CONVICTED MURDERER RECAPTURED IN D.M.

The Man, Who Is Serving 50 Years For Second-Degree Murder, Did Not
Report To His Work-Release Program

Authorities arrested a convicted killer Monday who disappeared
several hours earlier from a work-release program on Des Moines' south side.

Bryant Daniel Cook, 29, serving a 50-year sentence for second-degree
murder, was declared a fugitive at 2 p.m. after failing to report to
his job, said Fred Scaletta, spokesman for the Iowa Department of
Corrections. State officials were notified at 5 p.m. that he had been
apprehended in the 6100 block of Southeast Fifth Street.

"They had suspected that he might be in that neighborhood there,"
Scaletta said. "At a stop sign they actually noticed him in the car
with his girlfriend."

The arrest was made by a fugitive search team from the 5th Judicial
District. The woman has not been charged.

It's not uncommon for offenders to walk away from work-release, but
Cook's escape was considered serious because of his violent crime.
His disappearance followed last week's escape and capture of two
inmates from the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison, one of whom
was a convicted murderer.

"If somebody is going to take this kind of a chance, you have to
assume there is some degree of risk," Scaletta said.

Cook entered prison in October 1992 after pleading guilty to the
slaying of his father, Daniel Cook, 37, of Woodburn, in southern
Iowa. He was 16, but his case was handled in adult court. Authorities
said he shot his father once in the head at close range in their
Clarke County home.

Cook had been on work-release since May 17. Corrections officials
will recommend he be returned to prison and face escape charges,
Scaletta said. He is being held in the Polk County Jail.

In April, authorities arrested Sam Henry Archer, 30, who also was
serving time for second-degree murder, four days after he fled from
the Des Moines Work-Release Center. Archer was found hiding in a
crawl space in a house in Adair in western Iowa.

Both of Fort Madison's fugitives are behind bars. Martin Shane Moon,
34, captured Thursday in Chester, Ill., has been returned to the Iowa
State Penitentiary, said Jim Saunders, a spokesman for the Iowa
Department of Public Safety. Robert Joseph Legendre, 37, arrested
Friday in Steele, Mo., remains in Missouri while authorities
investigate his suspected role in the robbery and assault of two taxi
drivers in St. Louis.

U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle, an Iowa Republican seeking his party's
nomination for governor, called Monday for an independent
investigation by a third party, such as the attorney general's
office, into the Fort Madison escapes. He said an independent probe
would ensure the findings "are untainted by the possibility of
impropriety, cover-up or partisan motivation."

The Iowa Department of Corrections is conducting an internal
investigation, Scaletta said.