MIDVALE, Utah, Nov. 26, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake City Police have named a suspect in the Sunday night shooting death of a Midvale woman.
According to a statement by Salt Lake City Police, Chelsea Watrous Cook, 32, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail early Monday morning charged with aggravated homicide in the death of her ex-husband’s girlfriend, Lisa Vilate Williams, 26.
Investigators say Cook — a health teacher at Skyridge High School in Lehi — shot Williams inside an apartment near 7690 S. Center Square just before 7 p.m.
According to a probable cause statement filed Monday in Third District Court, Unified Police officers were called to the residence about 6:58 p.m.
When police entered the apartment they found a man “pinning his ex-wife against the wall,” the statement said. He told officers he “had a gun in his waist band and that his ex-wife had just shot his girlfriend.”
“Officers found the victim with a least two gunshots to the torso,” according to the statement. “The victim was transported to a local hospital where she eventually succumbed to her injuries.”
The ex-husband told officers his former wife had stopped by the apartment to deliver cold medicine to one of their children. He said she entered the apartment without permission “and remained there unlawfully.”
The probable cause statement says Cook locked herself in the bathroom where she called 911.
Cook then “exited the bathroom and walked over to her coat. (She) suddenly pulled out a handgun and fired three to five rounds at the victim,” the statement say. “The victim fell back and landed on the couch.”
The probable cause statement indicates the ex-husband was able to take the handgun away from Cook. (She) then stood up and walked over to her children and sat on a recliner chair while her former husband tried to help his gravely wounded girlfriend.
Cook “then stood up and started to walk back to her coat,” the statement says. “That’s when (her ex-husband) grabbed (Cook) and pinned her against the wall until officers arrived.”
According to the probable cause statement, the ex-couple’s 3-year-old twins were present during the entire ordeal.
Additional court records obtained by Gephardt Daily reveal that on Nov. 13, 2018, Cook pleaded not guilty in Herriman Justice Court to two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, a class B misdemeanor, along with a single assault charge, also a class B misdemeanor.
All three incidents are alleged to have taken place on October 16, 2018. A pre-trial conference had been scheduled for December 18, 2018.
The Salt Lake City Police Department is heading the investigating at the request of Unified Police.
SLCPD issued a statement saying they had been asked to take over the investigation when UPD realized one of their personnel had a relative with a connection to the case.
