The Mosser Family Murders

     Sheriff Smith was called to check out an abandoned sedan on North Osage Avenue in Claremore, Oklahoma. The date was January 3, 1951 and the new year was about to get off to a very rough start. A local rancher had called to report a car sitting in a ditch near his property. It had been there since the day before and he just thought someone should check it out. The sheriff obliged not knowing that this was going to become one of the most horrifying cases in his career. As a matter of fact, I think that this would be one of the worst cases of ANY law enforcement officer's career.

     It was still bright outside when Sheriff Smith arrived on the scene. It was there on the side of the well traveled highway in a ditch right where the rancher had said. He walked to the car and peeked inside and found the keys still in the ignition. He also saw a man’s wallet, a woman’s purse, children’s toys, bullet holes and a lot of blood. There were so many bullet holes and so much blood in the front seat, in the backseat, just everywhere that Sheriff Smith had no doubt in his mind that there had been a murder committed inside this car but who and how many would still have to be determined. The sheriff raced back to his patrol car to call for help.

     Before long the area was flooded with cops, journalists and just curious people asking themselves "what the hell happened here?" Fortunately, the purse and the wallet still contained their ID’s so they found out pretty quickly that the car belonged to a married couple named the Mosser’s. There was Carl, who was 33 and his wife Thelma, who was 29. They had travelled to Oklahoma from Illinois. When their family back in Illinois was notified the officers would find they had been travelling to Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit Carl's identical twin brother for New Years. And with them were their three children, Ronald Dean (7), Gary Carl (5), and Pamela Sue who was just 3 years old.

     In the course of sifting through the evidence in the car, they examined the bullets and found that the killer had used a .32 caliber gun. In addition to the bullets, detectives also located a thermos of coffee and a crumpled packet of Lucky Strike cigarettes. Did the Mossers smoke or did this belong to their killer. Also, an eagle eyed deputy found a window sticker for an oil change. The date had been from just a few days before the car was found. When it was compared to the mileage on the odometer it appeared the Mosser family had travelled 3,101 miles. There’s only about 550 miles between Atwood Illinois where they were from and Claremore, Oklahoma where the car was found. That’s quite a discrepancy. Even if they had driven from one side of the country to another, that's only about 2600 miles. How had they driven that many miles? The answer to that question would have to wait.

     Most important right now was just finding out where the family was. Deputies searched the woods around where the car was found but came up with no bodies and no clues. Witnesses started coming in to tell officers that they had seen a man standing alone by the car when they had passed by the day before. They all described the man the same way. A white man about 5’6” with light colored hair. One said he had given the man a ride into town to find a phone. He claimed the man appeared nervous.

     The detective investigating the case felt that had to be the guy. Finding where he was would be a challenge though. He had over a day's head start. At this point he could be just about anywhere. Fortunately the detectives got a lucky break early on in the case.  Sheriffs from Oklahoma county reported there had been another kidnapping in Luther, Oklahoma (which is a town near OKC). The man, named Lee Bird Archer, had picked up a hitchhiker in Wichita Falls, Texas. The hitchhiker who was described as a white man about 5’6” with light colored hair had robbed him and stuffed him in the trunk of his own car eventually leaving him there in Luther. Archer was able to escape by jimmying open the trunk. When police were called they found the receipt from a pawn shop for a .32 caliber gun left in his car. And that receipt had a name on it!

     William Cook was his name. As officers would come to find out, he was the son of an alcoholic father who left the family when he was four. His mother and siblings were forced to take shelter in a cave after losing their home to poverty. His mother died soon after and William and his siblings were placed into foster care where, from an early age, Cook would show signs of mental illness. He was raised in various homes in Joplin, Missouri until he turned 18. Eventually he ended up in prison, a place that must have seemed familiar to him since he spent the bulk of his childhood in and out of juvenile detention. He had been released from prison only six months before the Mosser's car was found on the side of the road.

     A few others were questioned and released but from the time they learned William Cook's name the police zeroed in on him. Why wouldn't they? He was a hitchhiker with a criminal record and a kidnapper with the same caliber gun as the murder weapon. They had to find him and either arrest him or clear him.

