday, August 11 The Dick Simon Trucking Company will be given the first batch of Rachel Cooke bumper stickers this week. We will be issuing a press release to both the local Central Texas media and the media in Salt Lake City, where the Dick Stanley Company is headquartered.I also ordered 250 additional bumper stickers for Central Texas. The first 750 stickers are almost gone. The company that produces them makes the stickers fast, so I should receive the new order by the end of the week. The stickers are free and are available at four local businesses, which are listed at rachelcookesearch.org. Four of Rachel's cross country friends came over tonight. It was good to see them. I can feel a little bit of Rachel when I visit with one of her friends. Monday, August 12 The press release for the Dick Stanley Trucking bumper sticker roll out is ready. The release will be sent out later this week.The UNSOLVED MYSTERIES story on Rachel was really good. I knew it was going to be short, but they managed to get all of the important information into the story. Governor Perry announced the Texas statewide implementation of the Amber Alert today. This should speed up the Central Texas activation of the system. It was scheduled to take another 2 months to complete, but now it's been announced that the system should be available in two weeks. Tuesday, August 13 I have received several e-mails from people who saw the UNSOLVED MYSTERIES short segment on Rachel. These e-mails have come from all across the United States. Rachel is also on their web site.I wrote a letter to the White House requesting that Janet and I be invited to the Missing Children Forum in Washington D.C. next month. We are receiving a recommendation from an important person. That recommendation will be contained in the same envelope with our letter. The new bumper sticker order should arrive today. I gave out over 50 stickers in the last week alone. The new stickers will contain the Williamson County Crimestoppers phone number. Today is my wife Janet's and my 25th wedding anniversary. We both agreed that it's too hard to celebrate something when you have a huge hole in your heart. Every holiday for us is painful now instead of being joyful. Wednesday, August 14 They found both the missing girl in Los Angeles and the baby who was abducted in Abilene, Texas, today. Two different women seem to be responsible. Usually men are the perpetrators, but sometimes women are involved.I e-mailed a thank-you note to the producer of UNSOLVED MYSTERIES and told her how good a job they did. The producer replied and said that the Lifetime Network will be repeating the show in the future. This will help keep Rachel's story out nationally. My friend JR and I found a good area to search this weekend. We will be meeting for the search at Faith Lutheran Church at 8:00 a.m. this Saturday, August 17. The search should be over by 12:30 p.m. Thursday, August 15 The bumper sticker order arrived yesterday. I was almost completely out of them, so it was good to get the new order.I ordered another 500 bumper stickers for Dick Stanley Trucking. Now we will have 1,000 bumper stickers to give them for their trucks. The stickers should be given to Dick Stanley in a week or two. My friend Tricia from Forums for Justice has been contacting some of the daytime talk shows to see if my wife Janet and I can appear on them. Getting Rachel's disappearance out on a national basis is very important. Friday, August 16 My wife Janet and I were briefed by Lt. Cutler of the Williamson County Sheriff's Office. They have been receiving phone calls from as far away as Seattle, Washington, since the UNSOLVED MYSTERIES segment on Rachel aired. It is so important to get Rachel's story out to the rest of the nation. We have been working hard to do this.I gave Lt. Cutler several tips that have been passed to me over the past two weeks. I always keep a copy of every tip, so I can ask for a follow-up on any tip later. Another girl was taken today after her parents were murdered. An Amber Alert was issued for Jennifer Renee Short. The Amber Alert is serving multiple purposes in this case. Hopefully it will help find Jennifer safe and sound and find the murderers of her parents. The worst thing is she will have to endure even more than the other girls who have been saved recently. If she is returned home, she will do so as an orphan. Saturday, August 17 We had a good turnout at this morning's search. Sixteen people came. The volunteers were divided into two teams. I led one team, and my cousin Lanny led the other team.We will probably have another search next weekend and then take Labor Day weekend off. I will post the information later on rachelcookesearch.org. Jerry White from kvue.com will be adding some new information to Rachel's section on their web site. It will consist of new video clips and possibly some of the interviews that