Convicted "Zebra Killer" Jessie Lee Cooks dies in prison
Jessie Lee Cooks. Photo: California Department of Corrections.
VACAVILLE, Calif. - The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Thursday that convicted "Zebra Killer" Jessie Lee Cooks has died. He was 76 years old.
Cooks was reported to have been found unresponsive in bed in the hospice unit at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. He was pronounced dead at 10:26 p.m.
The official cause of death will be determined by the Solano County Coroner.
Cooks was sentenced in a San Francisco County courtroom on March 29, 1976, to serve life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, kidnapping, and first-degree robbery.
During a 7-month span beginning in October 1973 and lasting until April 1974, Cooks participated in a series of killings in San Francisco that targeted White men.
Cooks was one of four men who were convicted. All four received life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Of the remaining three suspects, two have passed away and one remains alive.
J.C.X. Simon.
J.C.X. Simon passed away at San Quentin State Prison on March 12, 2015 at the age of 69.
Manuel Moore passed away at California Health Care Facility in Stockton on Nov. 15, 2017; he was 73.
Larry C. Green, 69, is incarcerated at California State Prison-Solano in Vacaville.