     A nationwide BOLO was issued for William Cook. The whole country was looking for this guy. His mugshot was on the front page of every paper. As soon as the story of what he had done was published, calls of sightings started coming in from all over the United States but most came from Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. One witness, the owner of a gas station in Wichita Falls, Texas, reported two men scuffling inside his station. One of them exclaimed "For God's sake help me, this man has a gun and he's going to kill me and my family". Unbelievably, instead of helping, the gas station owner pulled out his shotgun and ordered both men to leave immediately. He said he was afraid it was a ruse to distract him so they could rob him. In this man's defense he was 63 y/o and had only one leg so I'm sure he felt vulnerable. When detectives arrived on the scene, the gas station owner turned over a hat that had been lost by one of the men as they struggled. The tag inside was from a department store in Illinois.

     This was an awful situation if that was indeed the Mosser family. This would mean that they were so close to help but none was coming. The man was forced to return to the car with his captor and leave but to go where. The answer to that question would come from the next witness to step forward.

     A waitress in a cafe in Horatio, Arkansas, a small town four hours down the road from Wichita Falls, thought she saw them. Officers raced to Horatio with Carl's identical twin brother Chris in tow. The waitress not only identified Chris as appearing exactly the same as the man she had seen but also recalled as they left they bought a thermos of coffee and Lucky Strike cigarettes. Exactly what was found in the abandoned car. This had to be the missing family but where had the gunman taken them?

     The next sighting of the family would be at a gas station in Okmulgee, Oklahoma three hours north of Horatio followed by Henryetta, Oklahoma a town 15 minutes from Okmulgee. It Seemed like the group was just hopscotching around the tri-state area but this time it would be different. The gas station attendant in Okmulgee saw the Mossers but once the group left the gas station no one would report seeing the family again. Only William Cook alone. Police became convinced that the Mossers' bodies were somewhere in the wooded area between Henryette and Okmulgee. They were convinced this is where they had been killed and disposed of. It only seemed logical. Searches began immediately.

     While it would seem that the Oklahoma police were putting all their efforts into finding the Mossers and not having much luck capturing an alleged killer, a whole other problem was brewing on the west coast. It's not a wonder that Oklahoma authorities couldn't find William Cook in their state because he had made his way to California.  

     He went back to the town he last lived in before going to Texas. A town called Blyth, California. While in Blyth he was spotted by a Deputy named Homer Waldrip. The deputy was familiar with Cook. He had once been a coworker of his wifes at a cafe in Blyth. And from what he knew, Cook was not a good guy. Being unaware of the BOLO, Waldrip still felt he needed to check out the situation so he tracked him down. This would be a mistake. Cook managed to disarm him, steal his car and take him hostage.  You might feel sorry for poor Deputy Waldrip. The guy was just trying to do his job and now he's been kidnapped but this turned out to be a huge advantage for investigators. You see, Cook liked to talk, and he talked a lot. It was in the course of this that he confessed to everything he'd done. And he had done a lot.

     Cook confessed to kidnapping the Mosser family in Luther, Oklahoma. He then forced Carl to drive and drive and drive. They started in Oklahoma City just driving around at gunpoint. He then instructed him to drive to Wichita Falls, Tx. That would be where the struggle in the filling station took place.

     Then on to Albuquerque. Had he told them he would let them go, since that was their original destination? He didn't say. From there he made Carl drive to El Paso, Houston then on to Horatio, Arkansas where the waitress sold them the coffee and cigarettes. This must have been exhausting for Carl. Driving such long distances is painful enough but to do it with a gun to your head, three small, confused children and a terrified wife in the back seat and no idea how this would or could end must have been torture.

     But the hellish journey continued. He forced them on to Ft. Smith, Arkansas then further north to Joplin, Missouri. Then back to Claremore, Oklahoma where he claims he shot them and threw them in a snowbank. He then confessed to having killed seven people in Oklahoma. That's right^ seven. The Mossers were a family of five so who were the other two?

      Cook released Waldrip after confessing everything to him. Obviously, or we wouldn't have all this information. Cook claimed he couldn't bring himself to kill him because the deputy's wife was the only person who had ever been nice to him. He tied him up and left him in the desert though after stealing his patrol car. Fortunately, he was found before he perished. January in a desert would not be a good place to be tied up. Waldrip would quickly learn that Cook was a wanted man and relay all the information he had learned to Oklahoma detectives. 

