Nathaniel Cook: Toledo Serial Killer
Overview
Nathaniel Cook, born October 25, 1958, became one of the men responsible for a series of exceptionally violent murders and sexual assaults that terrorized Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, during the early 1980s. Cook committed his known crimes with his older brother, Anthony Cook, who was the more prolific of the two. Although Anthony ultimately admitted responsibility for nine murders, Nathaniel specifically confessed to participating in three killings: those of Thomas Gordon, Connie Sue Thompson, and 12-year-old Dawn Rene Backes.
The distinction is important because many accounts refer to the brothers collectively as the "Cook brothers" and associate Nathaniel with the entire Toledo killing spree. Investigators determined that Anthony committed several of the murders without Nathaniel. Nathaniel's own admissions, however, established that he personally participated in three murders as well as other kidnappings, sexual assaults, and attempted killings. His involvement was serious enough that authorities and later news accounts routinely identified him as a serial killer in his own right.
The Beginning of Nathaniel Cook's Known Violence
Nathaniel's known participation in the murder series began on May 14, 1980. Twenty-four-year-old Thomas Gordon and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Sandra Podgorski, were confronted in North Toledo by Anthony and Nathaniel Cook. The brothers were armed and took control of the couple and their automobile before forcing them to travel to a secluded area in western Lucas County.
Once there, Gordon attempted to get away. Nathaniel later admitted that he shot Gordon as the young man ran for his life. Gordon was mortally wounded. The brothers then sexually assaulted Gordon's girlfriend and stabbed her before leaving the area. Despite her injuries, she survived. Gordon's body was subsequently found in the trunk of his automobile in a field off McLean Street.
The Gordon attack became enormously important to investigators years later. Evidence from the case ultimately helped connect the Cook brothers to the previously unsolved series and provided prosecutors with the leverage that would eventually force Nathaniel and Anthony to reveal what had happened to several other victims.
The Murder of Connie Sue Thompson
On January 17, 1981, 19-year-old Connie Sue Thompson encountered the Cook brothers while she was along Cherry Street near St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo. Thompson, who had connections to Michigan, was picked up by the brothers and driven away from the city into western Lucas County.
Anthony and Nathaniel sexually assaulted Thompson. During his eventual confession, Nathaniel admitted that he strangled her by tightening a piece of wire around her neck. Her body was abandoned in a concrete culvert beneath a roadway in western Lucas County. The isolated location helped conceal the crime and left investigators with few immediate clues identifying the killers.
Some later secondary accounts have given January 3 as the date associated with Thompson's disappearance or killing, but contemporary Toledo reporting used in the Cook investigation, later court-related reporting, and her family's obituary information identify January 17, 1981, as her date of death. That is the date used here.
Another Couple Survives
Approximately ten days after Thompson's murder, Nathaniel and Anthony attacked another young couple. Arnold "Bud" Coates, then 21, and Cheryl Bartlett, then 18, were confronted while walking in an alley behind Segur Avenue in Toledo. The brothers forced them at gunpoint into a vacant garage.
The victims were sexually assaulted and subjected to an attempted execution. Both survived, making them rare living witnesses to the Cook brothers' crimes. Their survival was significant because most of the Cook attacks were committed in isolated places and intentionally left investigators without witnesses who could identify the perpetrators.
The Abduction and Murder of Dawn Rene Backes
The youngest confirmed murder victim involving Nathaniel Cook was 12-year-old Dawn Rene Backes. On February 21, 1981, Dawn was walking near the University of Toledo after leaving a pizza restaurant when Anthony Cook encountered her. Anthony forced the seventh-grade student into his vehicle and then picked up Nathaniel.
The brothers took Dawn to the abandoned State Theater at 2460 Collingwood Boulevard in Toledo. Inside the empty theater, Anthony and Nathaniel sexually assaulted the child and subjected her to prolonged violence. Nathaniel eventually admitted taking part in killing Dawn by using a heavy concrete or cinder block against her head. Her body was later discovered inside the abandoned building.
The murder of a 12-year-old child profoundly disturbed the investigators who worked the case. Yet like the other unsolved killings attributed to the brothers, police did not initially have enough physical evidence to prove who was responsible. Dawn's death remained unresolved for years until the Cook brothers finally confessed.
Confirmed Murder Victims of Nathaniel Cook
- Thomas Gordon, 24 - May 14, 1980 - North Toledo and western Lucas County, Ohio. Gordon and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Sandra Podgorski, were abducted by Anthony and Nathaniel Cook in North Toledo and transported to a secluded area in western Lucas County. Nathaniel admitted shooting Gordon as Gordon attempted to escape. Gordon's girlfriend was sexually assaulted and stabbed but survived. Gordon's body was found in the trunk of his automobile in a field off McLean Street.
- Connie Sue Thompson, 19 - January 17, 1981 - Western Lucas County, Ohio. Thompson was picked up along Cherry Street near St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo and driven into western Lucas County. She was sexually assaulted, and Nathaniel later admitted strangling her with a piece of wire. Her body was left in a concrete culvert beneath a roadway.
- Dawn Rene Backes, 12 - February 21, 1981 - Toledo, Ohio. Dawn was abducted by Anthony near the University of Toledo before Nathaniel joined him. The brothers took her to the abandoned State Theater at 2460 Collingwood Boulevard, where she was sexually assaulted and killed. Nathaniel admitted participating in her killing with a heavy concrete or cinder block.
Nathaniel's Role Versus Anthony Cook's Crimes
The entire Cook brothers murder series was considerably larger than Nathaniel's three confirmed murder victims. Anthony Cook eventually confessed to nine murders extending from 1973 through 1981. Anthony committed a number of those killings alone, including murders that occurred after Nathaniel's known participation in the series.
