Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Hubby claims 'open marriage' after wife disappears. Where is Cheryl Coker?

Transcript

Hubby claims 'open marriage' after wife disappears. Where is Cheryl Coker? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Cheryl Cocher seemingly disappears. This is what we know. Seven
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: fifteen am, she takes her daughter to school. She returns
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: at seven thirty five she posts on Facebook. Now, according
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to the Riverside Police, at seven forty five am, everything's fine,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: but significantly all social media everything with Cheryl Cheryl Cocher stops.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: What happened to Cheryl Cocher? Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Riverside Detective Travis Abernue says, this case has quickly become urgent.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Stephane not normal. This is an odd case, to say
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the least. Wednesday Night, Detective Abney says, the department recovered
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Coker's car in a parking lot of Burkhart and Spinning Road.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Coker has two thousand and sixteen Toyota Highlander was found
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: your Clancy's taver A car locked. Her belongings were still inside.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: All of her personal belongings did remain inside the vehicle,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: her purse, cell phone, wallet, ID, credit cards, etc. Which
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: added to the suspicion. To say the least. Coker is
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: a mother of two and her family says these circumstances
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: just don't add up. No one in the family has
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: heard from Coker since she dropped off her daughter on
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Tuesday morning. She had also missed work that day, which
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: again very odd, not a character and according to our family,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: she's never done anything like this before. Seems to be
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: very a good mother from what we've been told, and
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: again all this is out of character according to the family.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: What happened to Cheryl Poker? Joining me an all star
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: panel to break it down put it back together again.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Ashley Wilcot judge, trial lawyer, anchor Court TV at Ashley
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Wilcot dot Com. James Shellnutt metro major, k SWAT officer
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: now lawyer, forensics expert, founder Bear Bones Consulting, Karen Smith,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: forensic Psychiatrists joining me out of the Florida jurisdiction. You
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: can find him at Instagram at doctor Daniel Bober. But
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: right now, to Crime online dot Com investigative reporter Levi Paige,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: tell me Levi about the surroundings. What happened when Cheryl
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Cooker goes missing? So, Nancy, it's October second, twenty eighteen,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and she dropped her daughter off at seven thirty in
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: the morning at school, and she was on social media
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: for a period of time until seven forty five am
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: and then there's no more posts on social media. Her
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: husband is at home and he says that he hears
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: her in the shower, but that he's asleep and he
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: never sees her, and that when he wakes up, she's gone. Okay,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: wait wa wait, slow it down. She was in the shower,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: according to the husband. He said that he heard her
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: in the shower, but he never physically saw her in
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the home that morning, but he heard her in the shower.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: He says that he was asleep, asleep, Okay. Trying to
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: establish a timeline is the number one priority of police
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: at this juncture. Take a listen to our friend Cheryl
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: mckinry w hiot V seven News, October two. Detectives say
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Cheryl left her house on Christie Avenue about seven fifteen,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: dropped off her daughter at Stebans High School, then got
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: back home around seven thirty five. She spent the next
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: few minutes sharing posts on Facebook. At about a seven
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: forty five that morning, pretty much everything electronically with her
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: just stopped. Three hours later, surveillance video shows Cheryl's su
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: driving into the Kroger parking lot at Spinning in Burkhart
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: less than a mile from her home. It isn't clear
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: who was driving. With the pit of my stomach, something
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: hurt and I knew something wasn't right. Margie Keenan called
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Riverside police to report her sister missing after Cheryl's daughter
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: couldn't reach her too and never never be gone without
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: calling her fifteen year old actor, but the family wasn't
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: alarmed until Cheryl's suv was found the next night with
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: her purse and cell phone inside. You are hearing our friends,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Cheryl mckinry, trying to establish a timeline. So this is
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: what we know. At seven forty five am. Everything's fine,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: but significantly all social media, everything with Cheryl, Cheryl Cocher stops.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: And I'm assuming that that means cell phone activity, emails
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: and texts. To ask you, Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: you got to take that in perspective, though, It's got
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to be relative. For instance, somebody that lives on their
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: phone and then they suddenly go radio silent at forty
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: five in the morning, that's significant. However, it's somebody that
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: tries not to be on their devices, like myself, it
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: may not be a big deal. Ashley, that's right, that's
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: absolutely right. The same stands for social media. If someone's
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: always posting things on social media and then all of
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: a sudden they're quiet and you see nothing, there may
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: be cause for alarm. I think what significant is what
