On this episode of Crime Beat, Global News crime reporter Nancy Hixt tells the story of Kelly Cook, a young girl who was abducted from Standard, Alta., 38 years ago.
It was a scenario almost every parent can relate to.
Kelly had taken a job babysitting someone new — and then, she was gone.
The 15-year-old was supposed to check in with her parents when she arrived at the babysitting job, but that call never came.
Hours later, her parents called the police. RCMP officers were quick to arrive at the Cook home.
Kelly’s disappearance was completely out of character.
She wasn’t a troubled teen and would never run away.
“She was a good kid… very good at school and she had plans for the future,” Kelly’s mother Marion Cook told media at the time. “She was always like that, even when she was tiny. She was three going on 90, always. She was very smart.”
Massive search parties were organized and volunteers searched by ground and air.
Just over two months later, the search ended in tragedy.
Kelly’s body was found June 28, 1981, in an irrigation canal south of Taber.
WATCH: The RCMP is taking a fresh look at a Calgary-area cold case. On the 38th anniversary of Kelly Cook’s abduction and murder, police are using advancements in technology to try and move the case forward. Nancy Hixt reports.
Investigators said it was obvious someone had gone through a lot of work to make sure Kelly would never be found, but a drought in the area had lowered the water level and revealed her weighed-down body.
The case turned into a homicide investigation and the manhunt for a killer began.
WATCH: Archive — Police reopen investigation into Kelly Cook murder
Join Nancy Hixt as she takes you through the abduction and murder of Kelly Cook: what leads investigators have looked at and why it’s become a cold case.
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Contact:
Twitter: @nancyhixt
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NancyHixtCrimeBeat/
Email: nancy.hixt@globalnews.ca
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