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The Search for Rachel, a father's journal |
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Wednesday, January 1, 2003 The WILLIAMSON COUNTY SUN printed a nice article about Rachel's disappearance in today's issue. The newspaper featured the top stories of 2002. Unfortunately, Rachel was one of them.The ROUND ROCK LEADER story on Rachel should appear in an upcoming issue. They interviewed me yesterday. We have begun discussions on what we want to do on January 10. That day will mark the worst day of my life. The day that Rachel disappeared. I don't want to make it a big event, but I want to recognize that my daughter is still missing. Thursday, January 2 I returned to work today. So many people asked me if I had a happy holiday or if I got what I wanted for Christmas. Some people just don't think. It was all I could do to make it through the holidays.With the lower manufacturing price of the new CDs, I was able to reduce the on-line and mail order RACHEL'S SONG CD price to $7.00. That price includes shipping and handling. We are going to try and have a few local Austin and Georgetown stores sell the CDs for $5.00 each. I will post those store locations as we sign them up. I officially canceled the Music for the Missing Concert. With the dancehall doubled booked and not enough time to find another location, I didn't have any choice. I hope to reschedule the concert for late March or April. We have received several e-mails from wellwishers over the holidays. The e-mails came from all over the United States and Canada, as well as Australia, Finland, and South Africa. Girls as young as 12 years old have written us. I want to thank everyone who has written or left a message on prayforrachel.org. Friday, January 3 We have decided to plant a live oak tree next Friday to honor Rachel and show we haven't given up. My mother and sister Elaine picked out a tree, and it will be planted next week. We will decorate the tree with yellow ribbons on Friday, January 10. The location for the tree decorating will be announced soon.A body was found south of Taylor today. The Williamson County Sheriff's Office told me that it wasn't Rachel, but they wouldn't comment on if it might be missing Valany Gonzales. Saturday, January 4 The body found near Taylor yesterday was identified today as missing Valany Gonzales, My friend JR and I drove to Taylor to be with the family. They started the process of arranging a funeral service. A reward and expenses fund has been set up at the City National Bank of Taylor, 212 N. Main, Taylor, Texas 76574. The bank's phone number is 512-352-8523.Valany's death has been ruled a homicide, so I think the reward is a good idea. We need to get the people that do these things off of our streets. Sunday, January 5 KVUE News interviewed me today. We talked about Rachel's disappearance and the upcoming one year anniversary this Friday, January 10.I talked to Gabriel Gonzales today. The Williamson County Sheriff's Office is interviewing the family of murdered Valany Gonzales. Gabriel, his brother, and two sisters are each giving statements. It is common to interview the family first and then look for other suspects. Today is my birthday. There is not much to celebrate this year. Last year I had my two daughters and wife with me. This year I don't know where Rachel is or even if I will ever find out what happened to her. Monday, January 6 Rachel's live oak tree will be planted at Georgetown High School this week. We will dedicate the tree this Friday night at 5:00 p.m. Family and friends will decorate it with yellow ribbons at that time.Friday will mark one year since Rachel disappeared. If people want us to put a ribbon on the tree in their name, they can e-mail rachelalert@yahoo.com before January 10, and we will make a ribbon for them. Valany Gonzales' funeral will be at 10:00 a.m. this Wednesday, January 8. The service will be held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 113 Dickey Street, in Taylor. A rosary will be held Tuesday, January 7, at 7:00 p.m. at Providence Funeral Home, 807 Northwest Carlos Parker Blvd, in Taylor. Tuesday, January 7 I received over 20 e-mails from people all across the United States and other countries today. Almost every one of them has asked us to put a ribbon on Rachel's tree in their name.Several families of missing persons have also asked us to put a ribbon on the tree for their missing loved one. We decided to place blue ribbons for other missing persons on Rachel's tree. My friends, Sara, Marie, and Tim, and I attended Valany Gonzales' rosary tonight. It was a beautiful service. Ms. Gonzales was a very loved woman. Wednesday, January 8 I continue to receive requests from all over the world to have ribbons added to Rachel's tree. A few more families of missing persons have also requested a ribbon be added for their missing loved one.We will have a short ceremony at 5:00 p.m. Friday, January 10, at Georgetown High School. The ribbons will be attached to the tree after the dedication. The tree is being planted on the back side of the school in the commons area. This is a place where students often gather. Gabriel Gonzales confessed today to murdering his mother, Valany Gonzales. Gabriel