J.D. Gallop

FLORIDA TODAY

Update:

Rockledge High School students and faculty members will be met this morning with grief counselors as the campus begins to cope with the loss of teacher credited for her dedication and love of education.

Late Monday, Rockledge High Principal Tony Hines posted a notice to parents informing them of the death of Sandra Cook – a finalist for this year’s Brevard County Public School Teacher of the Year – on Monday.

Cook was found shot and killed in her home Monday after school officials grew concerned about her not reporting for work. Her estranged husband, 60-year-old Ricky Cook, was also located in the Melbourne home with a gunshot wound.

Death of popular Rockledge teacher a shock

Across social media there were tributes, including a video showing the high school’s chorus performing for a tearful Cook after she learned of her nomination as a finalist for teacher of the year. Students and parents also shared recollections of Cook’s school spirit, her motivation efforts to help those in her classes along with her advice. School officials were also mindful of the impact the violent death might have on students.

“The District Crisis Response Team consisting of trained counselors and psychologists, along with our school guidance counselors, will be available to assist our school tomorrow and provide support for students and staff,” wrote Hines in a post to the school’s Facebook page.

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“Please allow your child to talk about this sad passing. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to Ms. Cook's family during this time of grief.”

Monday, Brevard Public School Superintendent Desmond Blackburn offered his own tribute.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to her friends, family, students and peers during this difficult time," Blackburn said.

The news took on an especially tragic twist since Cook began the year on a professional high, winning accolades from her employees with Brevard County Public Schools as a finalist for the highly-coveted Teacher of the Year. But it was also a year that started with emotional turmoil behind the scenes for the 19-year veteran educator as she filed for a divorce.

Then Monday morning, Cook failed to turn up for work at Rockledge High School. The horrific news, first confirmed by her sister and then by Melbourne police investigators, was that Cook was one of two people found shot to death in her Melbourne home. The body of her estranged husband, 60-year-old Ricky Wayne Cook, was also found at the residence at 2720 Chapparal Drive.

"This is not happening," screamed the sister into the phone after dialing 9-1-1 to report the nightmarish scene. "She's dead...my sister is dead...I feel sick," she said during the call as a dispatcher tried to glean information about what happened.

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Ann Quesada, Cook’s other sister, was stunned. She was on the phone with the sister who went into the home, both concerned about why their sibling Sandra Cook would not be at work. Officials at Rockledge High called family members to tell them that Cook never showed up for classes.

“My sister called me and told me that she didn’t show up for work today,” Quesada said. “When I heard…when she started screaming over the phone, I immediately knew what happened.”

The tragedy quickly reverberated among the neighbors who knew her, the students she taught and the district she worked for. The Brevard County School District would not comment directly on the homicide investigation about said Cook worked at the 1,300-student school since 2013. School Superintendent Desmond K. Blackburn, however, called Cook, a math teacher, the 'best and brightest.'

Police said Cook – shot and killed as she was lying in her bed – and her estranged husband were found about 10:50 a.m. Monday. Cook was recently separated from her husband, family members said. Court records show Cook petitioned for a divorce in early January and had gotten a lawyer. There were no restraining orders or injunctions filed with the court, officials reported.

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Police gave few details of the shooting. “They were inside the home,” said Sgt. Trevor Shaffer, spokesman for the Melbourne Police Department, of the bodies in the home, tucked in a modest suburban neighborhood just west of North Wickham Road.

“The sister was doing a welfare check and found both of them. She obviously is very upset right now,” he said of the woman, who was heard screaming after making the gruesome discovery and calling police. That sister was later seen getting into a pickup truck and riding off with Quesada.

There were no reports of shots fired or other noise complaints and it was not immediately known how long the bodies were in the home. A public records search of previous calls for service or requests for police at the address did not turn up anything.

Police, who stopped short of calling the deaths a murder-suicide, however, said they are not looking for anyone else for possible involvement at this point. A gun was found near the man's body, according to the sister on the 9-1-1 call.

“We’re not going to assume anything just yet. They know each other and we aren’t looking for anyone else,” Shaffer said as crime scene agents videotaped the front of the house before getting ready to go inside.

Quesada, standing along with her brother-in law, was one of about a dozen people who were gathered near the home as police arrived. She said she was heartbroken and stunned.

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“She loved helping kids…She was wonderful. She did a lot of things…I’m just shocked,” she said, her eyes focused on the home where her sister lived for nearly three years.

Several neighbors stood outside and watched as crime scene vans pulled up in front of the one-story home. Officers also roped off the driveway, where the sister’s sport utility vehicle was parked, and the front yard of the home.

“She was very nice. When we’d see her, we’d wave,” said Sandra Huggins, a neighbor who spoke with the woman occasionally. She also said that she had not seen the woman’s husband at the house since around Thanksgiving.

She also recalled the woman carrying on with yard work on her own around Christmas time, pressure washing the fence and tending to the neatly-trimmed yard.

“I went out to get my newspaper this morning and said, ‘I haven’t seen (her) lately.’ I didn’t know what was going on here until my neighbor came over and saw everybody out here,” said Huggins, shocked.

“She was nice. Very nice.”

Jessica Saggio contributed to this report. Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and Twitter@JDGallop