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: you said, and that is the family was not concerned
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: until her vehicle was found, and so the other things
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: didn't seem to alert them or alarm them or worry
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: them until her vehicle was located. You're right following up
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: on what aske you Wilcott just said, take a listen
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: to our friends at w DTNTV. This is Kristin Escow.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Sheryl Koger's daughter tells me she used to find my
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: iPhone app on her phone to try to track down
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: her mother's cell phone, and that led her to this
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: parking lot behind me on Burkhart Road, where she found
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: her mother's car with that cell phone and purse locked inside.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: She tells me that discovery alone was disturbing since her
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: mother doesn't often visit the businesses on this side of
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the Strip Mall. She's always been there for both me
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: and my Sister's just hard not having her After a
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: week with few answers, Marissa Coker says it's hard to
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: think about the possibilities of what could have happened to
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: her mother, forty six year old Sheryl Coker. Police say
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Coker was last seen the morning of October second, dropping
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: her other daughter off at school. Marissa says she last
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: saw her mom the night before she went missing. That
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: was for about three hours. We were having a good time,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: listening to music and everything. Surveillance video shows her mother's
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: car driving around this shopping center on Burkhart Road the
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: day she was last seen before parting your Clancy's tavern. Well,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: this is what we know. I thought that the car
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: had pulled into a parking lot at a Crow grocery
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: store about a mile from her home, but now we're
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: learning it was closer to Clancy's tavern. I kept wondering,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: why don't you see her get out of the car,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: because the driver off her vehicle was unidentified. But take
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: a listen to this. Coker's car was discovered right here
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: in this parking lot that I'm standing in, and it
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: was picked up by these security cameras right here behind
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: me driving into the lot. However, the cameras did not
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: pick up who was exactly was inside the car. And
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: what happened to them? Ryl Cocker's car was discovered in
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: a parking lot near Clancy's tavern. Her cellphone and purse
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: were still inside the car, but she was nowhere to
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: be found, and we were in the back unloading a truck.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: So if emily happened right up front. Coker's arrival to
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: the shopping plaza was picked up by Joe Brumley's security cameras.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: One camera was set to record constantly. One camera, which
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: was actually Clancy's camera, was set to only motion record,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: so when the car pulled in, there's a few seconds
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: where they don't get out of the car and there's
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: no movement on the screen, the record is shut off.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: In this surveillance video, Coker's car can be seen driving
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: down Spinning Road before entering the bank of the parking
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: lot and pulling into a parking space and stopping. But
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: because there wasn't enough motion on the screen, the motion
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: activated cameras don't pick up who left the car? Wow,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I did not realize that well, Karen Smith, Forensic's expert
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: founder Bare Bones Consulting Number one. When I find a
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: car parked way at the end of the parking lot,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the furtherest away from the door right there. That raises
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: a red flag to me because let's just say it's
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: in the evening and you're going into a tavern, a
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: woman driving one a park is closest could to where
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: she's going grocery store. You want to park as close
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: to the door as you can because you're gonna be
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: dragging groceries out or with a buggy. Now, parking way
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: far at the furthest parking spot, that's a red flag
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: to me. But I did not know that surveillance cameras
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: don't have enough emotion By just someone getting out of
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: the car and walking away. The surveillance camera picked up
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: the car coming in, but when no one immediately got out.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: When they did get out, that wasn't enough to alert
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the emotion detect her. Right. You know, I don't know
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: how motion cameras work, but the car is a very
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: large item, so maybe the camera picked that up. I
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: don't even know how far away it was from the tavern.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: But you are right, Nancy, Women, and you know, vulnerable
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: people like us, they're not going to park at the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: furthest away. Even when you buy a brand new car, Yeah,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you might park in a space has one space on
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: each side of it because you don't want it to
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: be dinged. But you're right, you don't want to be
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: in that vulnerable, vulnerable position. What really has me hanked up, Nancy,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: is what was in this car, person or cell phone
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: were found inside that car needed to be gone through
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: with a fine tooth comb. I am talking DNA swabs