     If you have ever been to Oklahoma in January then you know, even though they may get some snow, they seldomly get enough to make a pile big enough to hide five bodies. Detectives called the weather bureau and quickly disproved that statement. But the confession of seven victims. Now that was more interesting.

     So just four months before the Mossers were taken another couple disappeared. And this story is strange to say the least. In September of 1950, two Irish setters were found wandering the roads of Salina, a small town in Mayes County Oklahoma, just 30 minutes from where the Mossers car was found abandoned. These were purebred, well cared for dogs and they both appeared to be very agitated about something. This really seemed strange to the police officer that found them wandering so he got out of his patrol car and followed them. They led him to the banks of a river. The dogs kept running to the water,  jumping around excitedly then running back to the river. Then the officer turned around and saw the abandoned camping equipment.

       Sleeping bags, fishing poles, dishes, a suitcase filled with clothes. Your first thought might be, oh no, they both fell into the river. Maybe one fell in and the other drowned trying to save the first. The river was checked, of course, but no bodies were found. And what doesn't make sense about the drowning theory is, the officer saw everything you would need to camp but their car? How would they get there without a car? When locals were questioned one reported hearing screams that night.  Another reported seeing a couple with two dogs driving around in town. The travellers stopped at a local store and asked the clerk if he had a Chicago Tribune newspaper. No, they didn't but this prompted the clerk to look at their license plate as they drove away. Their plates, according to the clerk, were from Michigan. Who these people were or where they went has never been established.

     Back in California things were moving fast. Deputy Waldrip had escaped with his life but the next man would not be so lucky. Cook, realizing the patrol car was a little suspicious, decided he needed a new car. So again, he flagged down a passing motorist. This time the torture wouldn't be drawn out. Robert Dewey was a 32 year old salesman in California on vacation from Seattle, Washington. According to Cook, he shot him when he bent over to pick up the cigarette he had nervously dropped. Dewey managed to slide out of the car but it was too late. Cook took aim and fired again. This shot was fatal. Cook hid his body in Waldrips patrol car and sped off in Dewey's car.

     He was heading towards Mexico. At that time Mexico and the United States didn't have an extradition treaty. That could be a huge problem. If he committed a crime there, something he seems to do a lot, they might decide they didn't want to let us have him back. Or worse. He could just disappear into the vast country and we'd never find him.

     Roadblocks and wanted posters were put up everywhere you turned. This was important and every law enforcement officer in California was looking for him.  He murdered an entire family, an innocent man and possibly more. Nobody wanted to see him get away with this.

     Meanwhile, law enforcement officers continued to search for the Mossers in Oklahoma following every tip they got. Oklahoma even held a state search day to encourage every single citizen to get out and look for them. In the freezing cold of January, thousands of citizens across the state looked in fields, ditches, rivers, caves and anywhere else they could think of. It was January 14th and the Mossers had been missing for eleven days.

     Finally, the tip came in the Oklahoma detectives had been waiting for. A man who knew Cook well from his reformatory school days said Cook had been to visit him a few months back. He claims they argued and Cook threatened to kill him and throw his body down a mine shaft. He even showed him where that mine shaft was. The tipster was willing to lead detectives to it. The mineshaft was in Joplin, Missouri, Cook's hometown hundreds of miles from where everyone had been looking.

     This was a promising lead. Everyone involved converged on this mine. There was Oklahoma police, the FBI, the Joplin police and the public who had somehow found out what was going on. There were so many onlookers that day they needed officers to act as crowd control. Everyone was desperate to know, had the Mossers been found. 

     And they would soon get their answer. As the cover was lifted from the mine shaft, the unmistakable odor of death poured out from the hole. And there, about _____ feet down were the bodies of the Mossers floating in the water that had filled the shaft in its years of unuse. One by one, firemen wearing gas masks to protect themselves from the toxic fumes of the mine, brought each body to the surface. 

