DEAD GIRLS' MOTHER ACCUSED EX OF ABUSE; FARMER ADOPTED THEM AS BABIES
St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Author: BYLINE: Associated Press
Dateline: ROCHESTER, Minn.
Tom O'Connor still keeps photos of the daughters he gave up after a divorce and denies he ever abused them.
O'Connor, of Rochester, was once married to Lois Cooke, who along with her daughters, Holly, 15, and Nicole, 14, were shot and killed by their husband and father, James Cooke, last weekend. Cooke then shot himself and died en route to the hospital.
Mower County authorities theorize Cooke shot his family and himself after finding out his wife had been told by the two girls that he had sexually abused them. In a rambling suicide note, Cooke denied the allegations.
Now, the girls' first adoptive father also is denying allegations of abuse.
When they were married in the early 1980s, O'Connor and his wife, Lois, adopted two girls from Korea; Holly was 6 1/2 months old and Nicole was 5 1/2 months old.
``They were little dolls,'' he told the Post-Bulletin of Rochester. He still loves them, he said.
They used to go to church at Christ Lutheran Church in Preston and would go out to eat after the Sunday service. ``The girls always had to sit right next to me'' in the restaurant, he said.
The couple divorced in 1984 and were given joint custody of the girls, but Lois had physical custody. That arrangement didn't work, O'Connor said.
He said his ex-wife made it difficult for him to see the girls and alleged that he abused them. However, he was never charged and he denies abusing them.
Fillmore County Court records show she sought a court order restricting his visiting privileges with his daughters because of fears of ``physical and emotional abuse,'' the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported Tuesday.
O'Connor, a farmer, told the Post-Bulletin he gave up custody of the girls about five years ago because he didn't want the girls to be torn between him and his former wife. ``I didn't want to cause a lot of problems,'' he said.
O'Connor said he was unaware of accusations that James Cooke, 63, had sexually abused the two girls. Authorities said Cooke found out by tapping a phone conversation that his wife planned to meet with Mower County officials Monday.
Services for Lois Cooke and the two girls will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Christ Lutheran Church in Preston. Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Thauwald Funeral Home in Preston.
O'Connor said he found out about the shooting in Racine when he was flipping through TV channels Monday morning, but he didn't know at the time who had been killed.
``Something clicked inside me, I don't know what,'' he said. His brother, Gary, who also lives in Rochester, soon came to his home with a Rochester police officer. ``They both said you better sit down,'' he said. They told him that his fears were correct.
``I just can't believe it,'' he said.