The Murder of a Young Mother

On the evening of March 22, 2011, Summer was living in Ohio with her parents and three children. She had finished work and was on her way home after taking out the trash when something unusual occurred. Summer had been exchanging text messages with her boyfriend,

Adam Peters, but the communication suddenly stopped. Adam grew worried and went to her workplace to check on her, but she was nowhere to be found. In the dumpster, he found Summer's iPod, keys, and a dead phone battery, which prompted him to inform her parents, Debbie and Michael Cook, about their missing daughter.

On the same evening of March 22, 2011, there were other individuals who reported a possible abduction outside a bank in the area. Witnesses saw two masked men using Tasers on a woman before forcing her into the trunk of a car. They described the vehicle as a white Ford Crown Victoria.

The police initiated an investigation into Summer's disappearance and explored various scenarios. They looked into her journal entries and phone records, revealing that she had been engaged in a contentious custody dispute with her ex-partner, William, over their three children, and they had recently separated.

During their teenage years, William and Summer first met at church and developed a fast romance. They tied the knot at a young age and had three children together. Upon moving in together, they resided in close proximity to William's parents, Bill and Sandy, who cherished having their grandchildren nearby. Bill and Sandy aspired for William and Summer's relationship to be as enduring as theirs, having first met as youngsters through the church and starting their family soon after.

During their youth, William and Summer had a penchant for fun, which led to their children spending most weekends with their grandparents, Bill and Sandy. The grandparents relished in taking care of their grandchildren. However, Summer's feelings changed when she no longer loved William, and this brought about a significant shift in their family dynamic.

As per Summer's personal journals, she and William held conflicting beliefs about marriage. William had already begun searching for other women to satisfy his interest in polygamy, while Summer desired a more traditional approach to their relationship. Following their marriage, William's behavior became possessive, abusive, and controlling.

He expected to find dinner waiting for him upon returning home, and Summer had to seek his approval before retiring for the night. In her writings, Summer expressed feeling manipulated and losing her sense of self, describing herself as a "slave."

It has been suggested that both Bill and Will exhibited a demanding and forceful nature. However, people who knew them stated that Bill held complete authority in his household, and Sandy was similarly subject to manipulation and control, just like Summer.

This treatment became unbearable for Summer, who yearned for something more fulfilling in life. When she met Adam Peters, a wanderer recruited by Bill to work on his two properties, he sparked her interest and gave her hope for a better future. Summer, who was 25 years old at the time, was eager to leave her six-year marriage to Will. During one of their arguments, Will punished her by taking her cats and driving away with them. He even claimed to have thrown them out of the moving vehicle, and she never saw them again.

Summer had a strong desire to rediscover herself and find love again, but her 26-year-old husband posed a genuine threat to her safety. According to an affidavit, Will had threatened to kill her if she ever attempted to take their children away from him.

Despite the danger, Summer left her marriage and filed for divorce after starting a relationship with Adam Peters. Following the end of her marriage, she moved back in with her parents and left Ohio with her three children.

William, Bill, and Sandy were all dismayed upon learning the news of Summer's departure. Bill even physically attacked Adam and made threats against him. A month prior to Summer's abduction, William had attempted to gain full custody of their three children but was ultimately denied.

After Summer left, William moved back in with his parents. When the police came to their home to question them about Summer's disappearance, they found a white Ford Crown Victoria parked in the driveway. When asked where they were on the night of Summer's disappearance, they claimed they were in Cleveland.

However, the police obtained a warrant and seized the vehicle after the GPS indicated they were actually in the Logan area that night and at a car wash the next morning at 7:30 a.m. 

The car wash surveillance camera showed William, Bill, and Sandy exiting the car, but Summer was not with them. After washing the car, they even bought new tires for it. All three were taken into custody by the police for questioning, as Summer had been missing for eight days at that point.

Sandy was the only one who spoke to the police, as William and Bill remained silent. She admitted that Summer had died, but claimed it was not intentional. According to Sandy, they had abducted Summer in an attempt to frighten her into being more reasonable and allowing them to see the kids.

Sandy claimed she had hoped to have a rational conversation with her, and said that it was her decision to take Summer with them. 
William put four zip ties on Summer—three around her wrists and one around her neck before they got into the car. The zip tie around Summer's neck was too tight, causing her to suffocate. Sandy said they tried to cut it, but didn't have a knife, and Summer died in the car.

Sandy accepted a plea deal that offered a 15-year prison sentence in exchange for revealing the location of Summer's body, and the prosecutors dropped their pursuit of the death penalty for William and Bill.

Summer's remains were discovered by the police in a septic tank behind Faith Tabernacle Church in Nelsonville, Ohio, which was 20 miles away from where she was last seen.

Both William and Bill were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.