The Cooper House

[Nile_Shaman]

I understand what you are saying and i meant no disrespect, but back then you had several State prisons, women, men and a multiple youth prisons here in chino. Once that inmate escaped it became the states problem. They had like you said special units whether you call it homocide detail, coroner, janitor, blood cleaners or whatever. I just wanted to add my 2 cents I guess.

I'm sorry if I sounded aggressive about it, enough for you to feel I found it disrespectful . I just know how it is, really, and I think we *should* have this type of help for victims' families when needed, but you don't think about it as an average person until it is you returning from identifying Aunt Jane's body and entering her house and looking at the mess. People just are not prepared for that moment, and they shouldn't have to deal with it alone, IMO.

I hope this changes more, and don't want people to assume it gets done. It doesn't, yet, everywhere. If you can help change it, please do, for your community, and for a possible family or survivor having to face that someday. If nothing else, consider doing this for a friend if they face dealing with a murder or even natural death personally. Ask them if they'd like you to hang out while they sort their dead kin's stuff, ask them a week later if you can buy them some groceries or offer to cook dinner for them and drop it off, done, so they don't have to pretend to feel social. If they have kids, offer to take them out for ice cream and a movie. You just don't think about it normally. I never did until I was a cop and began to get my eyes opened for me.

But what I found interesting is that people are actually thinking this guy would get off. But what I found even funnier is the thought of this house was be sitting there for many years bloody and empty.

Yep, that is what got me posting the more I heard about it, and read up on the case as a result.

Now I am thinking of driving by to get some pictures later tonight.

If you do, please post them. (keep it on topic, NS....umm....) I mean, maybe you can catch a ghost in the front yard.

Thanks again for your info, Arianna. It eases my mind.

NS

[Birdee]

I went to the house today and got lost the last time I went was probably 5 years ago, any ways some dumb teenagers have been vandalizing the wrong house on english place since it is empty. Now the road leading to the actual house has a no tresspassing sign and private property sign once you head up the road.

I took pictures from the time I got onto English road and then turned onto English Place. It was a very steep hill going up toward that house. They might not be in correct order but you'll get the gist of it.

The last two are of the mistaken house, that is actually owned by some hospital that is just to the left of it down the hiill

I found more of this info on cooper.

A WANTED MAN

Cooper became a suspect in the first days of the investigation.

He had walked away from a minimum-security yard at the nearby California Institution for Men two days before the murders and hadn't been seen since.

Escape was easy for a man like Cooper, a wanted rapist who already escaped from eleven other mental hospitals and jails by the time he turned 25.

But authorities didn't know who he was when they sentenced him to the Chino prison.

He was convicted of burglary in Los Angeles County under a fake name - David Anthony Trautman - and sent to the prison April 29, 1983.

The prison, thinking it had a two-time burglar with no prior arrest record, assigned him to its minimum security facility June 1.

He walked out through a hole in the fence.

It wasn't until two hours after the prison staff figured out he was gone that they realized exactly who they had lost.

Cooper was a former mental patient in Pittsburgh and had escaped from jails, mental hospitals and youth facilities nearly a dozen times before.

He had a lengthy criminal record dating back to his youth, and was wanted for burglary, kidnapping and rape in Pennsylvania in which he held a screwdriver to a woman's throat, threatened to kill her and stole a car.

Cooper evaded prison officials by hiding in a lumberyard until dark. He then sneaked across fields and roads in a path that took him straight to an unoccupied house along English Road.

It was 126 yards from the Ryens' home.

He entered the vacant house's garage through an unlocked door, drank two beers from a refrigerator and then went inside.

It made a good hideout, complete with a television, working telephone and a nice spot to sleep.

That much Cooper admits.

He claims, however, that he only stayed there a while before hitchhiking out of town. He says he never so much as looked at the Ryen family home.

It was only a coincidence, he said, that the murders happened next door.

Authorities disagree.

They say Cooper found a hatchet and knife inside the vacant home, and on June 4, 1983, crept to the Ryen home armed with the weapons.

Once inside, he systematically hacked down its occupants, starting with Doug, Peggy and Jessica.

Joshua and Christopher were likely attacked after screams awoke them and they came out to investigate.

After the murders, authorities say, Cooper stole the family's car and sped out of town.

Christopher's father, Bill Hughes, found the bodies the next morning and called police.

Detectives obtained a warrant for Cooper's arrest June 9, 1983, sparking widespread publicity and a massive manhunt.

