IE Killer Stabbed To Death In California Prison

INLAND EMPIRE, CA — An Inland Empire killer serving a life-without-parole sentence was fatally attacked in prison last week, and authorities now say his death was a homicide.

Scott Troy Cook, 49, was stabbed to death around 9:31 a.m. May 3 by two inmates at High Desert State Prison in the Northern California city of Susanville. Inmates Zachary Harris, 36, and 3o-year-old John Patch — both from San Diego County — are suspected in the slaying that was carried out using homemade weapons, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

A motive for the killing was not disclosed.

Cook was sent to High Desert State Prison in 2000. He had been convicted in the brutal Aug. 25, 1996, murder of Patrick Lynn Dailey in San Bernardino County. According to court documents, on that date the victim and Cook were at a home with, among others, William Louis Randolph and Anthony Cornelius Fabre.

At some point, Dailey agreed to buy gas for Randolph's truck. The two of them, joined by Cook and Fabre, loaded into the rig bound for a filling station, according to the documents.

Dailey was never seen alive again.

Instead, Cook drew a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and forced Dailey into the rear of the truck while Raymond drove the foursome to Lytle Creek, a remote area in the San Gabriel Mountains within San Bernardino County.

Cook directed Raymond onto a dirt road. When they finally stopped, Cook led Dailey 25 feet from the truck, forced him to kneel, searched his pockets, and repeated a portion of a verse from the movie "Pulp Fiction." He then shot Dailey dead.

Cook then brought the gun to Raymond and said, "Now it's your turn."

Raymond fired two shots in the direction of the mortally wounded victim and handed the weapon back to Cook.

A total of at least 17 bullets were fired, according to the court documents.

Cook was sentenced to life without parole for first-degree murder, carjacking, kidnapping, grand theft, and a firearm enhancement. His prison stay was violent from the start. He was also sentenced in Kern County to 16 years and eight months for attacking a fellow inmate using a homemade weapon.