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She Went for a Jog: Where is Rachel Cooke?
Rachel Cooke, 19, was visiting her parents in Georgetown, Texas, during winter break from college. No one would know that would be her last trip home. On January 10, 2002, at approximately 9:30 a.m., Rachel went out for her four-mile daily run and was last seen only 200 yards away from her family’s home. Somewhere within that short distance, the beautiful and vivacious young student with a smile that could light up the vast plains of Texas — vanished.
Northlake is a quiet place, about 45 minutes from Austin, where streets are named after Native American tribes and the only people there are residents and visitors. The houses are all set back with expansive drives on several acres of property, and the serenity is never disturbed by strangers.
The house located at 224 Navajo Trail was the Cooke family’s dream home, and they loved its tranquility and spaciousness. Robert and Janet Cooke raised Rachel and her little sister JoAnn there while Janet taught English at a nearby high school. Robert was a longtime software engineer for IBM and commuted daily to Austin.
Robert came from a large and very close-knit family in Texas, so his family regularly gathered at…
