Vergil Cook

A vibrant and humorous woman who could light up a room with her presence, Vergil Angela Cook was known to her loved ones as “Jill.” Born in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 15, 1960, she was a mother to three children and a doting grandmother. Vergil was educated in the Birmingham School System, graduating from A. H. Parker High School in 1978 before continuing her education at Birmingham Paramedic School and later the University of Alabama School of Nursing. At the time of her death, she worked as a cashier at Birmingham Southern College. Her family remembered her as a woman full of life who always kept people laughing.

On the night of Friday, July 21, 2017, the life of the 57-year-old Black woman was tragically cut short. Around 11:00 p.m., Vergil’s daughter, Yi’Koia Cook, discovered her mother deceased inside her apartment on 21st Street North in Birmingham. Responding officers from the Birmingham Police Department’s North Precinct confirmed the death. An examination later revealed that Vergil Cook had been stabbed to death and may have been deceased for several days before she was found.

The initial investigation quickly focused on a person of interest. In the weeks following the homicide, Birmingham police publicly identified 55-year-old Timothy Stone, Vergil’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, as someone they wanted to question. Vergil's daughter stated she had not seen Stone in several weeks. She made a public plea for him to come forward. "Turn yourself in," Yi’Koia Cook said in an interview. "It's hard not knowing. The last three weeks have been crazy. It's still hard for me to sleep some nights." Despite being identified as a person of interest, Stone was never charged at the time, and the investigation eventually went cold, leaving Vergil’s family without answers for seven years.

A major breakthrough in the case finally occurred in the summer of 2024. A witness came forward with crucial information that assisted detectives in the Birmingham Police Department's Cold Case Unit. Based on this new evidence, investigators presented the case to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. On Tuesday, August 20, 2024, authorities obtained a warrant for murder for Timothy Stone, then 62 years old. The arrest was straightforward, as Stone was already incarcerated in the Jefferson County Jail, where he had been for nearly a month on unrelated charges of kidnapping and robbery.

The Birmingham Police Department credited the witness for making the arrest possible after so many years had passed. The arrest brought a renewed sense of hope for justice to a family that had endured years of uncertainty and grief.

Vergil was preceded in death by her brother, Otis Tyrone Cook, Sr. She left behind her mother, Yvonne A. Cook; her three children, Yi’Koia S. Cook, Donald D. Johnson, and Arielle Z. Rutledge; three grandchildren; a sister and two brothers; and a host of other relatives and friends who cherished her memory. A funeral service was held for her on August 5, 2017, at Dante Jelks Funeral Home in Birmingham.

As of August 2024, Timothy Stone faces a charge of murder in the death of Vergil Cook. The case is now proceeding through the court system. Anyone with information regarding the case was asked to contact the Birmingham Police Department's Homicide Unit at 205-254-1764.