53-Domestic Violence MURDERED: Deanna Cook

Transcript

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Hi Warriors, welcome to 1 in 3.

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I'm your host, ingrid.

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Some of the stories I have presented ended tragically.

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In too many of those circumstances, the outcome occurred despite the victim following all recommendations to ensure their safety.

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My apologies, but today is no different.

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This is the story of Deanna Cook.

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Deanna Cook was born to Vicki Cook and Mark Thompson in June of 1980.

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Deanna Cook was born to Vicki Cook and Mark Thompson in June of 1980.

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The oldest of four girls, deanna quickly adapted to the role of the oldest child, assisting her single mother throughout her childhood.

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In high school, deanna was known to be very athletic and did well in track and field for her South Cliff high school team.

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She was described as beautiful, with an infectious laugh.

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She had high aspirations of becoming a model or an author.

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At the age of 16 years, deanna had her first daughter.

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She welcomed her second daughter two years later, at the age of 18.

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She was a good mother and did everything she could to provide a loving, stable environment for her girls.

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She moved her daughters to a cute home in a nicer area located in South Dallas.

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She eventually met Delvecchio Patrick, who was five and a half years her elder, despite his previous charges of aggravated assault in 1994 and possession of cocaine in 2007, deanna began a romantic relationship with him.

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The relationship was violent from the beginning and Delvecchio would often physically abuse Deanna.

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She hoped marriage would change as they married in 2008.

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Interjection time so many of us hope different circumstances can or will change our partner's behavior.

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But here's the thing.

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Their behavior is because of what's inside of them.

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It's not because of external influences.

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Getting married, having children, moving to a different location or changing professions will not fix them or your relationship.

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Such was the case for Deanna and Delvecchio.

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His physical abuse continued and progressively worsened.

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The first call to 911 came from one of Deanna's friends in January of 2009.

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Delvecchio had kicked in a bedroom door, grabbed Deanna and held her up against a wall while strangling her.

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Deanna's friend screamed at him to let her go.

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He immediately obliged and grabbed a knife, turning on her friend while threatening to do the same to her.

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The friend ran out of the house and called police.

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I deliberately use the term strangling here.

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Oftentimes, when referring to these situations, people will say choking or choked.

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It may seem very trivial to draw attention to such a simple exchange of words.

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However, choking is the inability to breathe due to an obstruction in the airway.

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Strangling or strangulation is the use of external force or pressure to impede another's ability to breathe.

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It is a deliberate act to seriously harm or even kill someone.

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Personally, I feel using the term choked downplays the malicious intent behind the act.

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So I repeat, delvecchio was strangling Deanna.

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He was subsequently arrested and Deanna filed for a restraining order.

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Del Vecchio was released one month later on a $25,000 bond.

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That very month, in February, he once again strangled Deanna during a fight.

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Following the fight, she was able to successfully kick him out of the house.

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In March, it was documented that he called her hundreds of times with threats.

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Some of those threats included killing her, killing her in front of her daughters, killing her mother and having his friends sexually assault her daughters.

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I'm going to attempt to summarize what happened over the next few months, but the accounts get a little fuzzy with the exact timeline and details of what happens.

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Delvecchio continued to stalk Deanna.

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In August, he strangled her again and was arrested a second time.

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At this point, there is still no restraining order that was granted due to Delvecchio being in and out of jail and possible lack of follow-up on Deanna's part.

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In October of 2009, deanna filed for divorce.

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Naturally, delvecchio wouldn't sign the papers.

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She wrote letters to the court detailing her plight and asking for assistance in granting the divorce or restraining order or something for God's sake.

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But instead a judge eventually dismissed Delvecchio's case.

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Deanna, in just her bra and underwear, ran screaming to her neighbor's house one evening in March of 2010.

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She was repeating.

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The neighbor took Deanna into her home after seeing Delvecchio standing in Deanna's yard.

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Meanwhile that same evening, in another part of town, an employee saw what appeared to be an injured Delvecchio sitting in a La Quinta Motel lobby.

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That employee called the police, who took Delvecchio's statement.

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Is it any surprise that he explained his shoulder and facial wounds were from Deanna attacking him, despite his long criminal history, including at least two arrests for domestic violence?

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Police found Deanna and arrested her.

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Now I'm definitely missing some information here, but Deanna was released.

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I'm not sure if the charges were dropped or not and at some point Delvacchio was arrested again, but I can't find if those charges were related.