Meanwhile, Cooper made his way to Ensenada, Mexico, where he found a job as a deckhand on a 32-foot sailboat, the Illa Tika, in exchange for food and shelter.

The couple who hired him later told authorities that he told them his name was Angel Jackson and that he was an artist from Philadelphia.

He drew sketches for them and their 5-year-old daughter as they sailed north from Mexico and along the California coast.

They said they heard reports of the manhunt for Cooper on their boat's A.M. radio, but never suspected their deckhand because the broadcasts never included Cooper's description.

Cooper was arrested on the boat July 30 in Pelican Cove off Santa Barbara after a woman there claimed he had raped her aboard another boat anchored nearby.

She later testified that Cooper held a knife to her throat and forced her to have sex with him after her husband drank too much and passed out.

He was never charged with the rape.

Edited July 2, 2007 by Arianna

[Nile_Shaman]

I went to the house today and got lost the last time I went was probably 5 years ago, any ways some dumb teenagers have been vandalizing the wrong house on english place since it is empty. Now the road leading to the actual house has a no tresspassing sign and private property sign once you head up the road.

Sorry to hear about more damage in that area. I really don't grasp why they do that. In any case, I'm glad we now have computerized identification procedures to reduce this sort of mistaken identity/loss of wanted people. It still happens, though.

Thanks for the further info and bothering to try for current pics :-). You're super, Arianna!

NS

[TRUSTbobmarley]

the word on the street is that they tore down the cooper house. :[

witch sucks because i was planning on going there but whatever. :[

[D_EMS]

Hey everyone, Ive lived in Chino Hills my whole life. About 1 Minute from the Ryen home (where the murders took place) I can tell you all that the original house has been torn down and a new one built in it's place, and yes people live there. It has bright lights around the house and a fence as well. It its not gaurded by the cops or any of that crazy stuff that people say.. But the neighbors will call the cops because they do not like people going up there everyday to tresspass and see the house. (sheriff station about 1/4 mile down the road too) It is not that small white house with grafitti and that is falling apart. That is simply a decoy house so that you dont go up to the real house. But yea it's a nice big house, very fixed up and the people that live there will tell you there are no blood stains on the walls! Remember this happend about 25 years ago. But if you wish to see the house, pass the sign that says private property no tresspassing up the small road, and dont stay too long.

[D_EMS]

Hey everyone, Ive lived in Chino Hills my whole life. About 1 Minute from the Ryen home (where the murders took place) I can tell you all that the original house has been torn down and a new one built in it's place, and yes people live there. It has bright lights around the house and a fence as well. It its not gaurded by the cops or any of that crazy stuff that people say.. But the neighbors will call the cops because they do not like people going up there everyday to tresspass and see the house. (sheriff station about 1/4 mile down the road too) It is not that small white house with grafitti and that is falling apart. That is simply a decoy house so that you dont go up to the real house. But yea it's a nice big house, very fixed up and the people that live there will tell you there are no blood stains on the walls! Remember this happend about 25 years ago. But if you wish to see the house, pass the sign that says private property no tresspassing up the small road, and dont stay too long.

Correction to what I said: The house actually was only partially torn down.. my bad. The parents bedroom with the sliding glass doors where cooper entered the house was demolished and rebuilt. So only part of the house was changed. You can compare the pictures from 2008 and from the early 80's when the murders occured. The house still looks the same, with the exception of part of the house where the master bedroom was. Here is a picture:

The top is a picture of the Ryen home in 2008, and the bottom is from 1983. You can clearly see the left side of the house where the parents bedroom and sliding glass doors where located. That part of the house was rebuilt. The rest of the house is the exact same, with the exception of a new paint job and roofing.

[D_EMS]

2008 Picture of House:

Correction to what I said: The house actually was only partially torn down.. my bad. The parents bedroom with the sliding glass doors where cooper entered the house was demolished and rebuilt. So only part of the house was changed. You can compare the pictures from 2008 and from the early 80's when the murders occured. The house still looks the same, with the exception of part of the house where the master bedroom was. Here is a picture:

The top is a picture of the Ryen home in 2008, and the bottom is from 1983. You can clearly see the left side of the house where the parents bedroom and sliding glass doors where located. That part of the house was rebuilt. The rest of the house is the exact same, with the exception of a new paint job and roofing.

[Nile_Shaman]

Thanks, D EMS, for the update in information.

Seems as if the only thing haunting the house now are curiosity seekers .

NS