Reward bolstered in woman’s disappearance
When Robert GEORGETOWN — Chody became Williamson County’s new sheriff in January, he promised to devote new energy into trying to solve a dozen cold cases, including the disappearance of Rachel Cooke, a 19-yearold who vanished after going for a run while home from college in January 2002.
On Thursday, surrounded by federal, state and local law enforcement officers who were combing a wooded area with metal detectors, Chody announced a new $50,000 reward for information about what happened to Cooke in a case that has long frustrated investigators.
He stood next to Cooke’s mother, Janet, and both delivered impassioned appeals for any clue that would help solve one of the region’s biggest mysteries.
“It’s time,” Cooke said through tears. “Rachel’s little sister deserves to have closure. I deserve to have closure. Let us put an end to this. Let’s bring Rachel home, please . ... I want my baby home.”
Chody grew emotional talking about Cooke’s father, Robert Cooke, who died in 2014.
“I can’t help but think of one of my own daughters, who is in her 20s,” Chody said during a news conference on Navajo Trail in the rural neighborhood northwest of Georgetown where Cooke was last seen. “I reflect back to when she was Rachel’s age and what Robert will never get to experience that I already have . ... Robert left this Earth without ever knowing where his daughter was.”
With Thursday’s additional money, the total reward being