The missing body at the center of the rare “bodyless murder” conviction last year in Peoria County has been discovered in rural Peoria County. The Peoria County Coroner’s Office identified the human remains as those of Gabriel K. Cook of Peoria and said the remains had been there for an extensive amount of time. The Peoria County Sheriff’s and Coroner’s Offices were dispatched to the 2700 block of N. Ellroy Road on April 6, 2024, after the owner of the property discovered bones believed to be human bones. According to the Peoria County Coroner’s office, “This announcement comes after locating and notifying his family that Cook had irrefutably been identified. The autopsy on Cook is scheduled for Monday. It is understandable that questions still exist; it is my hope to be able to answer those questions and others following the autopsy proceedings tomorrow.” A Peoria County Jury took 90 minutes to find Allen Schimmelpfennig guilty of the murder of Gabriel Cook based on circumstantial evidence and without the body. In May 2023, Allen Schimmelpfennig was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the murder of Gabriel Cook. Although murder trials without a body are relatively rare, they have a higher conviction rate compared to the conviction rate for all murders as a whole.
Gabriel K. Cook was 32 years of age when he was reported missing by his family in March 2021. He was last seen alive on March 8, 2021, with 30-year-old Allen Schimmelpfennig. A witness testified to seeing Cook and Schimmelpfennig load a motorbike into the jeep that Cook used that belonged to his grandmother. The Jeep was found on fire on Kickapoo Creek Road that same day. Security cameras captured the Jeep near a storage locker leased by Allen Schimmelpfennig. Before his disappearance, Cook talked to his girlfriend daily, had regular video chats with his daughter, who lives out-of-state, and lived with his grandmother to help care for her; all communications stopped on March 8th.
Allen Schimmelpfennig was charged with First Degree Murder and Concealment of a Homicidal Death. The Peoria Police Department searched the storage locker leased to Schimmelpfennig and found a large pool of dried blood, which was confirmed to be from Cook. A Forensic Pathologist testified that based on the amount of blood found, a person would require immediate medical attention to survive. The human body contains approximately 10 pints, or 6 liters, of blood. The human body can shut down and go into shock after losing about 40% of its blood volume, according to the National Institute of Health. No medical facilities in the area had treated Gabriel Cook. Detectives also located the motorbike and .380 shell casings in the storage locker; the shell casings matched a shell casing in Schimmelpfennig’s apartment. Cell phone and GPS records that placed Cook and Schimmelpfennig together that day were also introduced at the trial.
According to a release from the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office, “In a first of its kind, prosecutors with the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office were able to convict Allen Schimmelpfennig of First Degree Murder, despite never locating the victim’s body. This is often referred to as a bodyless murder case. Based on the strong circumstantial evidence presented, a Peoria County jury took only 90 minutes to convict Schimmelpfennig (30) of First Degree Murder and Concealment of a Homicidal Death.”
“Murder trials without the victim’s body are difficult to prove. The body is usually the strongest piece of evidence. It can tell you the ‘who, what, when, where and why’ of a murder. Here, we turned to technology and good old-fashioned police work. We are grateful that Mr. Cook’s family can now have the closure they have been searching for.” Jodi Hoos, Peoria County State’s Attorney
