MACKENZIE COWELL TIMELINE
Confirmed Info Only - No Rumors
09 February 2010 (Tuesday):
3:01 PM - Mackenzie
leaves the Academy of Hair Design where she works for a
15 minute break, gets in her car, and drives away. She is supposed to only be gone for a fifteen-minute break, according to
flyers being posted at businesses in Wenatchee, but she never returns.
3:40 PM - Mackenzie's
phone data indicate that her phone is at/near the Riverfront Park boat ramp. While there, the
phone receives an incoming text ("hey") and replies with the same message ("hey").
5:42 PM - A cell tower
bounces a signal off of MacKenzie's phone. This is the final activity on McKenzie's phone. Location has not been released by investigators.
8:02 PM - Residents
report to Rivercom finding a 1997 red Pontiac Grand Prix in Squilchuck area, 2395 Pitcher Canyon Road, parked near a cattle gate, and they tell deputies the car had been there
for the previous hour. LE uses the registration info on the car to
identify Reid Cowell as the owner, who confirms that his daughter has been out past curfew. One
set of foot prints led away from the locked car toward road asphalt. "Somebody got the car there and parked it
without anybody knowing about it.” Mackenzie's purse was inside the car, but her
cell phone, debit card with $20 on it, and gas card were missing. Initially, Washington State Crime Lab processed the car, but found no indication of anything unusual, and computers at both parents' residences were checked with
nothing unusual found. Later, local press says that
some evidence has been discovered in the car and sent to the State Crime Lab.
11 February 2010 (Thursday):
FBI Child Abduction Rapid Deployment agents arrive Thursday afternoon to aid in the search for Mackenzie.
12 February 2010 (Friday):
Investigators
fax warrants to Facebook, Myspace, and Verizon. A
team of 10 detectives search the Pitcher Canyon area and interview and re-interviewing all of Mackenzie's friends and family. Mackenzie's mother and the mother's boyfriend are also being interviewed by the FBI.
13 February 2010 (Saturday):
Mackenzie's
body is found near the Columbia River at
156 Crescent Bar Road just inside Douglas County by someone walking along the beach. She was fully clothed and her feet were in the water. The Chelan County Sheriff's spokesman said "It appears she was
put there by someone....We've got to find this monster. Anybody who is willing to
take a child and commit a crime with that child is a monster." Investigators
find evidence of homicide at the scene and inside the vacant home.
FBI profilers arrive late Saturday to assist with the investigation.
Sometime on the 13th: Jerry Moore from Chelan County does a
radio interview in which he states that 3:15PM, Feb 9, was the last time anyone "heard from Mackenzie." He also says that the Douglas County Sheriff is responsible for gathering information from Myspace, Facebook, Verizon, Google, and other internet/phone providers used by Mackenzie.
15 February 2010 (Monday):
A task force made up of local law enforcement and FBI is formed to investigate circumstances surrounding Mackenzie's death. Mackenzie's mother tells NWCN (see
video) that she's been instructed by investigators not to discuss the investigation with media.
16 February 2010 (Tuesday):
An
autopsy performed by Dr. Gina Fino and witnessed by Dr Steve Clem, Douglas County prosecutor and coroner, and a State Patrol Crime Laboratory’s forensics team confirms that the body is that of Mackenzie Cowell. The autopsy also revealed that her
death was a homicide, but the cause of death has not yet been released. Autopsy results will not be released until the person responsible is
identified and charged.
Investigators ask that anyone who might have seen someone walking out of Pitcher Canyon on South Methow Street or Squilchuck Highway between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9, call the tip line. Captain Jones of the task force looking into 17-year-old Mackenzie Cowell's death said the person who left Cowell's car in the canyon where it was later found likely walked on one of those two roads afterward.
18 February 2010 (Thursday):
Investigators released video footage of the last known sighting of homicide victim Mackenzie Cowell in a Wenatchee-owned parking lot in the hope that someone saw the teenager or her red 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix.
As law enforcement officials advise women to walk in pairs and be more aware of their surroundings, local gun stores report a
spike in sales of tasers, mace, and handguns.
22 February 2010 (Monday):
1:36 AM - Someone at Mackenzie's mother's residence
calls 911 to report "harassment/threat."
Police scale back task force and await DNA and fingerprint results from state crime lab. Evidence was collected from the Crescent Bar location and from Mackenzie's car. Wenatchee Police Sgt. Cherie Smith said, "But
we still don’t know where she was killed,” Smith said. “So we may have another crime scene at some point.”
25 February 2010 (Thursday):
Memorial
service is held for Mackenzie Cowell at Wenatchee Town Toyota Center. 1800 people attend. Mackenzie is remembered as "a bright, energetic girl who endured heartless teasing through much of her adolescence because of an underbite. She persevered, however, eventually becoming prom queen." Mackenzie's mother, maternal grandfather, father, father's fiance, two brothers, and boyfriend attend the memorial. Noticeably absent is Mackenzie's mother's boyfriend. Mackenzie's brother Trevor made the family's first statement to the media: "It's incredible. It meant the world to me because we all loved her. And that's what this all shows is how much everybody loves her."
26 February 2010 (Friday):
Task force states that
cell phone data places Mackenzie Cowell’s phone near a Wenatchee boat launch on Feb. 9, the day she disappeared.
