My Side of the Story

Canada’s 'In Cold Blood'. In July, 1959, the seven-member Cook family, two adults and five children, was slaughtered at night in their home, in the small prairie town of Stettler, Alberta. The killings were uncommonly brutal and took the province and country by storm.Charged with the crime was twenty two year-old family member and small town thief, Robert Raymond Cook. Ordered after his arrest to be held at a psychiatric hospital,for observation, he launched the largest manhunt in western Canadian history when he escaped, ostensibly to attend his family’s funeral.Tried, convicted and ultimately executed for the crime, Cook swore his innocence to the end. As there was no direct or physical evidence to incriminate him, the prosecution’s case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence. At a time when Canada was on the verge of abolishing capital punishment, Cook lives in ignominy as the last person hanged in the Province of Alberta. Based on true events, this book is a work of fiction featuring Robert Cook’s first person accounts of his experiences before and after the killings.