worked very closely with our search team to find his mother. I am deeply saddened by this, especially for the rest of the Gonzales family. In a way, they have lost two family members. Thursday, January 9 E-mails are still coming in from across the United States. We now have over 50 people who want to have a ribbon placed on Rachel's tree in their name. The list of blue ribbons for other missing and murdered people has grown to 12.KEYE did an interview with me at 6:45 tonight. It will be shown on their 10:00 p.m. news. I will be on the KVUE morning show tomorrow. The segment in which I appear should air between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. FOX 7 is coming to my house later in the afternoon to do an interview. Tomorrow will mark one full year since Rachel disappeared. Why did this have to happen? We still do not have any answers. Friday, January 10 It was one year ago today that our beautiful daughter Rachel disappeared. It was one year ago that some lowlife animal took her away from us.My day began early. I drove to the KVUE studio and arrived at 6:15 a.m. I appeared on their morning show for a few minutes, and then I drove back to Georgetown. At noon KXAN came out and interviewed me. My mother and two sisters arrived around 1:30, and we started making ribbons for Rachel's tree. We made 71 yellow ribbons for Rachel representing people from 20 states and four foreign countries. FOX 7 News arrived and filmed us making them. We arrived at Georgetown High School at 4:25 p.m. Four news teams were already there, and FOX 7 News was right behind me. I interviewed with News 8 Austin before the ceremony. The tree dedication began at 5:00. I dedicated the tree to Rachel and said I wished it to grow and be nourished on the campus just like Rachel grew, was nourished, and educated there. My brother David said a prayer. I then read the names of the 14 missing or missing and murdered people on the blue ribbons. Blue ribbons were placed on the tree for Christopher Edward Dixon, Kent Jacobs, Kristen Modafferi, Casey Williamson, Sabrina Allen, Valany Gonzales, Jason Knapp, Ryan Katcher, Colleen Reed, Leah Roberts, Elizabeth Smart, Paula Merchant, Lynsie Ekelund, and Rachel Louise Cooke. Sabrina Allen's father Greg placed her ribbon on the tree himself. Several of the members of Valany Gonzales' family attended the event. After the ceremony, I went to dinner with Greg Allen and his friend Judy. It was nice to talk with him again. Saturday, January 11 I forgot to mention in yesterday's journal entry that Garden Ridge saw a news segment on how worn the ribbons outside our house are getting. Those incredibly nice people at the store made several new yellow bows for our front yard fence.I created a web page for the tree ceremony. The page contains several pictures of the dedication. click here I will be doing a live chat on Bill Bickel's Crime and Punishment we site this Monday night, January 13, at 8:00 p.m. CST. The chat is open to everyone. Questions should be submitted in advance. The web site is: http://crime.about.com/mpchat.htm Sunday, January 12 I spent the day relaxing and reviewing some of the questions that have been submitted for tomorrow night's chat on Bill Bickel's forum. Most of the questions deal with how to run a search center. I will answer those questions the best I can, but someone like Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, has more experience to answer them.The chat will be held Monday, January 13, at 8:00 p.m. CST. It is open to the public, but questions must be submitted in advance. To join the chat or submit a question, go to: http://crime.about.com/mpchat.htm . Monday, January 13 I heard from a representative from James Robinson today. Last summer I was contacted by them about appearing on his Christian television show. They are starting a new season and are going to try and fit me in. I will disclose more information on this as I find out more.Tonight I was involved in a chat on Bill Bickel's Crime and Punishment web site. After some technical difficulties, I think it went well. The questions were split between how to do searches and Rachel's case. Sometime this week I need to order a plaque for Rachel's tree. We didn't have time to order it last week before the ceremony. Tuesday, January 14 I received the e-mail again about Penny Brown being missing. That e-mail is fake and has been circulating around the Internet for over two years. Everyone that forwards it cares, but please do not forward it if you receive it.Yesterday marked a full year since I made Rachel the promise to find her. We are really no closer to finding her today than back then. I feel like I've failed. What haven't we done? There has to be something we can do! Wednesday, January 15 Today was a pretty quiet day. Yesterday the police in San Antonio found a body which they believe to be Susan McFarland. Texas EquuSearch has been involved in a search for her for several weeks now.I exchanged a few e-mails with Jeff Ezell from Texas EquuSearch. They have a developer writing a program to enter searches into a database. I offered to help on the project since that is my profession. I will probably just offer some technical support since I understand both databases and