Vivacious And Unafraid: The Texas Cold Case Of Missing Woman Rachel Cooke

On January 10th, 2002, Rachel Louise Cooke went for a brisk morning jog in Georgetown, Texas- and never returned.

How does a young woman go missing in the middle of the morning? And why are we no closer to finding her nearly 23 years later?

In an interview with Fox 7 Austin, Rachel's mother remembered how her daughter was before her disappearance.

She described her as a remarkable young lady- vivacious, unafraid to try new things, a lover of fashion, her friends, and her life.

She sounds like she was a very likable 19-year-old, and on-trend for 2002 with her chunky highlights and clean makeup style (pictured above).

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When Rachel went missing, she was quite petite at 5'3" and 115 pounds. She had a couple of small tattoos- heart-shaped cherries and a black star on her toe, along with several ear piercings.

This is all according to her FBI Missing Poster, which also offers a $50,000 reward for her location.

According to Jerrie Dean of Missing Persons of America, Rachel was visiting her parents during a break from her community college in San Diego.

She sent her parents a text that she was going on her usual 4-mile morning run. Rachel was a cross-country runner, meaning she may not have kept to the streets for her jog.

Witnesses last saw Rachel around 11-11:30 am. Witnesses also saw a young man speaking to a female jogger, although it's unclear if that jogger was Rachel.

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There were also whispers of a suspicious Trans AM, although details about that are sparse and possibly hearsay/ incorrect.

These are sketches of persons of interest based on witnesses who saw Rachel that day.

Jerrie Dean went to the neighborhood Rachel went missing in and discovered each house is on an acre to three acres of land, and that the area is fairly wooded.

She also spoke to an anonymous source who said that she was also followed by three men a week prior to Rachel's disappearance who bore a resemblance to these police sketches, but that the car was not a Trans AM.

They may have been construction workers, as this neighborhood was just being built up at the time.

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There have been few developments and leads in this case (or at least, that have been made known to the public) save for a 2021 release from the Williamson County Sheriff's Office.

They are seeking a man who may have been "an associate of Cooke's while she was in Georgetown and is also believed to be involved in the cattle and horse industry," and who had been speaking about the case in the third person and distancing himself from, "the incident."

Rachel would be 42 today and probably just as vivacious and fearless as ever. There is little hope she'll ever be found alive, so here's hoping that for her family's sake, she is ever found at all.