My February 2004 Journal by Robert Cooke

The Search for Rachel, a father's journal

Sunday, February 1

I took that day off today. It is past time for some house cleaning and repairs.

I forgot to mention that Rachel's Guestbook is fixed. It turns out the developer of the guestbook was doing an upgrade and he accidently corrupted the data. Thank goodness he maintains good backups of the guestbooks.

Monday, February 2

I received a package of materials today from the Laura Recovery Center. The package included more of the children lure prevention brochures and some child ID kits. We will make those available at this Saturday's Children's Health Fair at the Dell Diamond.

Tuesday, February 3

We held the Rachel Alert Network officers meeting tonight. We have a lot of things coming up this year. I feel better when we coordinate everything during meetings.

I have watched the videotape of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia being abducted in Florida several times. I can't help but look at the way he grabbed her arm and know that we taught 35 women and teen girls how to break that hold just 2 weeks ago in the advanced M.U.S.T. seminar.

It's too hard to know what was going through Carlie's mind, but she certainly didn't fight him. The number one thing you should do is yell loud and fight with everything you have. Statistics show that once you get into the car with the perpetrator, you have less than 3 hours to live. Try to get away before he gets you in there!

Wednesday, February 4

I did an afternoon telephone interview with the kvue.com. The article, now posted on kvue.com, talks about the abduction of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Florida and how Deborah Brown and I think the M.U.S.T. seminar teaches how to avoid what happened to Carlie. Deborah Brown developed and teaches the M.U.S.T seminars which Rachel Alert Network sponsors.

Today authorities in Florida announced they arrested a suspect in Brucia's abduction. KVUE sent out a news team to interview me about the M.U.S.T. seminars and what the Bruica family is going through now. The interview was shown on KVUE's 10:00 p.m. news.

Thursday, February 5

There is still no news about the missing 11-year-old in Florida. I know the odds are against it, but I hope she is found safe.

We are working on a couple of other activities for April and May. I will announce the details when things are finalized.

Friday, February 6

One of the first things I learned this morning was that Carlie Brucia's body had been found. The worst fears about her abduction are true. My thoughts and prayers go out to Carlie's family. I did interviews with KLBJ/AM, Channel 61, and KVUE about my reaction to Carlie's murder and how the M.U.S.T. seminars may help prevent some abductions and attacks.

Saturday, February 7

The turnout at the Children's Health Fair today was fantastic. We almost ran out of some of the information handouts we had. Chief Deborah Brown demonstrated to over 50 women and children how to break the hold the abductor had on 11-year-old Carlie Brucia. Kids as young as 8 were able to learn the move.

Several women talked to us about the M.U.S.T. seminars. Many of the women said they would attend tomorrow's seminar. We also got ideas for a couple of other locations where we might be able to hold the seminars.

Sunday, February 8

We trained forty more women and teens in today's M.U.S.T. self-defense and awareness seminar. Our instructor, Deborah Brown, added one hold which she teaches in the advanced seminar. It is a move that could break a hold like the one the kidnapper used on the 11-year-old girl in Florida. We thought it was important to push that move into the beginner's class. Nineteen women signed up for the advanced M.U.S.T. seminar, which is in two weeks.

KVUE filmed a lot of the seminar and did interviews with several women. A live segment was shown at 5:30 p.m. and another version aired on their 10 p.m. news.

Monday, February 9

I forgot to mention yesterday that I videotaped Sunday's M.U.S.T. seminar. Our instructor, Deborah Brown, and I will create a short version of the seminar as a promotional tool. Today I transferred the 8mm tape onto a VHS tape.

Several people have e-mailed me about the next M.U.S.T. seminar. We are trying to find a location in Austin the third week of March to teach the seminar. The schedules and other information on the seminars are listed on rachelalert.org/must.

I posted a list of recipes that have been received on Rachel's Message Board. You may read information about the cookbook here.

Tuesday, February 10

I finished transferring Sunday's M.U.S.T. seminar videotape onto a VHS tape. I am pleased with the results.

M.U.S.T. instructor Deborah Brown sent me some new safety tips to replace the holiday safety tips. I will make the updates tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 11

I ate lunch with missing Sabrina Allen's father Greg today. I knew he received a lead last month on Sabrina's case. After a lot of work, the lead turned out to be another dead end. Sabrina's mother is probably still hiding with her in Mexico

Our M.U.S.T instructor, Deborah Brown, sent me some additional safety tips to replace the holiday safety tips from last year. I decided to make a separate section for safety tips and put the holiday, road rage, and ATM safety tips there. There is a link to the new safety tips page on the home page of rachelalert.org. We will be adding more tips later.

Thursday, February 12

We have a room reserved for the beginners' M.U.S.T. seminar in March. As soon as our instructor, Deborah Brown, approves the date, I will announce the seminar.

The guestbook on Rachel's site no longer has a 200 message limit. I'm glad because now I don't have to archive the older messages.

Friday, February 13

The next M.U.S.T. women's self-defense and awareness class will be held on Wednesday, March 24, at Crestview United Methodist Church. Crestview is located at 1300 Morrow in North Austin. The class will run from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. I will update the M.U.S.T. information page tomorrow to include this seminar.

Saturday, February 14 and Sunday, February 15

I added some additional recipes into the cookbook software. After I finish with the recipes I have received there will be over 100 recipes entered. We will be 1/5 finished with the cookbook at that point.

