On the rainy morning of March 23, 1991, John Cook, 49, of Wausau, Wisconsin, was shot twice in the head while stopped with his wife Yvonne on an entrance ramp to Interstate 275 in Knoxville, Tennessee. The shooter fired .22 caliber rounds into the couple’s van, then forced the vehicle to a rural area of Knox County. After demanding money from Mrs. Cook, the assailant pushed John Cook’s body from the van and attempted to shoot Yvonne, but had trouble reloading. A passing motorist scared the attacker, who fled in the Cooks’ van. John Cook died at the scene; an autopsy indicated the wounds caused loss of consciousness and might have been survivable with immediate medical attention.

The case went cold for nine years. In 2000 a tip from Mary Storm, who said her dying brother Earl Storm implicated his step-grandson Ernest Salyer and Salyer’s friend Howard Walter Thomas, prompted detectives to reopen the investigation. Salyer and members of his family gave statements that led to Thomas’s arrest for felony murder. At trial Yvonne Cook identified Thomas as the shooter; Salyer and others testified that Thomas had confessed to firing at random cars and accidentally shooting Cook. Thomas was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Does anyone have memories of the March 1991 traffic or witnesses near Interstate 275 who might add details about that morning?