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: from the handles, DNA swabs from the steering wheels, from
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the gearshifts, from the seats, hair samples, any kind of
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: chemical luminescence of blood, or anything that may indicate that
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: a crime took place in that car, that the car
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: was used for transport of any type of crime, or
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: any type of God forbid of body, or anything that
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: has to do with it. Because frankly, that's all they
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: have right now as far as I understand. Okay, another
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: interesting fact. Take a listen to what else we know
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: about the timeline. According to AHIOTV seven, did you ever
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: see Cheryl come back after dropping off? No, but I
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: got up to for a few minutes and shoot it
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: in the shower, But I didn't see her, and this
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: would have been after she dropped Kayla off. Yes, Okay,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: so then um, you didn't see her at that point,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: and then did you go back to sleep and then
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: when you woke back up she was gone and her
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: car was obviously then gone as well. So who do
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: you think that is on camera at the Kroger lot
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: parking that car and then walking away? I don't know.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Someone should not someone from Not because she's meeting people
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: and probably wanted me to think that she was. No,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm just Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Did you ever see Cheryl come back after got off?
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: I got up to for a few minutes and shootes
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: in the shower, but I didn't see her, and this
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: would have been after she got mkayl off. Yes, okay,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: So then, um, you didn't see her at that point,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: then did you go back to sleep, and then when
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: you woke back up she was gone and her car
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: was obviously then gone as well. So who do you
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: think that is on camera at the Kroger lot park
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: in that car and then walking away. I don't know.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Someone should not someone from Not because meeting people and
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: probably wanted me to think. No, I don't know, I
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: just us meeting people to leave my page. Crime online
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter, What do you mean she's meeting people?
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: She just took her daughter to school first thing in
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: the morning. According to him, the dad, she comes back
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: and takes a shower. What do you mean meeting people?
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: What at the Kroger parking lot? Well, this is gonna
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: make your head explode, Nancy. In that same interview with
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Whio in Dayton, Ohio, he said that his wife was
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: engaging in quote risky behavior. Well, here we go. Take
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: a listen to Whio. Do you have any idea what
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: happened to Cheryl? Pretty risky behavior right before she disappeared.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, I haven't really been willing to put that
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: out there because I didn't want peer about it. The
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: question that police would ask you, where our audience would
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: ask you, did did you have anything to do with
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Cheryl's death? Did you kill her? No? I did, I
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: did not. And you have never never, in my entire life,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: heard anyone given that when you you came back from
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Florida the very next day was the day that she
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: apparently was the last time anyone saw her. Is that correct? Yea,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: So did you get to see her in between the
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: time you came back and the time that she took
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: McKayla to school that day. I see her renighted. We
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: came back okay, and then she left at the school
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: that the next day and um, you went over to
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: the house after that, No, I was here. So she's
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: at home at seven forty five am, because we know
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: she posts on Facebook. After that, everything goes radio silent,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: no phone, no text, no posting, nothing. Then something very
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: bizarre is uncovered. Take a listen to HIOTV seven. In
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the months leading up to her disappearance, there were a
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: number of key developments in her personal life. Cheryl filed
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: for divorce on September twenty first, seeking custody and alimony.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Cheryl knew her husband had a girlfriend. Police have questioned both.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: They've both been very cooperative with us at this point.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: And then there were suspicious texts. Bill Cocker's girlfriend told
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: police Cheryl texted her on August twenty eighth, asking that
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: if Cheryl were to die or wasn't in the picture,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: would she pursue a permanent relationship with Bill. It was
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: reportedly sent by Cheryl, but we're not one hundred percent
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: convinced that she actually did. Said Another text from Bill
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: to Cheryl on September twenty fourth, thanks for putting the
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: nail in my coffin. And that same day, a text
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: from Cheryl to a co worker, I will be in
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: tomorrow if I'm not dead. And remember the trip to
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Florida Bill Coker had taken with his daughter. Police confirm
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: he took his girlfriend too, something Cheryl's best friend says,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Cheryl could not have known. And I think that Mamma Bear,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: but it came out, would have known that other woman. Wow,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: it's becoming trickier and trickier as the evidence mounts to
