Post by Scumhunter on Nov 19, 2019 6:17:27 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: wxyz.com)
From ABC 7 Detroit/Detroit's Most Wanted (wxyz.com):
DETROIT (WXYZ) — This week, police continue the search for the person involved in the hit-and-run death of a 31-year-old man in Detroit.
The search is gaining new speed as the victim's family put up a billboard to bring more exposure to the case.
As the family continues to grieve, U.S. Marshals are working to track down 34-year-old Daniel Cook. Police say Cook is responsible for a horrible hit-and-run crash that took the life of 31-year-old Herman "Rocky" Walters.
They took a life, you can't just take someone's life and walk away, it's just not right," said Juliana Baughman, Rocky's mother.
The mother of Herman Walters, also known as Rocky, says she won't stop fighting until her son's killer is caught.
"He will be caught," Baughman said.
Rocky was killed on the Southfield Service Drive near Schoolcraft in July. Police say his motorcycle was hit, he was dragged and the driver responsible took off.
"Through the Detroit Police investigation, a short time later they came to the public asking for tips. A tip came in which identified our suspect, we're looking for Daniel Cook," said Deputy U.S. Marshal Aaron Garcia.
Police say they found the car used in the crash was registered to Daniel Cook.
"After the accident he ditched the ride," said Garcia. "Police did a thorough investigation, the canvass of the area to find the vehicle, the target vehicle with the damage. And that's what led to one of the areas for identification."
The search for Cook turned up empty but now the U.S. Marshals have joined DPD in the manhunt.
"There's evidence that he may have fled the state, the jurisdiction so the U.S. Marshals, our task force is involved – searching leads out of state," said Deputy U.S. Marshal Aaron Garcia.
Rocky's family, doing everything they can in the search for justice, is putting up a billboard not far from where Rocky was killed.
"We believe that he is getting help," Garcia said. "His family is saying they don't know where he is. We don't know exactly who is helping him or who would help him at this point."
Rocky's mom says she put this billboard up as a way of trying to reach the family of the man accused of killing her son, and leaving him in the road to die.
"My pleas is to Daniel's mom, to Daniel's grandma," said Rocky's mother. "If the shoe was reverse, and they were here having this conversation with you holding their picture of their son. would they stop looking for whoever it is who hit him?"
Daniel Cook is 34 years old, 5-foot-8-inches tall and 160 pounds. The U.S. Marshals say he was living in Troy when the crash happened.
"We know he may have ties to Georgia, to Michigan to Troy obviously, Oakland County area," said Garcia. "He kind of bounces all over the place."
The Marshals say he knows he's a wanted man, and they're joining Rocky's family in asking for Cook to turn himself in.
"Daniel, if you are listening: Please come forward, I can forgive but please do the right thing, own up to what you did," said Matthew Sweet, Rocky's uncle.
As always, there's a cash reward for any information leading the arrest of Daniel Cook. You can call the U.S. Marshals anytime at (313) 234-5656.
www.wxyz.com/news/detroits-most-wanted-victims-family-puts-up-billboard-of-suspect-involved-in-fatal-hit-and-run
UPDATE: As of March 4th, 2020, anyone with information on this fugitive's whereabouts can also call or text "In Pursuit" on the Investigation Discovery channel at 833-378-7783 and/or submit a tip at the show's website: www.InPursuitTips.com
Thoughts? As of this posting date (November 19th, 2019), to keep track of Cook's wanted status, a search of Detroit's odyssey records still shows no movement in the case against Cook since a warrant was recommended back on August 21st: cmspublic.3rdcc.org/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=3778253
Also, I want to let the family of Rocky Walters know I found out about their case from their postings to the In Pursuit page on Facebook. I want to stress we're only an unofficial fan page and don't work for the show, although they know about us. All I can do is suggest they consider the case, but John Walsh and company have always said the hardest part of the shows they do is having to turn down hundreds of cases a week. Unfortunately, so many families need help and there is limited airtime .
I think I read Rocky's father claim the show turned down Rocky's case already, and I want to stress I don't want to sound like I'm defending In Pursuit and not taking feelings into account, but my feeling is if the case was turned down it is because this is a recent manhunt. In Season 1, most the cases skewed recent but not too recent and like six months at large if even that at the most recent, in other words, they generally want to wait until a case is officially cold and it seems like they want to give authorities a little time to find someone first, wait until their help is really needed as opposed to airing a case so recent the capture will happen right when they're getting ready or have already filmed a segment and spent money on resources to do so. I generally don't talk about this, but around six years ago when this was an only AMW-fan site, I debated shutting this forum down when it became obvious AMW wasn't coming back and not knowing there would be a new show called The Hunt, wondering what the purpose of the site was- then during the same week, an AMW-esque situation happened in my family with no show at all to even be turned down by and I realized the importance of anything that can help and that tragedies like I saw on AMW really could literally happen to anyone- and hence I kept the site. So it's not like I don't understand, but I hope by at least putting your case on this website, I can help in publicity in some way.
My recommendation to the family would be contacting Live PD on A&E which generally does breaking news in addition to regular wanted segments or contacting In Pursuit again after the next season should Cook unfortunately still be at large, but hopefully it doesn't come to that. My advice to Cook would be to turn himself in and take responsibility, but I'm not holding my breath. I hope he's caught soon, since he's a danger to anyone if he's still driving a car somewhere.
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