Law enforcement officers announced Friday the arrest of a “person of interest” related to the disappearance of Iolan Shawn Cook.
Allen County Attorney Jerry Hathaway said in a press release that Joshua Knapp was arrested in Linn County on unrelated warrants out of Allen County and Vernon County, Mo., and on a no-bond warrant issued from the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Hathaway described Knapp as a “person of interest” in Cook’s disappearance. Cook has not been heard from since March 13, Hathaway said.
Hathaway urged anyone with information regarding Cook’s disappearance to contact Crime Stoppers (800) 222-TIPS, the Iola Police Department, 365-4960, or the Allen County Sheriff’s Department, 365-1400.
WORD OF Knapp’s apprehension was a welcome bit of news for Cook’s family, which has grown increasingly desperate and frustrated.
“Most importantly, we wanna find Shawn,” said Iolan Christina Dryden, Cook’s cousin.
The family has received scores of messages from acquaintances of Cook’s, Knapp’s and others who may have been the last to see the 33-year-old before his disappearance.
“We’ve heard all sorts of rumors, stories about found bodies here and there,” Dryden said. “I got a message (Thursday) that supposedly they found a body in La-Harpe. That’s a new one.”
But while some of the rumors are quickly debunked — such as Thursday’s about a body in LaHarpe — the family has heard others that they fear are the truth, and that Cook likely has been killed.
“We don’t think he’s still alive,” Dryden said.
“No matter what,” interjects her mother, and Cook’s aunt, Becky Reaves. “We just want them to send him home.”
DRYDEN, Reaves and Destiny Cook, Shawn’s sister, spoke Thursday with the Register about the ongoing investigation and circumstances surrounding his disappearance.
Cook was last seen by his aunt the afternoon of March 12, when he left his and Reaves’ house in the 400 block of South Kentucky Street. Cook shares the home with his aunt, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, diabetes and other ailments. He serves as his aunt’s personal care attendant.
“He told Aunt Becky that he was going to be gone for a while,” Dryden recalled. “He left and never came back.”
The family sensed trouble from the beginning, when Reaves fell ill that afternoon and was taken to the hospital.
“Our calls went straight to his voice mail,” Dryden said, “and that was very unusual.”