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: leave my page that that's not normal to leave a
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: message I'll be at work if I'm still alive. Leavi,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: What can you tell me about that text? Yes, that
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: is what she sent to her co workers Nancy, and
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: she worked as a crash specialist and was always on time,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: and she often worked from home, and she always worked
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: from home. She never skipped work, very rarely called in sick,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: was very responsible. So the night she the day that
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: she vanished, it was odd that she didn't check in
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: with her co workers and let them know, hey, I'm
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: working from home, or did not show up physically to work,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: and then to send a text message like this had
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: a lot of her co workers worried and Nancy her husband,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: William Coker, had said that they had owed an open marriage,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: but that's not what her friends and family said. They
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: say that she did not approve of him having an
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: affair while they were married or having a girlfriend. Ash Willcott,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: every time I hear about an open marriage, why is
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: it always the man that wants the open marriage not
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the woman. That's just anecdotal. I don't have any statistics
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: backing that up. But here you have the husband saying
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: we had an open marriage, and the wife doesn't know
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: anything about it, right, So you know, I always wonder though, honestly,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: you know as well as I do. I'm sure there
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: are women out there that want an open marriage, but
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: it sure does seem like if nothing else. Oh, actually,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I've never I've never met a single woman that wants
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: an open marriage. They may want the husband to do
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: no one, you know one, Okay, I'm glad to hear that.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: You know, I do know that you are a you
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: meet hundreds of people a week in your line of business,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and you know one woman that will say, yeah that
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: want claims to want an open marriage. We know that
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: just days before days before Cheryl goes missing, she's the
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: one that files for divorce from Bill Coker, her husband
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: of nineteen years, telling her friends her husband's seeing her.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: What do we know about that, Leavi Page. Yes, we
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: know that she wanted him to quit seeing this girlfriend
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: and he refused to do so, and she was basically
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: forced to get a divorce. That doesn't sound like an
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: open marriage to me. I think the definition of an
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: open marriage is both people in the marriage can have
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: people on the side and there's no divorce and they
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: continue on with their marriage like normal. Yeah. Good point.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: You got me over the barrel on that one. I
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: should have noticed that, James Shelnutt. If they have an
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: open marriage and she's all for it, then why does
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: she file for a divorce? Yeah? I don't find it either.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: I mean I would leave. Open marriage means that everybody's
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: open to it, not just one party. It sounds she
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: was closed to the ibs that have opened to it.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: You know what I always say, if my husband mentions
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: open marriage, then it's open casket for him. For anybody
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: that knows anything about this case, Tip line nine three
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: seven six eight one two three zero one. Crime Stories
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. According to public records, Cheryl Cooker had
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: falled for divorce eleven days earlier, but her daughter tells me,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: despite that, the forty six year old crash technician wouldn't
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: just run off or cut off contact with her family.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: She wouldn't just ditch work too. She loved work and
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: she loved being with family and friends and stuff like that.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: So with none of us hearing anything, it's very concerning.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Coker helps me her family is grateful for the support
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: they received from the community for helping raise awareness about
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: her mother's disappearance. She says she's hopeful the search ends
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: with a positive outcome. It's very hard, and especially being
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: after a week not knowing anything, not hearing anything, It's
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: very hard to keep those conspirats and stuff, even though
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: you want e tries so hard to do that. You
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: are hearing our friends at w DTNTV Kristin Escal, Cheryl
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Cooker seemingly disappears, joining me and Ashley Wilcot, judge, trial
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: lawyer anchor Court TV at Ashley Wilcot dot com. James
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: shell Nutt metro major k SWAT officer now lawyer, forensics expert,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: founder Bare Bones consulting Karen Smith forensic psychiatrists joining me
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: out of the Florida jurisdiction. You can find him at
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Instagram at doctor Daniel Bober Crime online dot Com. Investigative
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: reporter Levi Paige in a case that gets dare borrow
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: from Alice in Wonderland. Again, curiouser and curiouser the fact
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: to you, Ash Walcott that she files for divorce just
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: before she goes missing. That's got to mean something. Oh
