FL FL - Mary Margaret Cook, 25, Highland City, 14 Nov 1970

[Richard]

From the Social Security Death Index

Name: LEATHERN E COOK
Born: 10 Sep 1941
Died: 23 Oct 2007
Last Residence (zip) 33463 (Lake Worth, Palm Beach, FL)
SSN: 266-58-9049
Issued by state of Florida

 

[Anubis]

I read this case and was like, huh? Since when does anyone in 1970 go "shopping" at 9 PM??

 

[Seifsister]

Mary Margaret Cooks NCIC number is M-557539294 The new det on her case is Dusty Kendrick. He went out last Fri and took her mother and sister DNA and sent another kit for her brother. The DNA will go to Texas. Also they are compairing Mary to a Jane Doe found in Thonotasassa Florida in a orange grove located off Timmons Road found in 1975. Timmons road is onlyabout 20 miles from whee she had disappeared.


Betty Brown

 

[Anubis]

Keepin' my fingers crossed... sad ending but at least it would be an ending.

 

[Seifsister]

Yes at least there will be a ending. For allot of cases there never is.

Betty

 

[Richard]

Mary Margaret Cook
Missing since November 14, 1970 from Highland City, Polk County, Florida.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

• Date Of Birth: April 26, 1945
• Age at Time of Disappearance: 25 years old
• Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4' 11"; 145-150 lbs.
• Distinguishing Characteristics: White and one-half American Indian female. Brown hair; hazel/blue eyes. She always wore glasses at the time of her disappearance.
• Marks, Scars: She has a birthmark above her ankle outside on her right leg.
• Other: She may have been pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
• Jewelry: She never took off her wedding rings, yet the rings were found at the house.
• Dentals: She never had dental work; she had an excellent set of teeth.
• DNA: Mary's mother gave DNA sample to Polk County in March, 2003, but doesn't think it has been entered into CODIS.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Cook, a 25-year-old mother of two, was last seen on November 14, 1970. She reportedly went on a shopping trip to retail store in Lakeland but never returned. There was no eyewitness to Margaret going to the store but her husband. Her 1959 white Cadillac was found in the store's parking lot the next day. Cooks wallet was found inside the car, but $200 her husband allegedly gave her was missing.

Cook's body has never been found and no one has ever been charged in her disappearance.


Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Polk County Sheriff's Office
863-533-0344

Email : missingperson@polksheriff.org


Agency Case #: 2008-152883
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
Bay News 9
Cold Case Investigations
FDLE
The Doe Network Case File 1383DFFL

Link:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1383dffl.html

 

[Richard]

for your consideration.

 

[Richard]

Mary Margaret Cooks NCIC number is M-557539294 The new det on her case is Dusty Kendrick. He went out last Fri and took her mother and sister DNA and sent another kit for her brother. The DNA will go to Texas. Also they are compairing Mary to a Jane Doe found in Thonotasassa Florida in a orange grove located off Timmons Road found in 1975. Timmons road is onlyabout 20 miles from whee she had disappeared.


Betty Brown

Has there been any update on this case?

 

[Seifsister]

Has there been any update on this case?

I will check

 

[Seifsister]

I will check

I have talked with the family and nothing is back from DNA yet but the police have been interviewing people in this case.

 

[Richard]

Forty years have passed since Margaret's disappearance.

 

[Motherof3]

I thought that I would let everyone know that her Mother is in ICU and not expected to make it for very much longer. My Mother in Law has been told to call in the family to say their goodbyes. Granny Barefoot has pneumonia with fluid filling up both lungs, severely anemic, with her stats very low (in the 70's & 80's). This is all that I can remember at this time, when I know more I will pass it along.

 

[othermother]

now she knows all..

 

[Janet]

I have talked with the family and nothing is back from DNA yet but the police have been interviewing people in this case.

Any updates on the DNA results ?

 

[Janet]

Any updates on the DNA results ?

Never mind. I just went to the 1975 Jane Doe and Mary Cook has been excluded.

 

[Seifsister]

Margaret families dna is in CODIS .

 

[othermother]

Two days short of the 44th anniversary of the murder of Margaret...........her only sister passed. R.I.P. Delores.

Motherof3....... sorry about the loss of your Mother in law.

 

[othermother]

Richard,

A detective came to my home at my request several years ago. I wanted to know if the PCSO could close the case since they knew Margaret was murdered by her husband. He said it was not unheard of.........but it was extremely rare.........that a case was closed posthumously. He said that he would make a power point presentation and go before the Grand Jury. On September 29th, 2011 I received a phone call at my job telling me that the Grand Judy indicted Leathern Earl Cook in the murder of Mary Margaret Cook. That day would have been their 49th wedding anniversary. How Ironic......... He told me to keep it to myself because a few of Earls relatives had one year to try to have it overturned. That time has passed........so in one respect justice has been achieved for Margaret.


Margaret is still listed as missing so any remains found in that area are and will be cross matched with her DNA. Her sons are her next of kin.........we will always keep searching.....

 

[Skigirl]

Thank you so much for the update. How bittersweet for her sons to be a step closer to answers but with their father the presumed killer.

 

[Richard]

Mary Margaret Cook
Missing since November 14, 1970 from Highland City, Polk County, Florida.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

• • Date Of Birth: April 26, 1945
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 25 years old
  • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4' 11"; 145-150 lbs.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: White female (one-half Native). Brown hair; hazel/blue eyes. She always wore glasses at the time of her disappearance.
  • Marks, Scars: She has a birthmark above her ankle outside on her right leg.
  • Other: She may have been pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
  • Dentals: She never had dental work; she had an excellent set of teeth.
• DNA: Pending

Circumstances of Disappearance
Cook, a 25-year-old mother of two, was last seen on November 14, 1970. She reportedly went on a shopping trip to retail store in Lakeland but never returned. There was no eyewitness to Margaret going to the store but her husband.

Her 1959 white Cadillac was found in the store's parking lot the next day. Cooks wallet was found inside the car, but $200 her husband allegedly gave her was missing. She never took off her wedding rings, yet the rings were found at the house.

Cook's body has never been found and no one has ever been charged in her disappearance.
Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Polk County Sheriff's Office
Detective Dusty Kendrick
863-534-6379
Email

Agency Case #: 2008-152883

NCIC Number: M-557539294
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
Bay News 9
Cold Case Investigations
FDLE
The Doe Network

Case File 1383DFFL ​