Latest / Luke's English Podcast / S2E21 - Krystle Cook_ A Father_s Fight for Justice – Part 1

Transcript

S2E21 - Krystle Cook_ A Father_s Fight for Justice – Part 1 · Luke's English Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: In Tragedy a true crime podcast, we discuss missing persons, cases,
0:05
Speaker 1: violent crime, and other sensitive topics that may be difficult
0:09
Speaker 1: for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. Our show is
0:17
Speaker 1: a place where every story matters and every voice deserves
0:20
Speaker 1: to be heard. To support this podcast, you can subscribe
0:24
Speaker 1: at www dot Tragedya Truecrime podcast dot com for early
0:30
Speaker 1: access to new episodes, and join our Facebook community Tragedy
0:35
Speaker 1: a True Crime Podcast for updates, discussions, and ways to
0:39
Speaker 1: support the families we feature. Welcome to Tragedy a true
0:44
Speaker 1: crime podcast.
0:45
Speaker 2: I'm Alisa and I'm Michael.
0:47
Speaker 1: This series is brought to you in part by Cowlitt's
0:49
Speaker 1: Regional News. Find them on Facebook under Cowlitt's Regional News
0:53
Speaker 1: for all things news, including local, regional, and national. That's
0:58
Speaker 1: Cowlitz Regional News. Them on Facebook. There are some stories
1:08
Speaker 1: that never really end, even after the trials are over,
1:12
Speaker 1: even after the headlines disappear, even after years begin stacking
1:17
Speaker 1: themselves between the present and the moment everything changed. Some
1:22
Speaker 1: stories stay alive because the people left behind refuse to
1:25
Speaker 1: let them disappear. And this is one of those stories.
1:29
Speaker 1: Today I want to tell you about Crystal Cook, not
1:32
Speaker 1: just the crime, not just the investigation, but the life
1:36
Speaker 1: of the center of it all and the family who,
1:39
Speaker 1: more than two decades later, are still carrying her with them.
1:44
Speaker 1: When people hear the words true crime, they often expect timelines, evidence,
1:50
Speaker 1: the details of violence. But the truth is the most
1:53
Speaker 1: important part of any story usually happens long before any
1:57
Speaker 1: of that. It happens in the ordinary moments, in family dinners,
2:03
Speaker 1: phone calls, and inside jokes that no one else would understand.
2:09
Speaker 2: It lives in.
2:09
Speaker 1: The small things people remember years later, when they're trying
2:13
Speaker 1: desperately to hold on to someone they lost too soon.
2:17
Speaker 1: That's where Crystel's story really begins. Not in the year
2:20
Speaker 1: two thousand, not in a courtroom, not in the aftermath.
2:25
Speaker 1: It begins with a young woman whose life mattered deeply
2:28
Speaker 1: to the people around her, a daughter, a sister, someone
2:32
Speaker 1: whose absence would permanently reshape the lives of the people
2:36
Speaker 1: who loved her most. And when those closest to Cristel
2:39
Speaker 1: speak about her, they's something that becomes immediately clear. They
2:44
Speaker 1: are not trying to preserve a case. They are trying
2:47
Speaker 1: to preserve a person. In two thousand, Crystal Cook was murdered.
