An Oklahoma high school basketball star has been found dead at her home under mysterious circumstances after police said her ex-boyfriend jumped her backyard fence and filmed himself raping her while she was unconscious. Madeline Bills, 18, a senior at Moore High School, was weeks away from graduation when she was found dead in her bedroom.
Bills was found dead by her family under suspicious circumstances on April 22, KOKO reported. Bills' ex-boyfriend, Chace A. Cook, was arrested on Monday at the Navy's basic training facility in northern Illinois and charged with first-degree rape in connection with the incident. Cook is 19 years old.
Raped and Murdered
Bills was just a few weeks away from graduating with a 4.0 GPA with ambitions to play collegiate basketball for Northeastern A&M when she was found dead in her bedroom in Moore on April 22. According to the outlet, her body was found inside her chamber, which was located in a pool house apart from the main house.
According to authorities, Bills had lately revealed to friends that she intended to return to the main house because she was terrified of her ex-boyfriend Cook.
"She was scared of him, and she told some friends she thought about moving back into the residence because of that, but no signs that were given to police at all to let us know to be aware of him," Moore police Lt. Wes Yost told KOCO.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, camera evidence showed Cook repeatedly jumping the barrier to enter the pool house where Madeline lived.
Based on this, police were able to carry out various search warrants and seize Cook's cell phone, clothes, and DNA samples as evidence.
According to the affidavit, a search of the cell phone turned up a number of unsettling videos that showed him with Madeline the night before she died.
According to the police, one of the videos showed Cook sexually assaulting Madeline while she was unconscious. "Following different leads, we applied and executed a few different search warrants, trying to find more evidence of what occurred," Yost told KOCO.
Heinous Crime
Cook was arrested and taken into custody on Monday at the Navy's boot camp at Naval Station Great Lakes on the northern outskirts of Chicago. He is now being held at the Lake County Jail in Illinois pending extradition to Oklahoma. It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer to represent him.
Police are yet to release details of how Madeline died and said additional charges against Cook may be filed in the interim pending the medical examiner's determination of the cause of Madeline's death.
"The Moore Police Department anticipates additional charges for Mr. Cook upon completion of the Medical Examiner's report," the Moore Police Department told KFOR.
The shocking case has rocked Moore, a normally quiet community of 63,000 on the southern outskirts of Oklahoma City.
"It's always sad when you have a crime like this one that has occurred and our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and her friends, and we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to find justice for Madeline," Moor Police Lieutenant Wes Yost told KOCO-TV.
In the meantime, Madeline is remembered as a young scholar and outstanding high school basketball player whose life was brutally cut short.
"In her short time given here on earth, Madeline made an incredible impact on many lives. She had a personality that would light up any room," her obituary read.
Madeline had a 4.0 GPA and was just a few weeks away from receiving her honors diploma from Moore High School.
She had signed a letter of intent to play women's basketball at Northeastern A&M in Miami, Oklahoma, and was a member of the Osage Tribe.