searches. Most people don't realize that a search generates hundreds of pages of records each day. I went by the school today and removed all of the yellow ribbons from Rachel's Tree. Some of them had begun to fall off, and I wanted to save them for Janet to read. I secured the blue ribbons and left the large bow from Garden Ridge on the tree. Thursday, January 16 I mailed some pictures and video to a cable access channel production company in Michigan today. They are making a music video based on RACHEL'S SONG. A program similar to what Austin Cable Access made will also be produced. The program and music video will be released sometime in the spring.Texas EquuSearch will be performing a search in Centerville, TX, this weekend for missing 14-year-old Samantha Clinton and her mother Gay Lynn Clinton. It is suspected that they are murder victims of the father/husband who subsequently has committed suicide. The Leon County Sheriff's Office has requested help in searching for Samantha and Gay. The Command Center is tentatively set to be in the Baptist Church in Centerville. Friday, January 17 The bodies of missing 14-year-old Samantha Clinton and her mother Gay Lynn Clinton were found today. The father, who committed suicide, is suspected to have murdered them. It is a very sad situation.A representative of John Robinson's organization called me today. She was gathering more information about Rachel's disappearance to present to the producers of Robinson's television program. Saturday, January 18 Janet watched the video coverage of last week's tree ceremony. It is amazing how many people came to the dedication.I replaced the worn yellow bows along our front fence today. The nice people at Garden Ridge donated several new bows. They all signed one of the bows, and that bow is attached to Rachel's Tree. A new section on the tribute page of rachelcookesearch.org has been created. The section is labeled National Media and Events. The section contains links to things like the INSIDE EDITION story and our trip to Washington D.C. Activity on rachelcookesearch.org has picked up over the last week. I reset the counters on January 14, and just since that date the site has had over 1,000 hits. The home page is receiving over 200 hits a day. Sunday, January 19 I started putting together packages of Rachel's pictures to have ready when someone in the media asks for them. I've usually had to scramble to put these together when a request comes in. Now I will have something ready to go.Sundays are usually quiet when we don't have a search. I spent the day getting caught up with things at home. Monday, January 20 I read a good article about missing adults today. It covers missing Kristen Modafferi and Laci Peterson. Kym Pasqualini, CEO of the Center for Missing Adults, is quoted. Read the article.Janet and I met Kym Pasqualini at the White House Conference for Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children, and again later on THE JOHN WALSH SHOW, and again in Phoenix at the NASCAR race when Darrell LaMoure's race car displayed Rachel's picture We met Bob and Debbie Modafferi on THE JOHN WALSH SHOW. I was honored when they allowed us to place a blue ribbon for Kristn on Rachel's Tree. Tuesday, January 21 I received a call from WFAA in Dallas today. They are doing a story on the North Texas DNA bank that is being established. Monday they will interview me, and it will be included in the report.Texas EquuSearch called me today. A 41-year-old woman is missing in Round Rock. Heidi Jean Parker was last seen Sunday morning walking her golden retriever near Old Settlers Park. She's blonde, 5'8" and about 140 pounds. Round Rock PD, Williamson County Sheriff's Office, and the new Williamson Country Search and Rescue team are searching the park. I contacted Travis County Search and Rescue. They are probably going to search the park tomorrow. If needed, I will open a search center for Texas EquuSearch and start a full scale search. Wednesday, January 22 Heidi Parker was found early this morning. She was apparently disoriented and dehydrated. My friend JR was already working to find a search center location to search for her. Thankfully, she is safe and we no longer need to do a search.Today I looked through a long list of Texas House and Senate bills which are being presented this legislative session. My wife Janet and I want to help some of the bills get passed that deal with monitoring sexual offenders who are released from prison. Other legislation we are interested in deals with education for judges and juries about sexual assault crimes. Thursday, January 23 I think we have found a new location for the Music for the Missing Concert. We will probably hold the concert in Austin on a Sunday afternoon in April. In addition to live bands, we will have a silent auction and maybe a raffle. Volunteers will start collecting donations for the auction soon. Things like dinner for two, a hotel room night, and a massage are good items to have. People who want to offer items for the auction can send an e-mail to rachelalert@yahoo.com.All of the proceeds from the concert will go to Texas EquuSearch and Travis County Search and Rescue. I have worked with and highly respect both of these organizations. The details of the