Triple murder suspect captured in Thurston County

By KOMO Staff & News Services

Summary

A man wanted in the murder of three people near Elgin, Oregon was captured in a home near Rainier late Monday morning. Deputies say Gregory Cook killed a 51-year-old woman in July, then killed two others who were also wanted by police for the woman's murder.

Story Published: Aug 3, 2009 at 10:17 AM PST

Story Updated: Aug 3, 2009 at 3:59 PM PST

Triple murder suspect captured in Thurston County

Gregory Cook

RAINIER, Wash. -- A man wanted in the murder of three people near Elgin, Oregon was captured in Thurston County late Monday morning.

Deputies arrested 42-year-old Gregory Alvin Cook without incident in a home just outside the town of Rainier just before noon, said Lt. Chris Mealy with the Thurston County Sheriff's Department.

District Attorney Tim Thompson of Union County said Monday the bodies of 50-year-old Frank Scaramuzzi and 28-year-old Jeremiah Johnston were found in a secluded area north of Elgin this weekend. Both had been sought in the death of 51-year-old Shannon McKillop, whose severed hand was found July 24 in a small pond on industrial timberlands outside Elgin by a child netting goldfish.

Thompson identified Cook, a self employed painter, as the suspect in all three deaths. Thompson said Cook and the three victims all knew each other, and were last spotted together in mid-July.

Cook was last seen in Hermiston on July 31, Thompson said.

Thompson said Cook has already been charged with murder in the death of McKillop, and two counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of the other two victims.

Shannon McKillop Jeremiah Johnston Frank Scaramuzzi

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