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The 1959 discovery of Raymond and Daisy May Cook and
their five children, shot and bludgeoned to death in the garage of their
Stettler home, sent shockwaves throughout the whole of Alberta and prompted
the dramatic investigation of one the most gruesome murder cases in the
province’s history.
Evidence pointed toward the Cook’s eldest son, Robert
Raymond, released from prison just days before the crime had taken place.
Cook was apprehended on suspicion and admitted to the Ponoka Mental
Institution for psychiatric evaluation. He promptly managed to escape, but
was recaptured four days later following a manhunt of a proportion Alberta
had not seen previously or since. A year and a half after the crime,
following two trials, culminating in two convictions, Robert Raymond Cook
was sentenced to death.
At midnight on 14 November, 1960, Cook was led from his
Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta cell. Just minutes later he was hanged, and by
12:18 am, he was pronounced dead, the last person to be executed in Alberta.
One of the grisliest moments in Alberta history, the Cook
case harkens back to a time when capital punishment was an acceptable part
of our culture.
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Heritage Community Foundation Presents