2:52
Speaker 1: The crime sent shockwaves through the people closest to her,
2:56
Speaker 1: leaving behind the kind of grief that doesn't arrive all
2:59
Speaker 1: at once, but settles slowly into every part of life,
3:03
Speaker 1: the kind that changes birthdays, holidays, the sound of a
3:07
Speaker 1: name spoken out loud. There was an arrest in the case,
3:11
Speaker 1: and eventually a conviction. The person responsible for her murder
3:15
Speaker 1: was sentenced, and for many people outside of family's immediate circle,
3:20
Speaker 1: that's often where the story ends. A conviction can feel
3:25
Speaker 1: like a conclusion, proof that justice moved in the way
3:28
Speaker 1: it was supposed to, But families know something the rest
3:32
Speaker 1: of the world often doesn't. A conviction is not the
3:36
Speaker 1: same thing as closure, because no courtroom outcome can restore
3:41
Speaker 1: what was taken, no sentence can recreate the future some
3:45
Speaker 1: one should have had, and no legal proceeding can stop
3:48
Speaker 1: the quiet moments when grief unexpectedly resurfaces years later. For
3:54
Speaker 1: Cristel's family, life did not split neatly into before and after. Instead,
4:00
Speaker 1: loss became something they learned to carry, some days heavier
4:04
Speaker 1: than others, some days impossible to ignore, and over time
4:09
Speaker 1: that grief evolved into something else too. Determination, a determination
4:15
Speaker 1: to make sure Cristel's life would never be reduced to
4:17
Speaker 1: a single act of violence. More than two decades have
4:22
Speaker 1: passed since Cristel's murder, but recently her family found themselves
4:26
Speaker 1: standing once again in the shadow of the case that
4:29
Speaker 1: changed their lives forever. In March, a parole hearing was
4:33
Speaker 1: held for the person serving time for her murder. For
4:37
Speaker 1: families of homicide victims, parole hearings can feel like a
4:40
Speaker 1: reopening of a wound that never truly healed in the
4:43
Speaker 1: first place. Suddenly, years collapse inward, memories resurface, emotions return
4:50
Speaker 1: with a force that time never really erased. And while
4:54
Speaker 1: the legal system may view these hearings as procedure, families
4:58
Speaker 1: experience them very different. For them, it's personal, deeply personal.
5:05
Speaker 1: It means preparing once again to speak for someone who
5:08
Speaker 1: no longer has a voice of their own. It means
5:11
Speaker 1: revisiting pain that never fully disappeared, and it means confronting
5:15
Speaker 1: the terrifying possibility that the person responsible for so much
5:20
Speaker 1: loss could one day walk free. For Cristal's family, the
5:25
Speaker 1: hearing was another reminder that this story is not confined
5:28
Speaker 1: to the past. It still lives with them every single day.
5:34
Speaker 1: But if there's one thing that stands out in Crystal's story.
5:37
Speaker 1: It is this Her family refused to let grief become
5:41
Speaker 1: the only thing left behind out of unimaginable loss. They
5:45
Speaker 1: created the Crystal Rose Cook Nonprofit, an organization dedicated to advocacy, awareness,
5:53
Speaker 1: and support for others impacted by violent crime. And there
5:57
Speaker 1: is something profoundly powerful about that. Because tragedy has a
6:01
Speaker 1: way of isolating people, It can make families feel invisible, unheard,
6:07
Speaker 1: abandoned after the public attention fades away. The work being
6:11
Speaker 1: done in Cristel's name pushes back against that silence. It
6:15
Speaker 1: says her life mattered. It said her story still matters,
6:19
Speaker 1: and it says that even in the aftermath of devastating loss,
6:23
Speaker 1: something meaningful can still grow, not because the pain disappears,
6:28
Speaker 1: but because love remains, and sometimes love becomes action. There's
6:34
Speaker 1: a tendency and true crime to focus only on endings.
6:38
Speaker 1: But the people who love Crystal are still writing the
6:40
Speaker 1: next chapters of her story every day, in their advocacy,
6:45
Speaker 1: in their memories, and in their refusal to let her
6:48
Speaker 1: be forgotten. And that's what this series is about, not
6:52
Speaker 1: just what happened to Cristel Cook, but who she was.
6:55
Speaker 1: The people who continue to carry her forward, and the
6:59
Speaker 1: lasting impact one life can have long after it's gone.
7:03
Speaker 1: In the episodes ahead, you'll hear directly from those closest
7:06
Speaker 1: to her. You'll hear memories, reflections, and conversations shaped not
7:11
Speaker 1: by headlines, but by love, loss, and resilience. Because remembering
7:17
Speaker 1: someone is more than looking backward. Sometimes it's an act
7:20
Speaker 1: of continuing forward. In the conversation you're about to hear,
7:30
Speaker 1: Lee Cook reflects on Cristel's life, the lasting impact of
7:34
Speaker 1: her murder, the recent parole hearing, and the work now
7:37
Speaker 1: being done through the Crystal Rose Cook Nonprofit to continue
7:41
Speaker 1: her legacy and help others. But more than anything, this
7:45
Speaker 1: is a father talking about his daughter. Here's our conversation
7:49
Speaker 1: with Lee Cook.
7:51
Speaker 2: Today.
