Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 11

Austin American-Statesman WORLD NATION Saturday, June 16, 2007 A12 RECANT: Moore says investigators should have seen holes in story arm behind his back, raise suspicions? If Moore was casing businesses for a break-in, wouldn't they have been open by the time Cooke disappeared, estimated to be after 9:15 a.m.? Moore also said he gave away the large metal toolbox, which he had claimed was used to hide Cooke's body, two months before Cooke's disappearance. Finally, he said, he was so muscular after lifting weights before his 2000 release from prison, "I wouldn't need a hammer. That's something (investigators) would know." Bradley declined to discuss an ongoing investigation. "We're going to behave professionally and not have a public debate about Michael Moore," Bradley said. "We are going to continue to collect evidence in hopes that someday we can prosecute him for the death of Rachel Cooke." Rachel's Cooke's father said he merely hopes for some finality.

"We just don't know. We've got (Moore) out there, but I don't think we should 100 percent focus on him, based on the lies that he's told in the past," Robert Cooke said. "It's hard for me to know what part of that story is true right now." clindellstatesman.com, 912-2569 he said, and then ran a short distance in front of his truck before turning around. Pretending to be out jogging, Moore said, he timed his run so he and Cooke would meet at his truck, where he hit her in the head with a hammer. He told investigators he drove her to another location and raped her, hid her body in the truck's large toolbox, and then drove to Matagorda Bay to hide the body.

He changed his plea in court, Moore said, because he didn't want to help "somebody get away with murder." Bradley, the district attorney, scoffs at that notion. "I would note that Michael Keith Moore is serving four life sentences, is a psychopathic killer, a proven pathological liar, and has repeatedly used the media to manipulate his circumstances. It would appear to me that he's attempting to manipulate the media once again," Bradley said. Before his February 2006 trial in the murder of Christina Moore, no relation, Michael Moore made several calls to KVUE-TV, saying he was innocent but knew who had killed the Round Rock woman. He declined to reveal names for fear that his wife would be killed, KVUE reported.

In fact, Moore slit Christina Moore's throat as she kneeled in her bedroom closet on Sept 23, 2003. She was 35 and three months pregnant Prosecutors sought a capital murder verdict, and possible death sentence, but jurors declined finding Moore guilty of murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping. Before his sentence could be imposed, Moore pleaded guilty and received concurrent life sentences. Investigators, stumped for years by Cooke's disappearance, approached Moore last year in the belief that somebody who had killed once might have killed before. Moore's confession was the product of repeated meetings, including a supervised visit to Matagorda Bay, where Moore said he pointed out the cove where he threw Cooke's body, covered in a tarp and weighed down by rocks.

Searches revealed no sign of her body. Speaking this week from prison, Moore said he lied about the cove, choosing a secluded spot after being driven around the bay for several hours. He also said his confession about Cooke's disappearance should have raised questions, such as: How could he have feigned jogging in street clothes? Wouldn't a hammer-carrying jogger, or one running with one Continued from Al manipulator, aren't buying his story. Cooke's father isn't sure what to think. "Jt's kind of hard to tell with this guy.

He's probably a compulsive liar. He's a predator, and that's part of the way he goes after people is to lie," Robert Cooke said. "He's definitely a suspect, and they have to look closely at him. But based on his history, how much of what he says can you believe? "I'm hoping somehow we can pieqe all this together. Either get more evidence on him, or else omit him," Robert Cooke said.

Shortly after his not guilty plea, Moore scheduled then canceled interviews with several TV and newspaper reporters. The American-Statesman published a profile of Moore in December that characterized him as a narcissist who craves attention and who believes his intelligence allows him to toy with, and outwit, investigators. Moore, who has spent most of his adult life in prison, took exception to that article in a January letter to the newspaper, but fell silent when invited to give his version of events. Since January, no investigators have interviewed Moore in prison, and after four months without contact, Moore sent a letter to the Statesman in mid-May offering to talk. "Earlier the better for me," he wrote.

"I will not cancel out this time." Sitting behind the bulletproof glass in the visitors lounge of the Hughes Unit in Gates ville, with his thick forearms heavily tattooed, Moore was wary at first and asked if the reporter was acting on behalf of the FBI or Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley. He warmed to the task of describing how investigators should have seen the holes in his story about kidnapping Cooke, who was 19 when she disappeared. And he apologized to the Cooke family for promising closure in the case and then failing to deliver. "I can imagine them thinking their daughter, their loved one, just disappeared again right there in that court. That's what I feel so bad about," said Moore, 31.

For Robert Cooke, the apology rings hollow: "That's the part I don't believe. I don't think he cares." Moore insists that he got caught up in a game with investigators, especially Fred Rhea with the FBI's violent crimes task force. Rhea was the one who brought up Rachel Cooke, Moore said, and he played along, right up to his confession. "I already went so far, I guess Rachel Cooke of Georgetown has been missing since January 2002, when she was 19 years old. you could say I made my bed, so I had to lie in it," Moore said.

"I guess you could say I was basically being an (expletive), thinking about what benefits I could get from this guy coming to see me, this FBI guy." Changing his story Moore told investigators that he was driving around Georgetown on the morning of Jan. 10, 2002, in search of businesses or homes to break into. He said he drove past Cooke, who was jogging. He pulled over and parked, but I'm not the most important guy in the multinational force. If it's a lower-priority mission and it's within the capabilities of private security, this is an appropriate risk trade-off." The military plans to outsource at least $1.5 billion in security operations this year, including the three largest security contracts in Iraq: a "theaterwide" contract to protect U.S.

bases that is worth up to $480 million; a contract for up to $475 million to provide Zl CONTRACTOR: Officials fought to have casualty figures included in reports intelligence for the Army and personal security for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and a contract for up to $450 million to protect reconstruction convoys. The Army has also tested a plan to use private security on military convoys, a shift that would significantly increase the presence of armed contractors on Iraq's often dangerous roads. "The whole face of private security changed with Iraq, and it will never go back to how it was," said Leon Sharon, who reconstruction materials, including vehicles, weapons and ammunition for the Iraqi army and police. They guard key U.S.

military installations and provide personal security for at least three commanding generals, including Air Force Maj. Gen. Darryl Scott, who oversees U.S. military contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I'm kind of practicing what I preach here," Scott said of using private security forces for such tasks.

"I'm a two-star general, Continued from Al private forces has come under attack this year, according to previously unreleased statistics; one security company reported almost 300 "hostile actions" in the first four months. The security industry's enormous growth has been facilitated by the U.S. military, which uses the 20,000 to 30,000 contractors to offset troop shortages, rmed contractors protect all convoys transporting GAD leads 500 private Kurdish guards for Falcon Security at a warehouse for weapons, ammunition and other materials on Baghdad's outskirts. U.S. officials and security company representatives emphasized that contractors are limited to defensive operations.

But company representatives in the field said insurgents rarely distinguish between the military and private forces. The U.S. military has never released full statistics on contractor casualties or attacks on privately guarded convoys. The military deleted casualty figures from reports issued by the Reconstruction Logistics Directorate of the Corps of Engineers, said Victoria Wayne, who served as deputy director for logistics until2006. Wayne described security contractors as "the unsung heroes of the war." She said she thought the military wanted to hide information on private guards fighting and dying in ocn 220 Harbor Drive, Spicewood, TX 78669 www.natlonwldellqulilatorss.com Toll Free 877-794-3080 Realtor: Cleta Miller 830-693-9302 Action Team Properties Pm Exquisite Quality Consignments of Modern New Antique Furniture.

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