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: it does, And I'm gonna steal an expression from you.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: There is so no such thing as a coincidence in
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: this particular set of facts. I do not believe that
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: coincidentally she disappeared right after she filed for divorce. Her
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: car found locked later that evening. By the way, it
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: was left there at about ten forty five. Am. Okay,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: remember she drops the daughter off seven fifty michaela am.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Husband says he hears her in the shower. We know
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: she's posting from Facebook at about seven forty five, Three
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: hours later, Surveillan's video shows for suv entering a parking
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: lot of an eatery. We now now it's Clancy's tavern
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: less than a mile away. Her suv was found later
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: that night, doors locked, phone, credit cards, and other personal
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: belongings inside, and she was going to eat or get groceries.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: How come all of her stuff was in the car
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to Karen Smith, how would you go about processing the car? Well,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: the first thing that you do, Nancy, before you do anythings,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: you photograph it inside and out. You don't open the doors.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: You take DNA swabs at those door handles, all of them,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: even the rear one. You open the doors one by
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: one and you take DNA swabs from the interior to
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: steering wheel, the gearshift, the arm rests, everywhere that somebody
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: would touch. You photographed the rear view mirror. You take
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: any fingerprints that you can find off of clean, smooth surfaces,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: all of those things, cigarette butts, soda cups, soda cans, glasses,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: anything that's in that car needs to be bag tagged,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: in processed. If there's any foreign DNA, any foreign fingerprints,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: that'll give you a lead. Now, if they come back,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I don't know, But if they come back to the husband,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: that may or may not be inculpatory evidence against him.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: But what you need to look for as well, is
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: any evidence that a crime took place in that car.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: You need to get cadaver dogs out there, have the
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: car sniffed, look for any evidence of blood or any
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: fluids in the back of the trunk. Are there any blankets,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: any tarts, and he's string anything that could be used
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: to bind something. Where was the car? Is there any
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: kind of tracking device on the car? Sometimes on Star
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: you can track where the car went. Now, here's one
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: thing that's curious about me, Nancy. It was parked a
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: mile away from the house. She's not going to walk home.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Somebody who parked it there were they able to walk
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: back to where they came from. That's not very far
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: to walk. Just something that hit me when you said that, Yeah,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: one mile only from the house. And now we see
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: he says I hated to say it, but then says
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: it on TV she was engaging in risky behavior. Let's
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: take a listen to our friends at WDT and TV News.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: It's been twenty nine days now since show Coker first disappeared,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and these search warrants we've obtained cover everything from a
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: divorce to thousands of dollars missing, and now Riverside police
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: are aggressively looking for answers. Now after filing search warrants
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: for two vehicles, a cell phone, and Cocker's home. Riverside
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Police say they are aggressively investigating her disappearance. Search warrants
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: filed by Riverside PD say police are investigating a kidnapping,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: and affidavit shows police want to see text messages and
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: online communication between Coker and a person of interest who
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Two News was choosing not to name. The affidavit details
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: a separate text message conversation with a co worker in September.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: In it, she says her husband had been served divorce papers,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: then says, so I will be in tomorrow if I'm
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: not dead. According to an affid David, a woman tells
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: police Cocker's husband was blind cited by the divorce. Another
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: person in the affidavit called it a messy divorce. Okay,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: that's not all question. Why not just clear his name
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: by taking a polygraph? Listen, we're now treating this as
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: a homicide investigation. There's a lot of information that we
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: cannot discuss a homicide, but still no body in the
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: missing person's case that's gripped the Miami Valley since October.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: William Coker, Cheryl's husband is our one and only suspect
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: at this time. Please say, William Cocher has been largely
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: indifferent to the investigation, showing little interest and finding out
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: what happened to the woman he married nineteen years ago.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: So one time in four and a half months we've
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: been contacted by mister Cooker has in regards to Cheryl's
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: whereabouts you know, concerning whether enough she's even alive where
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: We have asked mister Coker to take a polygraph at
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: this current time after multipor quest for a polygraph, mister
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Cooker is reluctant to do so at this time. Well,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: I know it can't come in at trial under the
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. But Ashley Wilcot, judge
