Parents of missing girl place newspaper ad
By: Antonio Castelan and Web Staff
More than two weeks have passed since Rachel Cooke was last seen jogging in her neighborhood. The Williamson County community continues to search for any clues leading to the 19-year-old's disappearance.
Pictures of Cooke are posted throughout Georgetown and the command center. Rachel's family even placed a quarter-page advertisement in the Austin American-Statesman in an effort to keep people aware of the search.
"Someone must have something," said Elaine Cooke, Rachel's aunt. "Someone knows what happened to Rachel. We are hoping this person will call one of the three numbers from this ad."
"You reach a little time where you get frustrated because we've been here seven, eight days and nothing yet," one volunteer said.
Last week, Rachel's parents hired EquuSearch, an independent, nonprofit search team to continue efforts. Volunteers are going over areas of land that have already been combed, but the number of volunteers has lowered since the start.
"You'll see this during the week. People have to work," said John Mitchiner, the EquuSearch assistant director. "We'll probably have had a thousand this week. You'll have 400 to 500 people tomorrow [Saturday]."
Kathleen Forney, a Cedar Park resident, has a daughter the same age as Rachel. She said all of the exposure urged her to come and help.
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"When I heard the news, it certainly struck my heart because I didn't really think much when she would go out, but when you have this happen during the day, and my heart along with my friends, we are convicted with God," Forney said. "It could've been our daughters."
The ad shows that there is a $25,000 reward for information on Rachel's whereabouts. Rachel's aunt believes this latest push will help.
"Whoever you are out there, please help us bring Rachel home," Elaine said.
EquuSearch expects a huge turnout of volunteers this weekend. They said they need more volunteers, horses, ATVs and kayaks.