A Riverside County Superior Court Judge has sentenced 36-year-old Michael Cook to death for the 1998 arson murders of two elderly Cathedral City women. On April 22nd a jury convicted Cook of two counts of murder, along with arson, burglary and auto theft charges. In May the same jury recommended the death penalty. The judge ruled the “aggravating factors were so substantial” that a death
sentence was warranted. The jury had rejected Cook’s claim that he was mentally disabled. 84-year-old Florence Mash burned to death in her trailer in the Date Palm Mobile Home Park on January 24th 1998, and 86-year-old Lucille Quiqley died in similar circumstances at the Desert Shadow RV Park on April 22nd of that year. Cook admitted he heard the victims screaming for help as they were being burned.