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Regardless, this time he remained behind bars for one year and guess what?

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As soon as he was released, del Vecchio returned to harassing, stalking and terrorizing Deanna.

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Police arrived to Deanna's house in May of 2011, just two months following Del Vecchio's release to find her with knife wounds.

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She reported he had drug her by her hair, cut her with a knife, hit her and threatened her with a crowbar.

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He was arrested again.

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Deanna tried to file for divorce again.

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Finally, this time, a judge granted it.

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Their divorce was finalized in January of 2012.

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Okay, I know I'm repeating myself here, but Delvecchio was released and returned to stalking Deanna Per her call to police in May of 2012,.

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He had called her over 100 times.

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July 28, 2012, deanna called the police twice that morning.

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Delvecchio had knocked on her door and threatened her.

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The second time she called was later that day, on her way to work, after seeing him standing in the park directly across from her house, she simply wanted police to remove him from the area.

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When they arrived, they dropped him off at a family member's house just down the road.

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Unfortunately, they couldn't arrest him for violation of a restraining order because there still was no restraining order granted.

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Vicky and Deanna met at church on August 12, 2012, which was their normal routine.

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What was not normal was that Delvecchio accompanied Deanna.

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He never went to church.

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A few days later, vicki noticed another abnormality in Deanna's routine.

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The two had set up a daily call around 10 am during Deanna's commute into work.

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Just a quick side note here this daily check-in is a really good idea.

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I know I have mentioned it in previous episodes, but when you are in a violent and unstable relationship or, like in this case, a dangerous situation, despite removing yourself from the relationship, check in with someone regularly.

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And here's why On August 18, 2012, deanna didn't answer her mom's calls or texts.

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Vicki tried to downplay her concern initially, but Deanna had also not posted on social media.

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The concerned mom contacted Deanna's friends, even Delvecchio.

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He mentioned not speaking to Deanna for about four days and, over his concern with this, he sent friends to go check on her.

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The following day was a Sunday and Deanna did not show up to church.

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Now this was the last straw for Vicki.

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She knew something was wrong.

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After church she, along with Deanna's two teenage daughters and one of Deanna's sisters, went to Deanna's house.

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Immediately they noticed something was amiss.

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Deanna's dog was barking incessantly in the backyard.

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Stranger still, water was pouring out of the garage.

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Vicky instantly called the police for a welfare check.

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She explained the scene at the house, deanna's history with Delvecchio and the fact no one had heard from her in days.

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The operator insisted that nothing would be done, however, until the family called local hospitals and jails first.

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Once the women realized no one was going to come, one of Deanna's daughters jumped the fence and Deanna's sister kicked in the door.

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The scene that awaited them was horrific.

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I'm not going to get into the details because I'm not about the dramatization.

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What I do want to bring up is a breakdown of the days leading up to this discovery.

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On August 16th, deanna called the police again because Delvecchio was across the street from her house.

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Again, she explained her history with Delvecchio over the last few years.

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Again, at this point it's really difficult to count how many times Deanna actually had contacted the police regarding Delvecchio.

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In fact, she even called him on the day she was murdered and screaming for her life, along with sounds of a struggle.

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When the police finally arrived, about 50, that's 50, five zero minutes later, they knocked on the door and left when no one answered.

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Okay, so all the legal stuff leading to Deanna's murder was a mess.

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Well, the investigation and the trial were too.

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There was a great display of victim blaming, of course, as well as drawing attention to Deanna's possible history of mental illness, of course.

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Despite all of this.

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Thankfully, delvecchio was found guilty for first-degree murder.

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He was sentenced to 85 years in prison.

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Deanna's case gained attention from the community and media Because of the persistence of her mother and daughters.

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There were personnel changes and multiple other improvements made to the 911 reporting system, one of which included the mandatory prioritization of domestic violence calls.

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This is a tragic story and I really wish it had a different ending, but this is a prime example of how we need to continue to advocate for ourselves and each other.

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Let's follow the road that Deanna's mother and daughters have paved and insist changes be made in this dark world of domestic violence.

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Thank you for listening.

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I will be back next week with another episode for you.

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Until then, stay strong and wherever you are in your journey, always remember you are not alone.

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Find more information, register as a guest or leave a review by going to the website.

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One in Three is a .5 Pinoy production Music written and performed by Tim Crow.

53-Domestic Violence MURDERED: Deanna Cook

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