Pubdate: Tue, 22 Nov 2005
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051122/NEWS01/511220350/1001/NEWS
Copyright: 2005 The Des Moines Register.
Contact:  http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: William Petroski, Register Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

CONVICTED MURDERER RECAPTURED IN D.M.

The Man, Who Is Serving 50 Years For Second-Degree Murder, Did Not 
Report To His Work-Release Program

Authorities arrested a convicted killer Monday who disappeared 
several hours earlier from a work-release program on Des Moines' south side.

Bryant Daniel Cook, 29, serving a 50-year sentence for second-degree 
murder, was declared a fugitive at 2 p.m. after failing to report to 
his job, said Fred Scaletta, spokesman for the Iowa Department of 
Corrections. State officials were notified at 5 p.m. that he had been 
apprehended in the 6100 block of Southeast Fifth Street.

"They had suspected that he might be in that neighborhood there," 
Scaletta said. "At a stop sign they actually noticed him in the car 
with his girlfriend."

The arrest was made by a fugitive search team from the 5th Judicial 
District. The woman has not been charged.

It's not uncommon for offenders to walk away from work-release, but 
Cook's escape was considered serious because of his violent crime. 
His disappearance followed last week's escape and capture of two 
inmates from the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison, one of whom 
was a convicted murderer.

"If somebody is going to take this kind of a chance, you have to 
assume there is some degree of risk," Scaletta said.

Cook entered prison in October 1992 after pleading guilty to the 
slaying of his father, Daniel Cook, 37, of Woodburn, in southern 
Iowa. He was 16, but his case was handled in adult court. Authorities 
said he shot his father once in the head at close range in their 
Clarke County home.

Cook had been on work-release since May 17. Corrections officials 
will recommend he be returned to prison and face escape charges, 
Scaletta said. He is being held in the Polk County Jail.

In April, authorities arrested Sam Henry Archer, 30, who also was 
serving time for second-degree murder, four days after he fled from 
the Des Moines Work-Release Center. Archer was found hiding in a 
crawl space in a house in Adair in western Iowa.

Both of Fort Madison's fugitives are behind bars. Martin Shane Moon, 
34, captured Thursday in Chester, Ill., has been returned to the Iowa 
State Penitentiary, said Jim Saunders, a spokesman for the Iowa 
Department of Public Safety. Robert Joseph Legendre, 37, arrested 
Friday in Steele, Mo., remains in Missouri while authorities 
investigate his suspected role in the robbery and assault of two taxi 
drivers in St. Louis.

U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle, an Iowa Republican seeking his party's 
nomination for governor, called Monday for an independent 
investigation by a third party, such as the attorney general's 
office, into the Fort Madison escapes. He said an independent probe 
would ensure the findings "are untainted by the possibility of 
impropriety, cover-up or partisan motivation."

The Iowa Department of Corrections is conducting an internal 
investigation, Scaletta said.