7:52
Speaker 1: We're joined by someone whose life was forever changed by
7:55
Speaker 1: an unimaginable loss. Lee Cook is the father of Crystal Cook,
7:59
Speaker 1: who was murdered in two thousand, a tragedy that continues
8:02
Speaker 1: to impact her family to this day. In the years since,
8:06
Speaker 1: Lee has turned his grief into purpose. He's been actively
8:09
Speaker 1: involved in advocacy work, including his efforts with the Crystal
8:14
Speaker 1: Rose Cook nonprofit dedicated to honoring her life, raising awareness
8:19
Speaker 1: and seeking justice. Recently, the family faced another difficult milestone,
8:25
Speaker 1: a parole hearing held in March for the person currently
8:28
Speaker 1: serving time in connection to Cristel's murder. It's a moment
8:32
Speaker 1: that brings renewed emotion, reflection, and continued determination in their
8:37
Speaker 1: pursuit of justice. Lee is not only here as a father,
8:41
Speaker 1: but as a voice for his daughter, sharing who Cristel was,
8:44
Speaker 1: the lasting effects of her loss, and what this chapter
8:48
Speaker 1: means for their family moving forward. Where grateful he's willing
8:52
Speaker 1: to speak with us to honor Cristel's memory and to
8:55
Speaker 1: help us ensure that her story is not forgotten. Thank
8:58
Speaker 1: you for being here and welcome to the show.
9:00
Speaker 2: Thank you.
9:02
Speaker 1: So we would like to start this conversation with learning
9:06
Speaker 1: about Crystal. So let's start out. Can you tell us
9:09
Speaker 1: about Crystal and who she was as a person.
9:13
Speaker 2: Well, when this all started, she was a sixteen year
9:16
Speaker 2: old young lady that loved animals. I mean, she was
9:23
Speaker 2: very close with her grandmother. She spent a lot of
9:25
Speaker 2: time with her grandmother. She was just a very just
9:31
Speaker 2: your typical teenager. The light da found.
9:35
Speaker 1: What are some of your favorite memories of her that
9:37
Speaker 1: really capture her spirit?
9:39
Speaker 2: You know that's one of the difficult things going through
9:41
Speaker 2: this because I've really I mean, one of I guess
9:47
Speaker 2: one of my memories is but I have a hard
9:50
Speaker 2: time sometimes getting past what happened, or even to even
9:54
Speaker 2: talk about the memories and stuff. One of them was
9:56
Speaker 2: is she had an exchange student from she really loved
10:02
Speaker 2: that came over and they became very close, and she
10:07
Speaker 2: actually went to Japan and spent some time with this
10:09
Speaker 2: exchange student stuff too, and she just really loved their
10:13
Speaker 2: culture and stuff, and she just she really loved animals too.
10:19
Speaker 1: What do you wish more people understood about her.
10:23
Speaker 2: How much she has missed and the life she never
10:27
Speaker 2: got to live. I mean, obviously she never got to
10:30
Speaker 2: get married, she never got to have kids. You know,
10:33
Speaker 2: every holiday, you know, we have a our birthday, you know,
10:38
Speaker 2: January nineteenth is just a very difficult month for our
10:44
Speaker 2: family and stuff. Just I mean, I always say it's
10:48
Speaker 2: I hate January more than any month of the year,
10:53
Speaker 2: just because of you know, obviously you love her, but
10:57
Speaker 2: it just brings up a lot of pain and heart
11:00
Speaker 2: knowing that she's not with you. And you know, a
11:03
Speaker 2: lot of people like you say, you know, you got
11:05
Speaker 2: to focus on the good things and the memories and
11:08
Speaker 2: the stuff you had to have. But it's it's easier
11:11
Speaker 2: said than done.
11:12
Speaker 1: And for our listeners, this is a crime that has
11:15
Speaker 1: been solved. Typically we cover unsolved crimes. So can you
11:20
Speaker 1: walk us through a little bit about the trial in
11:24
Speaker 1: the beginning and the solving of the crime.
11:29
Speaker 2: Well, Crystal went missing pretty much right after her man.
11:36
Speaker 2: I'm even getting confused just at the emotion trying to
11:39
Speaker 2: processes and stuff, but she can't. She went missing when
11:45
Speaker 2: she was sixteen, and she was missing for almost a year.
