Confession given in 32-year-old Siskiyou County murder

☛ TS DA: Confession given in 32-year-old Siskiyou County murder
According to Siskiyou District Attorney James Kirk Andrus, 51-year-old Gregory Lynn Nelson admitted to killing 6-year-old Willie Cook Jr. after his abduction in August 1976.

Nelson and 69-year-old Suzanne Dorene Little, who also goes by Suzanne Aubrey, have both been charged with the kidnapping and murder, and have pleaded not guilty to charges.

According to Siskiyou County Sheriff Rick Riggins, 32 years ago Cook's father briefly left his son sitting in his pickup truck, parked at a service station in Happy Camp. When he returned to the truck, his son was gone.

After months of searching, no traces were found until nearly six months later when two teenage boys found his mostly decomposed body in an industrial cardboard barrel off Highway 96.

Although it was difficult to ascertain precisely how the boy died, Riggins said coroners believed he was strangled.

The reported confession was detailed in a statement given by Detective Nathan Mendez at a preliminary hearing in early December. Andrus said Mendez recalled Nelson confessed he had carried the screaming child away from his house to his vehicle when he put his hand over the boy's mouth and smothered him.

Mendez also reportedly testified that Nelson told him throughout the commission of the kidnapping he had been following orders from his then-girlfriend Joyce Croy and her sister, Little.

Croy has since died, Andrus said. Nelson and Little are scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 16.

Hoopa man charged in boy's 1976 murder

A 51-year-old Hoopa man suspected of kidnapping and murdering a 6-year-old boy in Happy Camp 32 years ago, was charged with murder in Siskiyou County on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

The charge was filed more than two weeks after Gregory Nelson and suspected accomplice Suzanne Little, 69, were arrested for kidnapping William Alford Cook Jr. in 1976.

Both suspects have already pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping charges.

Siskiyou County District Attorney, Kirk Andrus, did not return repeated phone calls Friday, but according to booking information, both Nelson and Little have been incarcerated at the Siskiyou County jail in Yreka.
☛ TS Hoopa man charged in boy's 1976 murder

☛ New lead finally surfaces in boy’s death 10/22/08
...According to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, Cook’s father had left him in the truck for a short time, and came back to find him missing.

His body was found by two teenage boys on Feb. 18, 1977, in a cardboard barrel that had been dumped off Highway 96 about 16 miles northwest of Yreka. The body had been dumped 100 yards from Highway 96 near the Cayuse river access at Gottville. The river access is located a few miles from the Tree of Heaven Forest Service campground.

A break in the case came in September of this year, when the Yreka Police Department contacted the sheriff’s office with new information about the case. The sheriff’s office detective unit and deputies, along with the Siskiyou County-wide Interagency Narcotic Task Force were able to develop information which led to the arrests, Riggins said.

The investigation is continuing and anyone with information regarding the kidnapping and murder is asked to contact Detective Mark Hilsenberg at (530) 842-8767.

Siskiyou County deputies were assisted by the Hoopa Valley Tribal Police Department, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department, Cal-Fire law enforcement officers, the California Highway Patrol, California Department of Justice Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and the Humboldt County Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team.

According to court records reviewed by the Siskiyou Daily News, Nelson had been charged with driving without a license in Siskiyou County in December 1989. No other local arrest records were found.

The sheriff’s department did not release whether Nelson and Little knew Cook. The district attorney’s office issued the arrest warrants for Nelson and Little on the kidnapping charges and will decide if and when additional charges will be filed.

☛ SD Accused kidnappers to make their first court appearance 10/23/08
☛ UPDATED: D.A. says kidnap suspect will be charged with boy's murder 10/23/08
☛ RS Man faces murder charges in boy's '76 kidnapping
Nelson and Suzanne Dorene Little, also known as Suzanne Aubrey, 69, both of Hoopa, were both arraigned Thursday on kidnapping for ransom charges in connection with the Aug. 28, 1976, disappearance of William Alford Cook Jr., known as Willie.

...In a strange twist, Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said Thursday that the boy's uncle, 28-year-old Herbert Cook of Happy Camp, was found murdered on July 20, 1975, at an American Indian ceremonial ground in Somes Bar.

An arrest was made in that case, but no one was ever convicted, she said.

It's not known whether the two cases might be related.

"That's something that they (detectives) are looking at," Gravenkamp said.

☛ RS Murder charge postponed for kidnap suspect 10/28/08
On Thursday, Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus said he would file a murder charge against one of the suspects, Gregory Lynn Nelson, 51. Nelson's bail was raised to $1 million in anticipation of the new charge.

That new charge was postponed Monday until lawyers in the case reached agreement, said Sgt. Michael Montreuil of the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department.
☛ RS Murder charge filed in Happy Camp "cold case" 11/7/08