Michael Keith Moore is charged with the murder of Rachel Cooke.
Moore, 31, pleaded "not guilty" in court Thursday morning to the charge. Before the hearing, a deal was struck for Moore to plead "guilty" to murder to avoid a capital murder charge and the possibility of a death sentence. (Read Michael Keith Moore's criminal history.)
Moore's “not guilty” plea threw a wrench into the court proceedings, which lasted only five minutes before a recess. Court resumed at 11:20 a.m. with no new developments and recessed until further notice.
Moore struck Cooke's head with a hammer and then suffocated her, an affidavit said.
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Moore brought to court
Watch the police drive Michael Moore into the county courthouse.
 
Moore charged
Allison Toepperwein reports from the Williamson County Courthouse in Georgetown.
Courtroom video
See raw video from Thursday's proceedings.
Robert and Janet Cooke
Rachel Cooke's parents speak about today's events.
The DA and Sheriff
Watch the complete press conference held with District Attorney John Bradley and Sheriff James Wilson.
An emotional day
Paul Brown sums up the Cooke family's emotions.
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Earlier this year, Moore pleaded guilty to felony murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping in the killing of Christina Moore; the two are not related. He was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences for that crime. (Read a collection of stories on the Christina Moore murder.)
Cooke, 19, disappeared in 2002 while jogging near her parent's home in Georgetown. Her disappearance remained a mystery since then.
“The sheriff and I were led to believe that this morning Michael Keith Moore was prepared to take responsibility for the disappearance of Rachel Cooke … When it came time to admit his guilt, he entered a plea of ‘not guilty.’ That is his right. And based upon that, the sheriff and I will go back to work and continue to develop information to develop to prosecute Michael Moore,” Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley said.
Bradley would not answer questions on whether Cooke’s body had been found.
“There were several things that Michael told us that only the person who was involved in the abduction and the probable slaying of Rachel Cooke could have known. We verified the facts that he gave us and it was pretty obvious, well it was completely obvious, that he had to have been there … at the location and that his confession in all likelihood is true,” Williamson County Sheriff James Wilson said.
The decision to bring Moore into court was made to provide closure to the Cooke family, Bradley said.
“And I regret that Michael Keith Moore, at least at this moment, passed on the opportunity to help them with that closure and resolve this case,” Bradley said. “One of the mottos that I live by is, the worst thing someone can do is get me to notice them, to get me to pay attention to their case more than any other case and to bring the resources that we have more and more to bear on that."
The morning’s events were upsetting to the Cooke family.
“We were ready for this phase of it, but he’s decided to play with us a little bit, but we’re still here, we’re not going away,” Janet Cooke, Rachel’s mother, said. “Closure’s going to come in bits and pieces, I think. And, I think, we got a little bit today.”
“Oh, I’m extremely angry, but I’ve been angry for four years, but I channel it in other directions,” Robert Cooke, Rachel’s father, said. “I just couldn’t believe that he would … put us through this, what his motives were to string us along and tell all the information he had told so far and not go through with it,” Robert said of the “not guilty” plea.
“I’d like to see him stay in jail the rest of his life. He’s a predator. He’s killed two people at least. That’s what we know. That’s what I know,” Robert said. “I think it’s hard to consider him a person. This is not a person.”
Robert had a few words for Moore.
“Come forward and be a man for once in your life and tell the truth,” he said.
Moore’s involvement in the case was not made known to the Cooke family until Wednesday, Robert said.
For more information on the case, visit rachelcookesearch.org.
Anyone with information in the Cooke case should call (512) 818-0494, (512) 966-6561 or (512) 818-2184.