I noticed Deborah Brown will be on KEYE News tomorrow night. She will be talking about the M.U.S.T. self-defense and awareness seminars.

Monday, February 16

WWe are trying to reserve dates in April for M.U.S.T. seminars in Round Rock. I'd like to have the classes scheduled 6 weeks to 2 months ahead of time. This allows people to fit the seminar into their individual schedules.

I think we will be able to schedule a M.U.S.T. class every month this year. The month of May might be difficult because of the Run/Walk for Rachel. I will also be attending a conference and presenting a seminar in Dallas in May.

Tuesday, February 17

The preparations for the 2004 Run/Walk for Rachel are going well. We already have several sponsors lined up. We could use another food vendor donation. There are a lot of things to be ordered, such as T-shirts, bibs, and supplies. I'm glad we got an early start this year.

I have an interview with KEYE scheduled this Thursday. It will be a feature story on missing person tools, so it won't be shown until a later date. I'll try and find out exactly when it will be aired.

Wednesday, February 18

Shawn Hornbeck's parents tried something new. They announced last weekend that the reward from information about Shawn's disappearance would be withdrawn effective midnight last night. They think that money can be used better elsewhere if no one is willing to come forward.

Another concern they have I also share. A person with knowledge may be waiting for the reward to be raised. That's part of the reason we have not raised Rachel's reward. Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money. Any reward should be enough. Most people do not even need a reward to do the "right thing".

Thursday, February 19

This Sunday is the Advanced M.U.S.T. seminar in Round Rock. Women and female teens will receive hands on training on how to break holds a violent person may have on them. The class is from 2:00-5:00 p.m. at B.s Gathering House in Round rock. More information may be found at rachelalert.org/must.

I created a donation package last night for the May 15 Run/Walk for Rachel. The package incudes a donation form, information about Rachel Alert Network, and the non-profit information. Corporations like to have this before they donate any large amount of money, goods, or services.

I did an interview with KEYE News Anchor Fred Cantu. He is doing a story on the tools available for missing person cases. The segment will air Thursday, February 26, on their 10:00 p.m. newscast.

Friday, February 20

I added an information page on the Rachel Alert Network web site about the cookbook. We still need more recipes. The new page is rachelalert.org/cookbook.

The next Advanced M.U.S.T. seminar for women and teens is this Sunday at B's Gathering House in Round Rock. Information and directions about M.U.S.T. seminars may be found on rachelalert.org/must.

Saturday, February 21 and Sunday, February 22

Authorities believe they have found the remains of missing Timothy Lopez in Ohio. Timothy disappeared less than two weeks after Rachel did. My thoughts and prayers go out to Timothy's family.

Twenty women and teens attended our Advanced M.U.S.T. women/teen self-defense class. They learned some additional moves to get away from an attacker. Ages of the students ranged from 12 years old to over 70 years old.

Monday, February 23

Our M.U.S.T. instructor, Deborah Brown, received a scary but also a somewhat rewarding e-mail Sunday night. A woman who attended a M.U.S.T. seminar in 2002 was attacked from behind last Saturday night. A man grabbed her from behind, and she remembered some of the moves Deborah taught her. By using her head and body to fight, she forced the man to loosen his hold on her, and she got away. The M.U.S.T. techniques really work. This woman's quick thinking and the M.U.S.T. techniques probably saved her life.

We have added an Advanced M.U.S.T. seminar on March 31 at Crestview United Methodist Church in Austin. The advanced seminar takes place one week after the beginners' seminar. The class will be held from 6:30 until 9:00 p.m. More information and directions may be found on rachelalert.org/must.

Tuesday, February 24

My sister Elaine and I met with our timing and results leader for the 2004 Run/Walk for Rachel. We went over the responsibilites of the timing and results committee. This year I'm trying to divide up the responsibilities. It's too hard on me to supervise everything at the Run/Walk.

The calendars and information web pages on rachelcookesearch.org and rachelalert.org are all updated. They now show the scheduled M.U.S.T. seminars and the Run/Walk for Rachel.

Wednesday, February 25

I wrote an e-mail to a State of Texas Senator who is sponsoring Texas Senate Bill 448. The new bill will help keep public school children's personal addresses and phone numbers more private.

Currently anyone can request that personal information for as little as six dollars. A person requesting the information may not have the child's best interest in mind. I'm sure most of the time the personal information is just used to try and sell the parents something, but it could also be a harmful thing for the child.

Thursday, February 26

Human remains were found this week near Lake Travis High School in Lakeway. That is about 35 miles from our house. I spoke with Travis County Sheriff Department's Roger Wade. He said that they don't look like Rachel's remains, but the medical examiner still needs to run tests to determine the age and sex of the person.

KEYE News changed tonight's story and focused on the search for Rachel and what we have done with Rachel Alert Network. The original story was supposed to be on the Texas Missing Persons' ClearinghHouse. The story was good, and it brought Rachel back in the news.

Friday, February 27

Our request for cookbook recipes has been forwarded around the Internet. Several people have added the request to various Internet forums. The recipes are now starting to come in faster.

We may have a M.U.S.T. seminar in Burnet soon. We received a request from a Burnet resident, and the school system will probably let us use a school gym.

Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, February 29

I added more of the recipes that people e-mailed to the Rachel Alert Network Cookbook. Hopefully I will catch up on the backlog in my inbox this week.

I have submitted an application to host a missing person seminar at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Victim Clearinghouse Conference in Dallas. The seminar will contain information about what to do if you have a missing family member. Hopefully my application will be accepted.