11:50
Speaker 2: You know, we were doing search parties. You know, we're
11:53
Speaker 2: doing flyers. You know. I was very the newspaper articles
12:00
Speaker 2: in the newspaper. I mean there, we hired my parents
12:05
Speaker 2: hired private investigator. I mean we had a private investigator
12:09
Speaker 2: on it. We had police when she went missing and stuff,
12:13
Speaker 2: and we were trying to find every lead we could
12:19
Speaker 2: possibly be fined and and this went on for like
12:24
Speaker 2: almost a year. And then what was kind of pivotal
12:29
Speaker 2: in the situation or the murder of Crystal was the
12:35
Speaker 2: I had owned a hotel there in Longview, Washington, and
12:38
Speaker 2: it was kind of a landmark, and I called I
12:42
Speaker 2: was really getting frustrated with the police department because there
12:45
Speaker 2: was really not anything being done. And so I called
12:49
Speaker 2: the Longbe Daily News and they wrote an article and anyway,
12:54
Speaker 2: the essence of the article was me kind of ripping
12:57
Speaker 2: the police department apart because there was nothing done. And
13:00
Speaker 2: then and then a few days later, I got a
13:06
Speaker 2: call on my office phone at the hotel there and
13:10
Speaker 2: there was a message and the message was from a
13:14
Speaker 2: Paul and it was and I didn't ever met this individual,
13:19
Speaker 2: didn't know who it was when they called me, but
13:22
Speaker 2: he explained who he was when he called me and
13:24
Speaker 2: left the message. It was actually the dad of the
13:26
Speaker 2: gut Mike, the individual that murdered my daughter, and he
13:31
Speaker 2: was wanting to tell me, give me some information. Well,
13:37
Speaker 2: I never returned his call. I called the police department
13:40
Speaker 2: and talked to Detective Stafford, and he picked him up
13:44
Speaker 2: and brung him in and stuff. And basically Paul was
13:47
Speaker 2: in print in jail, and he turned on his son
13:52
Speaker 2: because Paul and his uncle Mark helped cover up the murder.
13:57
Speaker 2: They both knew what happened. And he testified against his
14:02
Speaker 2: son because Paul's mom had died and he wanted to
14:06
Speaker 2: get out of jail and go to her funeral, and
14:09
Speaker 2: that's what actually was the pivotal point in solving the
14:14
Speaker 2: murder of my.
14:14
Speaker 1: Daughter and what has been the most challenging part of
14:18
Speaker 1: navigating the justice system everything.
14:21
Speaker 2: I mean, it's I mean, the first thing everybody wants
14:26
Speaker 2: to tell you is, you know, don't talk to the media.
14:30
Speaker 2: You know, you just have to trust us and let
14:32
Speaker 2: us do our job and stuff. And I gotta be honest,
14:36
Speaker 2: if we'd have done that in the in solving the case,
14:40
Speaker 2: if we would have done that in the parole hearing,
14:43
Speaker 2: I believe this individual there was a possibility he could
14:47
Speaker 2: have been on the street today. We did everything we could,
14:51
Speaker 2: I mean, whether it was the prole and whether it
14:56
Speaker 2: was the solving the case and stuff too, especially my
14:59
Speaker 2: parents parents. When it came to Crystal. At first, I
15:01
Speaker 2: was kind of in denial. I didn't want to believe
15:04
Speaker 2: like something like that could happen. So I was for
15:09
Speaker 2: a long time after she went missing. I was just
15:13
Speaker 2: I literally was hoping and praying that she just ran away.
15:16
Speaker 2: I gotta be honest.
15:18
Speaker 1: You recently went through a parole hearing in March for
15:20
Speaker 1: the person convicted of this crime, and what was that
15:23
Speaker 1: experience like for you? And your family.
15:27
Speaker 2: It was horrific, and it was not only did we
15:32
Speaker 2: have to really relive every detail of the the murder
15:38
Speaker 2: again and I always state the daughter of my Crystal,
15:40
Speaker 2: I mean Crystal, my daughter, because I just I don't
15:44
Speaker 2: I don't want anybody to ever forget it. But not
15:48
Speaker 2: only did we have to relive every aspect of that,
15:52
Speaker 2: which brung up a lot of emotions. I mean even
15:56
Speaker 2: with our family and stuff, you know, and we were
16:00
Speaker 2: going through the original case and stuff, but then we
16:06
Speaker 2: we had to take a lot of proactive steps actually
16:09
Speaker 2: to make sure that there was no way that he
16:11
Speaker 2: was going to get out on parole. I mean we
16:13
Speaker 2: had I mean, I mean, we had informants in the prison.
