JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man wanted in connection with the murder of a Warren County couple has been captured in Florida.
Officials with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said 39-year-old Bryan Cooke was arrested Tuesday morning at a hotel in Jacksonville.
Cooke was added to the TBI’s Most Wanted list the day before after his in-laws, Gary and Gail Dodson, were found deceased inside their home on Tony's Lane in the Fairview community.
The TBI said he’s facing two counts of criminal homicide.
According to officials with the Warren County Sheriff's Office, the hotel clerk told authorities Cooke was sweating and acted strangely during check-in. When she asked for an ID, he couldn't produce one.
Being a part-time dispatcher, she checked the status of his name, realized he was wanted in Tennessee and called police. When police arrived they found him naked and unresponsive.
Authorities were called to the Dodson's residence Monday morning after they failed to show up at their restaurant, Gary and Gail’s Pit Stop, in McMinnville.
Cooke was also accused of fleeing the area in a Jeep that had been stolen from the victims’ home. The vehicle later was recovered in the parking lot of a nearby Jacksonville business.
A friend close to the family told NewsChannel 5 that Cooke and the victims' daughter have two children -- a son and a daughter.
No motive has been established in the case. The medical examiner would have to determine the victims' cause of death.
TBI agents, along with law enforcement officials in Warren County made the trip to Jacksonville, but it's unlikely that he would be extradited back to Tennessee today.
Cooke was booked on a $2-million bond. He was charged in Jacksonville as a fugitive from justice. A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
The TBI confirms he had been convicted of theft several times in the past.