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: and trial lawyer, I'm always suspicious when a husband won't
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: take a polly when his wife goes missing. Yeah, I
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: am too. I'm suspicious when anyone won't take a polygraph
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: when they're asked to involving anyone's disappearance or death. Why
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: not take it? Honestly, it may not be admissible, but
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: if he really wasn't involved, didn't do anything, no harm,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: no foul, take the test. Karen Smith, forensics expert bare
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: bones consulting, what type of search should have been conducted
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: at the home, anything and everything. Nancy, I know that's
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: a wide swath to cover, but honestly, you know, I
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: don't know what this home looked like nobody that goes
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: in there. And that's one of the challenges we have,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: is we don't know what normal looks like to this family.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: But sometimes you can tell if things are abnormal. Were
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: there any papers that were out, these divorce papers? Was
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: he going over them? Were there unsigned papers? Does it
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: look like the struggle was anything overturned? Does it look
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: like things have been clean? Do you smell bleach? That's
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: a big clue. And I'm not trying to I'm not
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: trying to hang the guy. All I'm saying is is
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: if he has nothing to hide, the search warrant should
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: turn up literally nothing as far as he's concerned. Just
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: like the polygraph crime stories with Nancy Grace. Despite searching
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: from eight am to about five this afternoon, they did
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: not uncover anything today. But that does not mean that
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: they're stopping or quitting. In fact, tomorrow they will be
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: right back out in Vandalia again, tightening the circle of
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: the area that they'll be searching to see where Sheryl
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Coker might be. Cheryl Coker has been gone for almost
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: a year. Today, EQUI search leaders are more confident than
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: ever that they will find her after conducting a large
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: search effort in an undisclosed location and then Delia, we're
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: one step away. I think, I think we're in the
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: right church, but we got to find the right pew.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: You guys, make sure you search that area real good
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: because the car couldn't easily fit through there. Saturday search
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: wasn't without its challenges. It's kind of brutal out here,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: but the volunteers continue to search for hours, unwilling to
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: give up on finding their neighbor. They have one of
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: their own that's missing. You know, they take this stuff
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: personally and they want they want to find her for
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the family. You are hearing our friends at WDTNTV leave
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: my page. What can you tell me about the search? Nancy?
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: We know that on Halloween twenty eighteen, police released information
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: about the search warrants that they conducted in this case.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: They had two search warrants for the Toyota Highlander that
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Cheryl Cooker drove the twenty seventeen Toyota, Tacoma that her
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: husband drove. We know that there was a search warrant
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: for her husband's cell phone, court orders to search the
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: bank records of both Cheryl and William Cooker. There was
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: a court order to search records held by William Cooker's
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: place of employment, two court orders for cell records for
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: two separate phone numbers, and they had a search warrant
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: for the residence of their home. And in it they
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: talk about what they're looking for. Any items used to
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: conceal or dispose of a body in any and all materials,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: electrical stimuli, chemicals, topicals, indigestibles are inhalance that could render
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: a human unresponsive or unconscious. Wow, that sounds like a
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: lot of legal documents as well. What can you tell
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: us about the search for her body, Nancy. We know
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: that Texas Equisearch, which is a high profile search team
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: that is volunteered in a lot of cases that we
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: know of, like Natalie Holloway, Stacy Peterson, they volunteered their
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: time to search in this case and they have found
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: in muddy searches that they've done evidence. Now they're not
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: saying what exactly they found, but they said that they
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: did find evidence and turned it over to law enforcement,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: and law enforcement told them not to speak specifically about
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: what they did find. We are also learning that police
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: say they have a suspect, but James Shellnutt Metro major
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: case and lawyer, no arrest or formal charges have been made. Why.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I think that they've had a hard time linking this
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: beyond a circumstantial case. And although in many states people
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: can be convicted on circumstantial evidence, I think they're wanting
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: just a little bit more of this case. I believe
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: wholeheartedly that the detectives and even the district attorney's office
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: believe they know exactly who killed her, But I think
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: they're wanting just a little bit more. Take a listen
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: to our friends at w DTNTV. Cooker's husband, William, has
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: been named the homicide suspect by Riverside police, but has