16:17
Speaker 2: We I mean we actually that's how the Voices for
16:22
Speaker 2: Crystal Facebook got started. My daughter Hannah actually manages that.
16:29
Speaker 2: But that's how that got started. Was to try to
16:33
Speaker 2: get awareness and to get people involved in the process
16:37
Speaker 2: of the parole process, whether it was writing victim letters
16:43
Speaker 2: to the parole board, whether it was coming to the
16:46
Speaker 2: parole hearing. I mean, and you know don which Cala
16:52
Speaker 2: Trigional News, I mean, she really she put out a
16:55
Speaker 2: really powerful article on their on their digital page for
17:00
Speaker 2: there that really helped us gather more support. And then
17:05
Speaker 2: we I mean, and I don't know how detailed you
17:08
Speaker 2: want to get into this, but there's just a ton
17:10
Speaker 2: more details if you want to spend a little bit
17:12
Speaker 2: of time on those.
17:13
Speaker 1: Yes, we would definitely like that. It sounds like this
17:16
Speaker 1: is something that you kind of had to figure out
17:18
Speaker 1: and maneuver on your own, and we would love for
17:21
Speaker 1: you to share that experience for other families who are
17:24
Speaker 1: going through that.
17:27
Speaker 2: Well. The first thing is what I would say is
17:32
Speaker 2: one of the biggest issues we had was actually dealing
17:37
Speaker 2: with the Victim Advocate office out of Salem, Oregon for
17:43
Speaker 2: the Department of Corrections. It was we felt we every
17:48
Speaker 2: time we talked, for one, they didn't even notify us
17:52
Speaker 2: of the parole. I mean, we are the ones that
17:55
Speaker 2: actually figured it out and got involved in the process
18:01
Speaker 2: every time. When it came to the victims letters, we
18:04
Speaker 2: had a lot of when we got the Facebook page
18:08
Speaker 2: voices for Crystal going, you know, we had people sending
18:11
Speaker 2: in letters and stuff, and I mean, we were finding
18:15
Speaker 2: constantly that the Robin who headed up the Victim's Advocate
18:22
Speaker 2: office was constantly trying to do something to stop us
18:29
Speaker 2: from engaging in the process, whether it be limiting the
18:34
Speaker 2: number of victim letters that could go in down to
18:38
Speaker 2: we've got in a huge fight over we had a
18:43
Speaker 2: bunch of people the one to participate and go to
18:47
Speaker 2: the parole hearing, and she was telling us that we
18:50
Speaker 2: were going to have to start telling some of these
18:52
Speaker 2: people they we're talking family members there, that they could
18:56
Speaker 2: not that they weren't going to be able to go
19:00
Speaker 2: and stuff. And so anyway, my sister really thought that
19:04
Speaker 2: fought and but and so we ended up getting everybody
19:10
Speaker 2: to go. But if we would have just listened to her,
19:14
Speaker 2: a bunch of the family would not have been able
19:16
Speaker 2: to go because she was trying to stop us from
19:20
Speaker 2: having these people go. And then we were even into
19:23
Speaker 2: a situation where we had an individual calls his name
19:29
Speaker 2: was his name was al and he's he's worked with
19:35
Speaker 2: the organ prison system for like thirty years, and he
19:39
Speaker 2: was he was trying to call as he'd called my mom,
19:42
Speaker 2: and my mom was really scared because the individual that
19:46
Speaker 2: murdered my daughter actually threatened her life too. And then
19:50
Speaker 2: through this process getting all the parole hearing paperwork, packet
19:55
Speaker 2: and stuff, we found out that this guy had been
19:57
Speaker 2: scamming a bunch of people out of a lot of money.