01 March 2010 (Monday):
The Cowell Task Force believes that
Mackenzie's phone is a key piece of evidence and asks the public to call the tip line if it is found. The phone is a
maroon LG EnV2.
03 March 2010 (Wednesday):
A local task force
continues to work full-time on the Mackenzie Cowell murder case. Chelan County has four deputies and two administrative assistants assigned to the task force. Douglas County has four detectives, Wenatchee Police has three officers and East Wenatchee police has one officer assigned to the case. The FBI, U.S. Marshal’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are assisting the Cowell Task Force.
05 March 2010 (Friday):
Local businesspeople unite and announce the creation of a new reward fund to help find Mackenzie's killer. The group,
Wenatchee Valley Citizens Against Crime, has pledged $38000 to be added to the existing $7000 reward fund in the event that someone provides a tip that leads to a conviction of Mackenzie's murderer. “This case broke the camel’s back. For this one, we said, ‘Enough is enough. We want this valley to be a safe place.'"
12 March 2010 (Friday) :
Against the wishes of the Cowell Task Force, the
Wenatchee World publishes Mackenzie's cause of death which was on the death certificate. The World withheld the cause of death for two weeks in accordance with the task force's wishes, but today published the information, as they've always published death certificate information related to murders and saw no reason to make an exception in this case.
Though the task force is tight-lipped in response to the World reporter's many questions about the circumstances of Mackenzie's death, several details emerge. Eight lie detector tests have been administered, though the task force refuses to say to whom. Numerous properties have been searched, though the task force will not identify them. Most important, the task force has not yet found the site where Mackenzie was killed.
15 March 2010 (Sunday):
Wenatchee World article about
Crimestoppers Reward Fund. The ex-husband and father of Jack Owen Spillman III's victims has donated a substantial amount to the reward fund. Coincidentally, Wendy Cowell's boyfriend JF was married to Spillman's sister at the time of the murders and was called to testify at the trial. JF's second wife Mae was JOS's older sister. Spillman's address
22 March 2010 (Sunday):
KOZI radio interview with task force spokesman (podcast
here; informal transcript
here) reveals that the case is not cold yet, that the task force has not received any complete lab results and are awaiting more forensics results from the crime lab, that the task force has been thorough in interviewing and eliminating people, starting with those closest to MC and working outward. The most substantial bit of info was that the task force has no eye-witnesses placing Mackenzie at the boat ramp at the time that her boyfriend received the 3:24 "hey" text message. The spokesman stated that the Wenatchee World may have harmed the state's case against any future suspect by removing the cause of death information from the investigators' "tool box."
26 March 2010 (Friday, 7:30 PM - Midnight):
A dance was held at the Volcano Club's ballroom for Mackenzie Cowell, to
"help raise money for the funds needed to catch her killer, and to go to the Mackenzie Cowell Memorial Fund." The dance was "headed up" by Wenatchee photographer Joshua Lusk. The event's admission was $10. It was attended by 450 people and raised
almost $3000. It is not clear to exactly which fund(s) the money went, however.
CLICK HERE to see a map of points of interest in the Mackenzie Cowell investigation.
WHO'S WHO IN THE MACKENZIE COWELL MURDER INVESTIGATION:
MC - Mackenzie Nicole Cowell; decedant. 17 years old. Attended Wenatchee High School and Academy of Hair Design. Dancer with the Apple-ettes. Also took dance lessons and worked out at Gold's Gym.
WC - Wendy Cowell. Mackenzie Cowell's mother; real estate agent and home builder; divorced from RC since 2001, now dating JF.
RC - Reid Cowell. Mackenzie Cowell's father; construction industry; divorced from WC since 2001, now dating SF.
JF - Mackenzie's mother's boyfriend; construction industry; rumored to have been living with WC while married to/separated from another woman; was a witness in the trial of infamous murderer
Jack Owen Spillman III; was married to JOS's sister at the time of JOS's arrest for the gruesome murders of a mother and daughter. Built WC's spec house located at 3635 Ridgeview Blvd, Wenatchee.
SF - Mackenzie's father's fiancee. (She is in no way related to JF.)
JV - Mackenzie's 21-year-old boyfriend.
BIT PLAYERS IN THE MACKENZIE COWELL CASE
BC - guy from Tacoma on whose FB page MC posted "mmmm u look good!
sorry for everything." Date of FB post is January 26.
VDD - When Mackenzie was 12, WC took out a restraining order against VDD, who was 17 years old at the time.
JL - photographer in Wenatchee who seems to have inserted himself into the case, possibly for publicity for his fledgling photography business. "Headed up" the dance for Mackenzie that was held on March 26, 2010.
DFD and KMA - two women who post on their facebooks. Supposedly, KMA has a friend associated with the investigation who is feeding her info. She gives the info to DFD, who posts it publicly on her facebook wall.
If you have ANY information
about the murder of MacKenzie Cowell please call:
ANONYMOUS TIP LINE - 509-667-6848
Task Force Command Center - 509-888-4226
Public Tip Line - 509-663-9911
This timeline is a work in progress. If you have information to add to it or corrections to note, please PM me with the addition/correction and source link. I don't use Examiner as a source, because, quite frankly, our work is more investigative than the Examiner, and based on the same sources. Corrections may not appear until the next posting of the timeline, which I always try to insert on page 1 of any new thread about Mackenzie. Thanks for the teamwork in making this timeline a primary guide to the MC case!
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