TEMPE, AZ — Cookie Jacobson disappeared from her Tempe home 25 years ago. Her brother is making a plea to the public for possibly the last time for any information.
She was last seen on Sept. 21, 1998, when her husband Bill Jacobson kissed her goodbye as he left for work. He contacted the police after learning that she had not attended her night class. In fact, she never answered the door when her friend came to pick her up.
Due to back injuries suffered in a car accident, Cookie had to retire from her career as a home health care nurse. She had recently begun taking graphic art and computer classes.
Police reports state that she was last seen by her teenage children as they left for school that morning. She was still wearing her pajamas. When she was discovered missing, her purse, shoes, credit cards, makeup, and clothes were still in the house.
“It’s been quiet for a very long time,” said Gary O’Neal, Jacobson’s brother.
O’Neal has been quiet for years about the disappearance and presumed death of his sister. However, he tells ABC15 that he wants to make an attempt to the public for any information as he believes there is a key person who may know something.
Over the following days after Jacobson’s disappearance, 100 people passed out 5,000 missing person flyers to every business within 200 square miles of their home.
In an interview with Jacobson’s 16-year-old son, Aaron Jacobson, he reportedly told police that he found his mother dead in bed. Aaron relayed to police that he was afraid that he would be blamed, so with the help of his sister, he wrapped his mother in a bed sheet and placed her in a garbage container.
Police would later confirm that blood stains found in the trash container matched that of Jacobson.
The landfill search
Finding a body in a landfill many days after it arrived would prove to be an enormous task.
Workers at the Butterfield Landfill in Mobile, Arizona, zoned off an area where they estimated Jacobson's body could be. This field was roughly 70 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 13 feet deep.
After specialized training, 18 Tempe police officers spent 59 days picking through 8,000 tons of waste.
Tempe spent $375,000 on searching the landfill, but Jacobson's body was never found.
The arrest of Jacobson's children
The teenage children of Jacobson were arrested — Aaron for second-degree murder and his sister for allegedly assisting him, but they were quickly released due to lack of evidence. They were never charged with any crime.
After telling police that he found his mother dead and that he and his sister put her in the trash can, Aaron never spoke of it again.
His sister has always denied any involvement with her mother's disappearance.
Where does the case stand?
O’Neal tells ABC15 that he has not heard from Tempe police since the former detective on the case retired.
However, he said that he recently reached out to the department, “I have gone back and forth and back and forth as to whether I should make this attempt, but the fact that I discovered the Tempe Police has done nothing for seven or eight years kind of forced me to do it,” he said.
ABC15 reached out to Tempe police, and a spokesperson said they have a single detective for cold cases. When we asked if that detective has looked at the Jacobson case, we were told that there are no investigative updates at this time.
“I’ve never been able to manage to forgive this,” said O’Neal.
ABC15 reached out to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office about Jacobson, but we were told that they have no records on the case so it appears the case was never submitted to them.
As for Aaron Jacobson, ABC15 reached out to him for an interview, but he told us he could not speak with us since this case is still open.
When ABC15 asked if there was anything he would like to say about his mother, he responded, “no.”
