Three more suspects have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Iolan Shawn Cook, bringing the number of accused in the case to five.
Allen County Attorney Jerry Hathaway announced Wednesday murder charges were being filed against Rhonda Jackson, James Myers and Jessica Epting, all of the Iola area.
Jackson and Myers were taken into custody without incident Wednesday afternoon. Epting remained at large as of this morning.
Previously charged were Iolan Amber Boeken and Joshua Knapp, 34, of Bourbon County. Boeken and Knapp are in Allen County Jail awaiting their next court hearing. Boeken will appear in Magistrate Court Aug. 10; Knapp on Aug. 17.
COOK’S disappearance sparked a 16-day, countywide manhunt before his body was discovered northwest of Iola.
Cook, 33, was last been by relatives on March 13. He lived with an aunt in the 400 block of South Kentucky Street.
When relatives did not hear from him over the next few days, they reported him missing March 17.
A flurry of activity by Iola police, Allen County sheriff’s deputies and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation followed, with the execution of search warrants in Iola and Gas.
Boeken was arrested March 21 in Iola on unrelated drug charges; Knapp was arrested March 24 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. Knapp was identified then as “a person of interest” in Cook’s disappearance.
Authorities found Cook’s body April 3 along the Neosho River, near the Woodson-Coffey county line.
THE KANSAS Bureau of Investigation, the Iola Police Department and the Allen County Sheriff’s office are continuing their investigation with regard to Cook’s murder, Hathaway said. He declined to say whether even more are involved.
Anyone with information regarding the murder is urged to contact CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477), Iola Police Department at 1-620-365-4960 or the Allen County Sheriff’s Department at 1-620-365-1400.