     Pamela Sue was the first, followed by each of the boys, Ronald and Gary. The boy's hands had been bound behind their backs. Thelma was next, then Carl. All were accounted for, laying in a line on the ground for all the world to see. And the world did get to see it. Photos appeared on the front page of papers across the country. As if those who had been following the story so closely needed proof that the search was finally over.

     Oklahoma’s search had come to an end and soon California’s would too. A concerned citizen in Mexico has recognized and called in a tip that would give Mexican authorities Cook’s exact location. As the Mosser’s were being pulled from that well, handcuffs were being placed on William Cook’s wrists. There had been no reason to worry. As soon as he was captured, Mexican police took him straight to the US Mexico border and shoved him across into the waiting hands of the American police and FBI. They didn’t want that piece of shit in their country. No, not one more second.

     And it couldn’t have been soon enough. Cook had taken two more hostages. Hunters he has stumbled across as he wandered around. He had kept them alive for eight days, again just driving around. Why had they not met the same fate as Robert Dewey and been killed immediately? How much longer would it have been before they had met the same fate as the Mossers?

    Again, Cook was happy to talk. He told detectives of how Carl had tried to overthrow him twice. Once in the filling station in Wichita Falls and again when they traveled to Albuquerque. Then he gave the details of the Mossers final night alive to curious officers. He explained how they had made their way to Joplin. It was dark outside and the entire family was overwhelmed with fear and exhaustion. Then there was hope.

     A police car on patrol passed the Mossers vehicle. They shined their search light in their direction and Thelma, unable to control herself, became hysterical. The children followed their mother’s lead screaming and crying out. They thought the ordeal would now come to an end. But sadly, the patrolman didn’t see the distress and drove away. 

     Cook was angry. He threatened them all with death, waving his gun around to remind them that he had the upper hand. The car fell silent but only for a moment because just then the police swung back around for a second look. The light shined in the car's direction and again, Thelma couldn’t contain herself as Carl was trying to stop the car to get their attention. But sadly, the police again missed the signals that something was terribly wrong. They drove away leaving the Mossers to their fate. 

     Cook was now furious and out of control. He began shouting at them as if this whole situation was their fault. The children continued to cry in despair. Thelma was dejected. Carl was too. Again they had lost the opportunity to get help. Again it was so close, if only the police had been able to see. Cook was done. The Mosser’s had worn out their usefulness. He began firing his gun like a madman. One by one each of the Mosser's lives were taken away.

     Cook then drove around the town. For an hour he had five dead bodies as his company. What was he thinking for that hour? He already knew where to put them so they would never be found, at least that’s what he thought. So what was the purpose of that night ride?

     After he disposed of them, he made his way to Claremore where the bloodied car was eventually found. He was long gone by then as they had thought. He caught a bus to California where his reign of terror would start all over.

     Cook confessed to everything he had done. There was no question he was guilty. Although he denied having anything to do with the missing couple from Michigan. He had committed kidnapping in Oklahoma, murder in Missouri and California. Now all three states would have to decide who got him first.

     It would be Oklahoma. His first crime was committed there and ever since the Lindburhg baby was kidnapped, kidnapping was a federal crime making it punishable by death. His trial would start shortly. I don’t know how you feel about the death penalty but I know how the Oklahoma judge who heard the case felt. Prosecutors begged to be the ones to flip the switch but the judge accepted psychiatric testimony that Cook was incurably insane. There would be no death penalty. He sentenced him to 60 years for each Mosser. That’s only 300 years. California wasn’t having it.

     They fought to try him next for the murder of Robert Dewey. This time it was a slam dunk. William Cook would go to the gas chamber for what he’d done on December 12th, 1952.

     There is one final footnote. For a month in 1951 the entire country followed this story. Including a seven year old boy named Jim. He carried this story with him into his adulthood when he became a founding member of the band The Doors. They had a hit song with Riders on the Storm. The second verse of the song goes like this: 

     There’s a killer on the road, his brain is squirming like a toad, take a long holiday, let your children play, if you give this man a ride, sweet family will die, killer on the road 

So what did you think?

1. Who were those campers and what happened to them?

2. Do you think William Cook should have received the death penalty?

3. Did you know this case was featured in a Doors song?