Cold Case: Louise Cook

June 20th, 1994. A man going to do some yard work for 77-year old Louise Cook instead finds a murder scene at her home on Rawlings street. Someone had beaten the East Chattanooga woman to death.

Sgt. Bill Phillips of the Chattanooga police explains, "An autopsy was done and it was found that she died as a result of several areas of multiple trauma." 

Louise Cook was known to hire young men in the neighborhood to do yard work around her house. The night before she died, she was talking to a neighbor on the phone, when a young, slender black man appeared at her door. Cook got off the phone, and went outside with him. Police believe she was talking to him about doing some work. Cook's neighbor spotted her talking to the man in the yard. Police believe that young man may be the killer. But who was he, and why did he kill a 77-year old woman. Cook was known to keep her doors locked, but the man who found her says the screen door was closed, but unlocked, and the front door was wide open.

Now, years after the killing, Chattanooga police hope someone can lead them to the person who killed Louise Cook. "A 77 year old lady who is almost completely harmless, and it's just, it's just sad," notes Sgt. Phillips. "I think there's probably someone out there who knows who did it."