A person of interest in the case of a missing Tennessee teacher has now been charged with attempted first-degree murder in a separate case.
Tyler Mook is the ex-husband of missing Bedford County woman Shelley Mook. Tyler Mook has been charged with attempted first degree murder for a case involving a girlfriend in Florida.
"Mook is a person of interest in a missing woman case from Tennessee, and we're glad to help the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation," said Sheriff William D. Snyder of the Martin County Sheriff's Department in Florida. "We're being very sensitive to their needs, providing any information they need."
Shelley Mook went missing in 2011. Her burned car was later found in Murfreesboro. Tyler Mook made several appearances in court trying to get custody of the couple's daughter.
"The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's case is entirely separate from ours," Snyder said. "Ours is a standalone attempted murder charge."
In October, police said Tyler Mook got into an argument with his girlfriend, threw her off a boat into the water and attempted to hold her under.
"There was a struggle," Snyder said. "She was able to get loose from him. He got ahold of her again, held her back underwater in what was clearly an attempt to kill her."
Police said Tyler Mook's brother, Andrew Mook, was able to put him in a chokehold long enough for the woman to escape. Another witness on the boat claimed to have heard Tyler Mook say, "No one disrespects me in front of my family. I will kill her."
"We have a case here where every bit of evidence says that Mook attempted to kill his girlfriend and that she had to be saved from that," Snyder said.
Snyder added the case slowed when they lost contact with Andrew Mook, but a sworn statement Andrew Mook just gave upgraded the original domestic battery charges on Tyler Mook to attempted first-degree murder.
While he does not represent Tyler Mook in Florida, Tyler Mook's Tennessee attorney David Raybin said, "I am not aware of any reason an alleged domestic dispute should have been elevated to a felony. Mr. Mook has asserted his innocence of this, and I stand behind him."
The Mooks' daughter is in the custody of Shelley Mooks' mother, Debra Sikora. Sikora told a judge in a visitation hearing that Tyler Mook used the little girl to threaten her.
In regards to Tyler Mook's attempted first-degree murder charge, Sikora released this statement:
"I want the hurt to stop for those that have and are still affected by the acts of one person. Strength be to those who will stand and have their voices heard. It is by those voices that justice will come. By those voices, healing can begin, closure can be sought and faith in others can be restored."
Tyler Mook is now in the Martin County jail on a $100,000 bond.
Read more: http://www.wsmv.com/story/27622128/tyler-mook-charged-with-attempted-first-degree-murder-of-florida-girlfriend#ixzz3Lt4V3TcY
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