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: been neither arrested nor charged with the crime. Since the
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: case is ongoing, the search team must be careful even
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: if they do find something, So we want to make
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: sure that we're doing things the right way, so if
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: something is found that through the judicial system, we're doing
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: things right. So nobody gets off on any technicologies, but
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: they're not leaving any stone unturned in their search to
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: bring closure to the Cooker family. When we do something,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: we're absolutely doing it, crossing the t's and dotting the eyes.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: I can almost guarantee you if this isn't the last
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: time you'll see me. We know that extensive searches have
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: taken place to find her body. Still nothing, no arrest.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Now police have going out on a limb and they
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: say they have a suspect in the case. They are
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: naming her husband as a suspect. But that is not
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: an arrest or an indictment. Make what about it, Ashley
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: will Cott, Yeah, it doesn't. So you know, there are
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: different standards of evidence and how much information they have
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: and part of what I think has happened in this case.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying I agree or disagree, but kind
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: of a court of public opinion, because everybody says he
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: did it, he did it, he did it, all right,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: So as a judge, I've got different standards. If I'm
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: going to sign an arrest warrant, there has to be
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: probable cause for finding that the person I'm signing the
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: arrest warrant for committed the crime. And if I don't
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: see that evidence, if there's not enough evidence connecting that
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: person to having committed the crime, in this case, him
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: killing his wife or being involved with the disappearance, since
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: the body hasn't been found, then I can't sign an
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: arrest warrant. And then after that the next step is
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: all right, you have them arrested, but then you also
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: have to have enough to take them to trial to
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: prove the crime against them. Listen, even though Cooker's body
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: has never been found, that's despite the public helping search
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: since April and police naming her husband a homicide suspect
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: in February. A business's surveillance video the IT Team has
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: previously obtained from the morning Cooker disappeared shows her suv
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: pull into the Kroger parking lot less than a mile
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: from her house. The video shows a person dressed in
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: all black getting out of Coker's suv. That's close to
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: the time someone called nine one one saying they saw
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: a suspicious man dressed in black walking in her neighborhood.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Later that night, surveillance footage captures Bill Cooker at Kroger
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: getting groceries. As he's leaving, police said Bill Cocker appears
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: to have a visible injury on his arm. Investigators believe
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: that is significant to the case. Police say that they
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: now believe Sheryl Cocker was murdered. They have named her husband,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Old Cooker, is their main suspect. He denies wrongdoing. Do
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: you have any idea what happened to Cheryl some previously
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: behavior right before she disappeared? And I haven't really been
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: willing to put that out there because I didn't want
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: to hear about it. The question that police would ask
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: you or our audience would ask you, did Did you
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: have anything to do with Cheryl's death? Did you kill her? No?
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: I didn't, I did not, and you have anything Never,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: never in my entire life heard anyone given that when
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: you you came back from Florida the very next day
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: was the day that she apparently was the last time
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: anyone saw her. Is that correct? Yea, So did you
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: get to see her in between the time you came
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: back and the time that she took Michael at to
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: school that day? I seen her the night we came back, okay,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: and then she left it school that the next day,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: and you went over to the house after that. No,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: I would as of right now, no arrest and no
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: formal charges. How badly will it hurt the case? James
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: shalnot that there is no body, you know, Nancy, Not
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: having a body is an issue. Not having it is
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: definitely an issue. However, there have been cases across the
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: country where defendants have been convicted of murder without a
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: body being ever found. Take a listen to this. Despite
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: searching from eight am to about five this afternoon, they
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: did not uncover anything today. But that does not mean
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: that they're stopping or quitting. In fact, tomorrow they will
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: be right back out in Vandalia again, tightening the circle
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: of the area that they'll be searching to see where
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Sheryl Cooker might be. You were hearing our friends at
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: w DT and TV News. That was Williamson. We wait
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: as justice unfolds tipline nine three seven six eight one
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: two three zero one Nancy Grace crime story signing off,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: goodbye friend,