his journalism class did with me two weeks ago. I am interested in reading the interviews. Sunday, August 18 After church, I spent the day updating the search records and the information on the rachelcookesearch.org web site. A few more tips have also been given to me on Rachel's case . I will pass them on to the Sheriff's Office.I found out some disturbing news today. Convicted mass murderer Coral Eugene Watts is scheduled to be released from prison soon. This creep was convicted of killing 13 women and given a 60 year sentence. Now, because of good behavior, he will be back on the street after serving only 1/3 of his sentence. What kind of "good behavior" can make up for taking a human life? I can think of nothing. Watts is a time bomb, just waiting to go off. He does not belong in our society. We need to keep him in prison. Monday, August 19 Serial killer Coral Eugene Watts is now scheduled to be released in 2006. This gives us a lot more time to keep this animal in jail. He will be 52 years old in 2006, and that's still young enough to kill more innocent people. A drafting error in his plea bargain has created a "loophole" that allows for his release.A man in Utah raped and beat an 11-year-old girl today. An observant neighbor heard moans and called the police. The man was still with the girl when the police arrived but took off running. A police dog caught him, and the man was arrested. The girl is in critical condition and will live with this horrible memory the rest of her life. Punishment for this crime should be severe. The man was only minutes away from killing her. There will be another search for Rachel this Saturday morning. We will meet at Faith Lutheran Church at 8:00 a.m. The search should be over by noon. My wife Janet started teaching the new semester at Georgetown High School today. She was a little concerned with the pressure involved, but she said that the first day went fine. Tuesday, August 20 I had to get caught up on a few things at work today, and I got home too late to do much with Rachel's case. I did send out e-mails informing volunteers of this Saturday's search. Tomorrow I meet with the Williamson County Sheriff's Office again.Another girl was abducted today. The 10-year-old girl was taken from her house in Riverside, California. An Amber Alert was issued, and she was found alive near Reno, Nevada. A former male babysitter had taken her. Wednesday, August 21 I spent a couple of hours with two Williamson County police dogs and their deputy handlers this morning. The dogs checked out an abandoned house that my friend JR and I found last week. After finding nothing at the house, we went to another area to check it out.David Westerfield was found guilty today of murdering Danielle Van Dam. The jury took over a week to reach a verdict. Next week, the jury will reconvene and decide on the sentence. Westerfield could receive the death penalty. I think the man is guilty, and I am happy to see the verdict. He had his day in court, which is much more than he gave Danielle. Now it's time to take him out of society for good. Thursday, August 22 I received word from Child Watch of North America today that the police in California have found Nikki Brown. Nikki is 17 years old, and she left her home three weeks ago to fly to California to be with a 26-year-old man whom she met on the Internet.KVUE and kvue.com have been following the story, and Jerry White of kvue.com wrote this: "A KVUE.com check of the man's past showed an extensive criminal history, including several convictions for spousal abuse and assault." I want to thank KVUE and Jerry White for following the story and getting their sister ABC station in LA to cover it. Nikki's father flew to Los Angeles yesterday to bring Nikki home. They will both be back in Texas soon. Several members of the local media have announced that my wife Janet and I are attending President Bush's Missing Children Forum. We are trying to be invited to the forum, but I have not received an invitation yet. Perhaps the media found out something before we did. Friday, August 23 By next Monday We should find out an exact date for when the first 1,000 bumper stickers will be presented to Dick Stanley Trucking. My sister Elaine will create a short press release for the media. Hopefully the Salt Lake City media will cover the event.My friend Tricia from Forums for Justice has contacted the local Fox station there. That station is interested in covering the story. I wish that we had enough money to buy bumper stickers for all 16,000 Dick Stanley trucks, but we can only afford 1,000 stickers for now. Saturday, August 24 We only had 7 volunteer searchers today. Two people came after we had completed the search.There has been an update in the Oregon case of missing 13-year-old girls, Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis. The police found a body buried in a shed in