More than three years after 18-year-old Madeline Bills was found dead in her Moore bedroom, the criminal case that has shadowed Cleveland County has ended with a plea deal and a life-without-parole sentence instead of a death penalty trial.
On Tuesday, 23-year-old Chace Cook admitted in court to killing Bills, entering a guilty plea to first-degree murder with malice aforethought and waiving his right to appeal. As KFOR reported, Cleveland County District Judge Lynne McGuire accepted the plea and sentenced Cook to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Cook was also sentenced to 20 years with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for possessing contraband in jail and six months in the county jail for assault and battery. All three sentences will run at the same time.
How The Moore Murder Case Unfolded
Bills was discovered dead in her bedroom on April 22, 2023, just weeks before she was set to graduate from Moore High School. Prosecutors with the District 21 District Attorney's Office previously said Cook went into the pool house where her bedroom was located, killed her and then left the property.
Earlier coverage by KOCO noted that the state initially pursued the death penalty in the case, calling the alleged killing especially heinous and pointing to evidence developed during the investigation. Cook was first charged with first-degree murder and rape, and the case moved through more than three years of court hearings, legal filings and negotiations before the plea.
Why The Plea Ended In Life Without Parole
Under Oklahoma law, a first-degree murder conviction or guilty plea can result in a death sentence, life without parole or life in prison, according to Oklahoma Statutes. As part of the agreement reached in Cook's case, the state withdrew a previously filed bill of particulars in the murder prosecution, removing the death penalty from consideration.
Bills' family agreed to the plea arrangement. The life-without-parole sentence means Cook is set to remain behind bars for the rest of his life, with the concurrent terms for the contraband and assault-and-battery cases not extending his time beyond the murder sentence.
In a statement shared as the case concluded, and reported by KFOR, Bills' family remembered her as “a light” as they marked the end of the long-running court process.