concert will be finalized soon. Friday, January 24 Both Al White's and Dave Jorgenson's bands are free to play at the concert we are planning. The venue and date will be announced soon.A 16-year-old Georgetown boy was reported missing last night. I contacted Texas EquuSearch and Travis County SAR to be on alert for a possible search. When I contacted the boy's father, he said he did not need any help at that time. Later tonight, the boy called his father from Richmond, VA. The boy took a bus there yesterday without telling anyone. Law enforcement, the media, and private citizens spent a lot of time and effort to find the boy. Something needs to be done about runaways. Kids need to understand that they cause so many problems when they leave without telling anyone. Saturday, January 25 I received an e-mail from the family of missing Erika Dalquist. A 24-year-old man was arrested on January 14, 2003. He is believed to have murdered Erika and placed her body in a flooded mine pit. My heart goes out to Erika's family. No words can express what they are going through.I placed a few more pictures on the Rachel Board today. I finally found the picture taken on my birthday last year. The picture was taken just five days before she disappeared. It's our last picture of Rachel. Sunday, January 26 I finally finished organizing the news articles about Rachel. It seems that every time a person from the media asks for a newsclip, I have trouble finding it. Now it will be easier to look up things.We should know the exact date of the Music for the Missing Concert by the end of this week. Next week we should have the flyers produced and start distributing them. Monday, January 27 A WFAA reporter drove from Dallas to my house today and interviewed me about the North Texas DNA Bank that is being created for missing persons. WFAA is the Dallas ABC affiliate. I'm not sure when it will air. Hopefully KVUE will air the segment in Austin.I don't think the other DNA database has been started yet. This one is just as important. It will be a database to store DNA of every convicted sexual offender in Texas, The bill was passed in 2001 - the same time the Victim DB was passed. It's going to be difficult with so many people protecting the rights of those on parole. I wish the victims and their families had these rights! I may attend the 16th Annual Texas Crime Victim Clearing House Conference this May. I think the conference will allow my wife Janet's and my views to be heard. I will also be able to listen to other people's views. Tuesday, January 28 I spoke with Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, this morning. He was on his way back to Lake Livingston to lead the search for missing Melissa Mercer and Kevin Young. Tim gives so much to other people, I'm glad he was able to spend a little time with his wife.I ate lunch today with Verna Lee Carr from People Against Violent Crime. We discussed Rachel's case and problems with missing person cases. My wife Janet and I will be lighting a candle for the missing at the Texas Crime Victim Clearing House Conference in May. Ms. Carr will be speaking at two seminars at the conference. Janet and I are very disappointed that President Bush did not mention the missing person problem in his State of The Union Address. If things are not fixed at home, it doesn't matter what's happening overseas. Wednesday, January 29 It looks like the Music for the Missing Concert will be held on Sunday, April 6, 2003. All of the details should be finalized this week, and we should be able to officially announce the concert next week.I spoke with Tim Miller, the director of Texas EquuSearch, on the phone today. Tim received an award from Houston Crimestoppers for all of the work he's done. He deserves the award very much. Tim also said he may be able to get a special artist to sing at the concert in April. Thursday, January 30 I created a donation request form for the Music for the Missing Concert. The form explains why the event is being held and supplies information about the Rachel Alert Network, Texas EquuSearch, and Travis County Search and Rescue. Any items or services donated will be added to the silent auction at the concert.This weekend I will create the announcement flyer for the concert. Several friends and family members have already volunteered to pass out and post the flyers. Tim Miller is hoping to bring in a special guest singer for the concert. Friday, January 31 My sister Elaine finished proofreading the donation request form for the concert. As soon as all of the bands commit to the date, we will officially announce the concert.Texas EquuSearch received a call today about missing Michele Dlouhy. She is suspected to have been kidnapped by a sexual offender named Jeffrey Fields. A search for the missing woman may start soon. I received a call from a man in Arizona tonight. He has created a game to teach children how to prevent being abducted. It even teaches the children ways to escape and leave clues if they are taken. The game's creator is mailing me a copy of the game. My wife Janet and I will look it over. I may have Southwestern University Campus Police Chief Brown also look at the game. Chief Brown has been teaching women's self-defense courses for years. |