the back yard of a suspect. I added three more missing persons to the links page of rachelcookesearch.org. It seems as if that links page will continue to grow and grow. I would love to quit adding to the list of missing persons, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Sunday, August 25 I corrected some old journal entries from April today. It's surprising how many mistakes I make. I guess that's why I'm not a writer.The remains found in Oregon yesterday were identified as missing 13-year-old Miranda Gaddis. The police and FBI are still searching for Ashley Pond on the same property where Miranda's body was found. Monday, August 26 A second body was discovered in Oregon today. Yesterday the remains found in the backyard of a neighbor were identified as Miranda Gaddis, the 13-year-old girl who disappeared in March. Today the FBI found a barrel buried under a concrete slab in the same yard. The barrel contained the body of a teenage girl believed to be Miranda's friend, Ashley Pond, who disappeared in December of last year.The discovery of the bodies will bring some closure to the families and community, but it's not the type of closure that everyone wanted. The only possible good point is that the man who allegedly murdered the two girls is already in jail for an unrelated rape charge. My sister Elaine and I worked on the press release for the bumper sticker installation on 1,000 interstate trucks. The stickers will be given to the trucking company at the end of this week. I still have not received any word back from President Bush's Missing Children forum. Janet and I have asked to attend the forum, but we have not yet received an invitation. Tuesday, August 27 I forgot to announce that my friends Thad and Ricky, who produced the Austin cable access show two weeks ago, called on Saturday. Cox Cable in Leander, Plugerville, and Georgetown is rebroadcasting the show twice a day on the cable access channel on their cable networks. The show broadcasts at 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon. My friend JR saw the show on Georgetown Cox Cable last Sunday at 2:00 p.m. They seem also to be placing it into vacant time slots.We will not have a search this weekend because it's Labor Day weekend. I want all of the volunteers to have the whole three days to spend time with their friends and families. The next search will be on Saturday, September 7. My friend Tricia from Forums for Justice called today. She has been in contact with people from the CBS show 48 HOURS. Tricia is going to forward the show a videotape and pictures of Rachel. Wednesday, August 28 I worked at home today. Rachel's creditors continue to call our house even though I've talked to several people from each company and mailed them a statement from the Sheriff's Office. Now that they have charged hundreds of dollars in fees and interest, they will talk to me. I tried very hard last February to get them to freeze the account and work out some kind of payment plan, but they would not talk to me because I am a third party. I'm not about to pay for their neglect.The bumper stickers will not be presented to the interstate trucking company until next week. As with most companies, they have to go through a final approval. I can understand that. A 9-year-old boy was kidnapped at gunpoint in California today. The abductors beat the boy's father when the boy was taken. The police think it might be related to a custody battle with the mother. I don't see how any mother could do that to get a child back from his father. That boy will remember the terror of the abduction for the rest of his life. Thursday, August 29 The Sheriff's Office called Janet today. They are going to arrange a meeting with us next week.I mailed two videotapes with clips of Rachel to Tricia from Forums for Justice today. She is going to forward them to some of the national media shows. Hopefully one of the shows will run a segment on Rachel. My sister Elaine helped me correct my journal for the month of June. I didn't make too many mistakes in it, but there were some. Friday, August 30 I e-mailed the June corrections of my journal to kvue.com this morning. After July and August are corrected, I will feel better. The original version has many errors in it. None of the content is being changed.A group of friends came over tonight. They are working on an announcement for September 10. My wife Janet and I saw what they are working on, and it is great. Saturday, August 31 I moved some of Rachel's things into the storage shed. I'd like to clear out enough of my garage to get my car back in there.Some of the Forums for Justice members are helping out with the September 10 announcement. It will take a lot of coordination. My friend Thad is still working to get the access channel program distributed to other channels in the nation. The condensed version of the program is not yet ready. |
