BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — Loved ones said their goodbyes to Hellen Cook Friday night during a visitation at Blue Springs, Mo., church.
The 72-year-old’s body was found Sunday, August 11, after 4 weeks of searching. Her family and friends are now trying to get a law passed, which may have meant a different outcome in Hellen’s disappearance.
Cooks family is putting together what is being called, “Hellen’s Law.” One of the objectives is to classify and prioritize people who go missing in Missouri.
“There are some people who are missing who can’t take care of themselves, and my mother is one of those. Toddlers would be one of those,” said Hellen’s daughter Terri.
Cook suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease and wandered away from her lake home near Warsaw, Mo.
Part of “Hellen’s Law” would call for a readily available list of search resources, such as the Saint Louis search team, who eventually found Cook’s body in an area that had already been searched.
“They’re experts that had we known to get them there on that day, we might have had a different outcome,” said Terri.
“Her body was found just yards from the shoes that were sitting beside the pond,” said Howard Cook, Hellen’s husband.
That was during week two of the four-week search.
Essentially, Hellen’s Law would give Missouri law enforcement a checklist of standard procedures with the hope of reconnecting the missing with their loved ones as quickly as possible.
“When you get in the early stages of trying to find a missing person, you do a lot of things, but you might not do the right things,” said Howard Cook.
Members of the Cook family will meet with two state representatives this weekend to push the law.