20:00
Speaker 2: I had actually a lot of money and bank accounts
20:03
Speaker 2: in prison. So my family, which is obviously I live
20:10
Speaker 2: in North Dakota but they're not too far from the prison,
20:13
Speaker 2: was concerned because this guy is a very evil individual
20:20
Speaker 2: that he was going to try to hire somebody to
20:23
Speaker 2: actually hit man, to actually take them out. So they
20:28
Speaker 2: were continuing with they were dealing with that aspect of it.
20:32
Speaker 2: So this Al guy calls and he talked to us.
20:39
Speaker 2: He said that I bet to kind of explain to
20:42
Speaker 2: Al as a friend in the prison. Al's been dealing
20:47
Speaker 2: with the prison system for thirty years. He had a
20:51
Speaker 2: very close friend. He was married to Alex who's in
20:54
Speaker 2: the prison, and he was in very close association with
20:59
Speaker 2: Mike Whumerton, my daughter. So we had this informant in
21:02
Speaker 2: the prison that had been writing these letters, wrote like
21:05
Speaker 2: twelve letters to the parole board. Started out, I don't know,
21:09
Speaker 2: somewhere around six months from the parole hearing, maybe even
21:13
Speaker 2: sooner than that. Well, he called us because the victim's
21:19
Speaker 2: Advocate office was saying they couldn't find these letters, which
21:25
Speaker 2: you know, after everything that happened and everything to come out.
21:29
Speaker 2: We think they just threw them away because they didn't
21:30
Speaker 2: want to mate him into the parole hearing. But so
21:35
Speaker 2: I'll got a hold of us and started talking to us,
21:38
Speaker 2: and he submitted the letters to us, and we got
21:42
Speaker 2: them put in the parole hearing. And the reason I
21:45
Speaker 2: share this is because these letters were very instrumental and
21:53
Speaker 2: him getting to him. He actually got denied parole and
21:59
Speaker 2: it got an extend for another eight years before he
22:02
Speaker 2: can actually go up for parole again. And I don't believe, well,
22:06
Speaker 2: I know everybody that's been involved in this process knows
22:10
Speaker 2: that that would have never happened if if Al had
22:13
Speaker 2: not got a hold of us and we were able
22:16
Speaker 2: to get those letters presented to the prole board, which
22:20
Speaker 2: the Victim's Advocate office fought us on that too. They
22:24
Speaker 2: did not want us. They were not going to allow
22:26
Speaker 2: us to submit those letters, but we went around them.
22:30
Speaker 2: We actually started put petitioning the office of the Parole Board,
22:36
Speaker 2: We started writing the governor. I mean, we went to
22:40
Speaker 2: we did everything we could possibly do to get his
22:46
Speaker 2: parole denied.
22:49
Speaker 3: One question I have, I mean, I keep hearing the
22:52
Speaker 3: term victim advocate and you know, blocking of letters blocked.
22:55
Speaker 3: You know, what would be the purpose of blocking those
22:58
Speaker 3: letters letters if they were a victor an advocate? Maybe
23:03
Speaker 3: that's the ultimate question, right right?
23:05
Speaker 2: Well, it is, And I the way I felt about
23:08
Speaker 2: this victim advocate through the process, my sister felt like
23:13
Speaker 2: she was doing it intentionally. I felt like she was
23:16
Speaker 2: just completely incompetent. That was my in in my dealings
23:21
Speaker 2: with her and meeting her at the parole board and stuff.
23:25
Speaker 2: I felt like she was completely incompetent in the job
23:28
Speaker 2: she was doing, is what I thought. She had no
23:32
Speaker 2: empathy for the victims. She had no she did not
23:37
Speaker 2: for being a victim advocate. She had no self awareness
23:42
Speaker 2: of what people were going through and dealing with this process.
23:48
Speaker 1: I think you're talking about compassion.
23:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, compassion What.
23:53
Speaker 1: It sounds like to me, I hear you. If you're
23:56
Speaker 1: in that role, that one of your characteristics should be
24:00
Speaker 1: compassion for what the family is going through. It's not
24:03
Speaker 1: just like a structured checkbox. These come in these don't
24:06
Speaker 1: these like that? To me, this seems like you have
24:09
Speaker 1: to have a specific skill set to be able to
24:11
Speaker 1: do that job in the way that it needs to
24:13
Speaker 1: be done.
24:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, because I'm just listening to the story and I'm
24:16
Speaker 3: just going, okay, So I don't know what the details
24:19
Speaker 3: are around the letters at all, but I was like,
24:22
Speaker 3: why would you want to block them? Why would why
24:24
Speaker 3: would that even be why would that even be part
24:25
Speaker 3: of the conversation.
24:28
Speaker 2: And those letters were very powerful. I mean, and I
24:32
Speaker 2: will say this, the parole there was three members on
24:36
Speaker 2: the parole board. Those letters were so powerful that that
24:41
Speaker 2: parole board, that parole hearing was scheduled for four hours
24:45
Speaker 2: because they had another one after that. So that parole
24:49
Speaker 2: board started, it was more like an interrogation when they
24:55
Speaker 2: started the process with the with his attorneys and stuff,
25:04
Speaker 2: and they this went on for almost eight hours. I mean,
25:09
Speaker 2: there was nobody at any lunch. We were locked in
25:11
Speaker 2: that we had to go through security checks, We had
25:14
Speaker 2: to literally go through prison gates and go into a
25:20
Speaker 2: room where everybody sat in there for eight hours. I mean.
25:25
Speaker 2: The I will say that the members on the parole board,
25:31
Speaker 2: they those guys did a very good job. They I mean,
25:35
Speaker 2: they didn't leave any stone unturned and they and those letters, again,
25:39
Speaker 2: I want to emphasize those letters were central to their
25:44
Speaker 2: interrogations out the word, but it was more like a trial,
25:48
Speaker 2: and so.
25:48
Speaker 1: What would you like decision makers and the public to
25:51
Speaker 1: understand about the impact that that hearing had on your family.
25:56
Speaker 2: Well, I think they need to understand that, you know,
26:01
Speaker 2: even though it's been twenty five years, that has not
26:06
Speaker 2: changed anything. It has not got any easier emotionally to
26:10
Speaker 2: deal with the situation. I would almost say from my
26:16
Speaker 2: personal experience, I think it's been harder now. I don't
26:21
Speaker 2: know it's because a person gets numb originally. I don't
26:24
Speaker 2: know if it was because I ran away from it,
26:26
Speaker 2: because we moved. I mean we you know, me and
26:30
Speaker 2: my family moved, you know, to North Dakota, got away
26:34
Speaker 2: from it, and you know, maybe it was easier for
26:37
Speaker 2: me as an individual and our family to kind of
26:42
Speaker 2: shut it out at times and avoid you know. I mean,
26:46
Speaker 2: you know, there was the holidays, you know, we're really hard,
26:50
Speaker 2: especially her birthday, and there were situations of stuff. But
26:55
Speaker 2: you know, it was still I think personally I have
27:00
Speaker 2: I had kind of cut myself off from it somewhat emotionally,
27:05
Speaker 2: but going through the parole hearing it changed everything. I
27:11
Speaker 2: mean I feel like I'm literally reliving originally when it happened.
27:19
Speaker 2: I'm you know, and I know, I've been very my family.
27:24
Speaker 2: It's been very difficult my family because the anger and
27:28
Speaker 2: the emotion and the I mean, the need to do
27:32
Speaker 2: something to somehow try to make this situation right. And
27:37
Speaker 2: we are doing things. I mean, we've got a full
27:40
Speaker 2: on investigation going into the prison right now. I was
27:44
Speaker 2: just on the phone with the Inspector General from Oregon
27:48
Speaker 2: yesterday and getting every week we're getting an update on
27:54
Speaker 2: this investigation. Because the one thing those letters brung out
27:59
Speaker 2: was the cry that this individual is still committing in prison.
28:05
Speaker 2: It's not that this individuals stopped doing anything. He is
28:09
Speaker 2: still seeing he's selling drugs, he's scamming people out of
28:14
Speaker 2: hundreds of thousands of dollars. He's got a full on
28:18
Speaker 2: business con business going out of the prison through the
28:22
Speaker 2: Internet and the phone system. He's in privileged housing in
28:27
Speaker 2: the prison system because he narcs. He's a narc for
28:30
Speaker 2: the Snake River Correctional Institution. There's the possibility that there's
28:35
Speaker 2: actually there's not the possibility, but there's actually correction correctional
28:41
Speaker 2: offerors involved in some of this. And all that is
28:46
Speaker 2: and that's not just talk. This is we have a
28:50
Speaker 2: private investigator that's working on it. In the prison system,
28:56
Speaker 2: we have ol there's two informants in there. We get
29:01
Speaker 2: at least once a week updates what's going on there.