Among the additional victims attributed to Anthony were Vicky Lynn Small, killed in 1973; Scott Moulton and Denise Siotkowski, killed on March 27, 1981; Daryle Cole and Stacey Balonek, killed on August 2, 1981; and Peter Sawicki, killed in September 1981. Nathaniel did not confess to participating in those murders, and available investigative accounts specifically describe Anthony as acting alone in them. For that reason, they should not be counted as Nathaniel Cook's confirmed victims.
The End of the Killing Spree
The Cook brothers' violence came under increasing police scrutiny in 1981. Anthony Cook was ultimately arrested after the attack that resulted in the death of Toledo-area businessman and real-estate developer Peter Sawicki. Anthony was convicted and imprisoned, effectively ending the series of killings associated with the brothers.
Nathaniel, however, was not immediately convicted for the murders he had committed with Anthony. Investigators suspected that Anthony had not acted alone in all of the earlier crimes, but during the 1980s they lacked sufficient evidence to establish Nathaniel's participation. As the years passed, several of Toledo's most notorious killings remained officially unsolved.
DNA Finally Connects Nathaniel Cook to the Crimes
The investigation changed dramatically in the 1990s as advances in DNA testing allowed authorities to reexamine physical evidence from the Thomas Gordon case. In 1998, DNA evidence provided investigators with the breakthrough they needed to connect both Cook brothers to the 1980 attack on Gordon and Sandra Podgorski.
Anthony was already serving a life sentence, but Nathaniel had spent years living outside prison. He had not accumulated a comparable violent criminal record following Anthony's imprisonment. Nathaniel was arrested on February 13, 1998, nearly eighteen years after Gordon's murder.
The Plea Agreement and Confessions
As prosecutors prepared to try the brothers, a remarkable plea agreement was negotiated in 2000. Anthony and Nathaniel offered to provide complete accounts of the homicides they had committed in Lucas County. They agreed to confess in detail and submit to polygraph examinations intended to help investigators determine whether they were telling the truth.
For prosecutors and the families of victims, the agreement presented an agonizing choice. Some of the old murder cases lacked usable DNA, surviving witnesses, fingerprints, or sufficient evidence to support new prosecutions. Without the brothers' cooperation, several families might never learn who had killed their loved ones.
Under the agreement, Nathaniel admitted killing Thomas Gordon and acknowledged his participation in the murders of Connie Sue Thompson and Dawn Backes. His detailed confession included his admission that he shot Gordon, strangled Thompson with wire, and participated directly in the killing of Dawn.
Although Nathaniel confessed to three murders, the convictions entered against him under the negotiated agreement were for attempted aggravated murder and two counts of kidnapping arising from the Gordon and Podgorski case. The agreement also protected him from additional prosecution for the other crimes he disclosed. His sentence exposed him to decades of incarceration, but the agreement specifically contemplated his judicial release after he had served twenty full years from the date of his 1998 arrest.
Why Prosecutors Accepted the Deal
The agreement became controversial because it meant Nathaniel could eventually leave prison despite admitting responsibility for three murders. Prosecutors explained that the alternative was the possibility that the old cases would remain legally unsolved. Before approving the agreement, the Lucas County prosecutor consulted relatives of the victims.
The Cook confessions provided answers in cases that had tormented families for nearly two decades. Investigators could finally reconstruct the sequence of attacks, determine which brother had participated in each murder, and close homicides that once appeared unlikely ever to be solved.
The confessions also established an important difference between the two brothers. Anthony was the principal offender throughout the larger series and confessed to nine murders. Nathaniel's admitted homicidal participation was limited to three victims, although the nature of those three crimes demonstrated that when he acted with Anthony, he was an active participant rather than merely a bystander.
Release From Prison
By February 13, 2018, Nathaniel Cook had spent twenty years incarcerated following his 1998 arrest. His attorneys sought enforcement of the 2000 plea agreement, which had promised judicial release after that period. The question produced months of legal proceedings because the judge who originally approved the agreement had retired and his successor had to determine whether the court remained legally bound by its terms.
On August 9, 2018, Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Linda Jennings ruled that the agreement had to be honored. Cook was released from prison on August 10, 2018. His freedom came with substantial restrictions. He was classified as a sexual predator, required to register his address, placed under court supervision, ordered to wear electronic monitoring for a period, and initially assigned to a structured reentry program.
Legacy of the Cook Brothers Case
The Cook brothers investigation remains one of Toledo's most infamous serial-murder cases. Between the attacks, long-unsolved homicides, advances in DNA technology, and the extraordinary plea bargain that finally produced confessions, the case stretched across decades.
Nathaniel Cook's history is sometimes incorrectly merged with that of his older brother. The evidence and confessions establish a more precise record: Anthony Cook admitted killing nine people, while Nathaniel admitted personally participating in three murders and additional violent attacks. Nathaniel's confirmed murder victims were Thomas Gordon, Connie Sue Thompson, and Dawn Rene Backes.
Those three murders occurred within a period of less than one year and involved abduction, sexual violence, and deliberate attempts to prevent victims from identifying their attackers. The survival of some people attacked by the brothers, the persistence of Toledo investigators, and eventually the use of DNA testing prevented the crimes from remaining permanently unsolved.
For the victims' families, the 2000 confessions brought answers but not an uncomplicated sense of justice. The same agreement that finally identified the killers also guaranteed that Nathaniel would eventually have an opportunity to leave prison. His 2018 release therefore reopened wounds created by crimes committed almost four decades earlier and ensured that the Cook brothers case would continue to generate controversy long after the murders themselves had ended.
