A journey to visit relatives in New Mexico turned into an unimaginable tragedy for the Mosser family in the winter of 1950. Thelma Barcus Mosser, a 29-year-old female, her husband Carl, and their three young children, Ronald, Gary, and Pamela Sue, left their home in Illinois on December 29th for what should have been a joyous family trip. Their journey, however, was violently interrupted when they were abducted by a hitchhiker named William E. 'Bill' Cook, Jr.
Cook, a recently released convict, forced the family to drive aimlessly through the southwestern United States for several days.
The family's relatives grew worried when they failed to arrive in New Mexico. The first sign that something was terribly wrong came on January 3, 1951, when the Mossers' blood-spattered car was found abandoned in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A massive search for the missing family was launched. The grim reality of their fate was not fully known until January 15th, when their bodies were discovered at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft in Joplin, Missouri, the area where their abductor had grown up. Thelma had been bound and gagged before she was killed.
On the same day the Mosser family was found, their killer, Bill Cook, was captured in Mexico. He quickly confessed to the murders of the entire Mosser family. According to his confession, after days of holding them hostage, he shot them all to death, including the family dog, before dumping their bodies in the mine shaft. Cook was also responsible for the murder of another motorist in California during his crime spree.
Following his capture and confession, Cook was sentenced to 300 years in federal prison for the kidnapping and murder of the Mosser family. He was then extradited to California to stand trial for the murder of the motorist there. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. On December 12, 1952, William E. 'Bill' Cook, Jr. was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin prison, bringing a final, grim end to his reign of terror.