29:05
Speaker 2: Talked Inspector General yesterday, got an update. We're working on
29:11
Speaker 2: I mean, I've been in contact with malhur County, which
29:16
Speaker 2: is where Ontario, Oregon is, which is where Snake River is,
29:22
Speaker 2: with the district attorney there. I've been in contact continuously
29:26
Speaker 2: with Josh Pond out of Columbia County, Oregon, which where
29:30
Speaker 2: the case was originally tried, the district attorney there. And
29:36
Speaker 2: that's just a part of what we've got going on
29:38
Speaker 2: this right now.
29:41
Speaker 1: And this is all coming out from what was uncovered
29:44
Speaker 1: during the parole hearing. Is that what I'm understanding, This.
29:48
Speaker 2: Is all coming out from those letters that the informant
29:51
Speaker 2: wrote that got submitted to the parole hearing. Yes, we
29:56
Speaker 2: would not have known any of this if it was
30:00
Speaker 2: not for those letters. And that's what I was trying
30:02
Speaker 2: to emphasize earlier. And this is the.
30:06
Speaker 1: Power of keeping someone's name out there right not just
30:11
Speaker 1: letting it go. Because this person came forward because they
30:15
Speaker 1: know about Crystal and they know what happened and wanted
30:18
Speaker 1: to be part of the solution, right, not part of
30:21
Speaker 1: the problem, which seems like something you've been describing quite frequently.
30:26
Speaker 1: So this is part of why we do our work
30:28
Speaker 1: so that we are giving families an opportunity to keep
30:32
Speaker 1: the turn up the volume right, keep the spotlight on
30:38
Speaker 1: the horrible event that happened. Moving forward.
30:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to keep making waves. I'm telling you
30:44
Speaker 2: if you if you're going through the situation and I
30:48
Speaker 2: and this is one thing I will say, if you're
30:51
Speaker 2: going to trust the law for such which there's nothing
30:53
Speaker 2: wrong with trusting them, but if you think in most
30:57
Speaker 2: cases they're going to do it by themselves, and this resolved,
31:02
Speaker 2: and get it resolved in a way that even when
31:06
Speaker 2: this individual was prosecuted, it was not prosecuted correctly. There
31:11
Speaker 2: was other stuff involved that we're working with district attorneys
31:16
Speaker 2: trying to get additional charges, brag and stuff. People have
31:20
Speaker 2: got to get involved in this process. The criminal system is,
31:24
Speaker 2: I don't know, it's pretty moused up in my opinion.
31:27
Speaker 1: We're going to take a short pause here in our
31:29
Speaker 1: conversation about the life and legacy of Crystal Cook. In
31:33
Speaker 1: the next episode, we'll continue our discussion with Crystal's father
31:36
Speaker 1: Lee as he reflects on the year since her murder,
31:39
Speaker 1: the recent parole hearing, and the ongoing work being done
31:42
Speaker 1: through the Crystal Rose Cook nonprofit. You've been listening to
31:49
Speaker 1: Tragedy a True Crime Podcast. Our purpose is to honor
31:54
Speaker 1: victims by sharing their stories through the voices of friends, family,
31:58
Speaker 1: and those whose lives were forever changed. If today's episode
32:02
Speaker 1: resonated with you, we encourage you to subscribe, leave a review,
32:07
Speaker 1: and share the podcast so these important stories continue to
32:10
Speaker 1: be heard. Together, we can preserve their memories and ensure
32:15
Speaker 1: their voices are never forgotten. If you have ideas for
32:19
Speaker 1: cases we should cover, or questions about what you heard,
32:22
Speaker 1: you can connect with us through our Facebook group Tragedy
32:26
Speaker 1: a True Crime Podcast on x at Tragedy Podcast, by
32:31
Speaker 1: email at Tragedy a True Crime Podcast at gmail dot com,
32:36
Speaker 1: or by visiting our website www dot Tragedy a True
32:41
Speaker 1: Crime Podcast dot com. Thank you for listening, and we
32:45
Speaker 1: hope you'll join us next time.