The Haunted Old Idaho State Penitentiary Part Two

Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season 6 Episode 14 The Old Idaho Penitentiary Part II.

In 1932, Joseph F. Hook, a well-known author of pulp fiction stories, and his wife, Edna, moved to 4312 N 37th Street with their three children: Clyde, 21, Mildred, 19, and Vincent, 18.

Carl C. Van Vlack, a bottler at the Columbia Brewery, his wife, Edna, and their son, Douglas, 28, lived around the corner on the same block at 3621 N Stevens Street in Tacoma. Mildred Hook met Douglas F. Van Vlack in the spring of 1933 while searching for the Hook family dog, “Buster.” and soon they began seeing each other.

The couple was privately married in Shelton on July 28, 1933, and kept it secret for five months before telling their parents, who weren’t especially pleased. In December 1933, they moved to an apartment at 801 North I (Eye) Street in Tacoma. But living together proved difficult from the beginning. Mildred was gregarious and Douglas was misanthropic. Mildred had a good job with the Washington Gas and Electric Company as a cashier and Douglas, sullen and argumentative, was unemployed and had difficulty holding jobs. He was drinking heavily and started to physically abuse her. Mildred filed her first divorce action on November 29, 1934, but the couple got back together when Douglas got a steady job driving a truck for the Delicious Ice Cream Company. But he proved unreliable and irresponsible and several months later was discharged. In early 1935, he was employed by Meadowsweet Dairies as a milk-truck driver, but was soon fired for insubordination.

In September 1935, during an argument over money at the Van Vlack home, Douglas shoved Mildred down a flight of stairs and locked her out of the house. After cutting her hand on broken glass while trying to regain entrance, Mildred retreated to her parents home, bruised and bloody. The following day, she filed for divorce, charging “burdensome home life and spousal abuse,” and was granted a restraining order prohibiting Douglas from having any contact. Douglas retaliated by stealing all her clothes and jewelry from their apartment and burying them in the ground. Mildred and her attorney responded by a filing theft complaint. Douglas was arrested on September 15, 1935, but the complaint was later dismissed on plaintiff’s motion when items were returned, even though dirt and mold had ruined Mildred’s clothes.

Meanwhile, both Mildred and Douglas moved home to live with their respective parents. On October 11, 1935, Mildred obtained an interlocutory degree of divorce, and was granted the right to assume her maiden name. Mildred resumed a normal life and went to work every day, while Douglas became morose and isolated himself. He became obsessed with getting Mildred back and began stalking her and watching the Hook home for male visitors. On Sunday, October 18, Mildred went to a physician for treatment after being tied up and raped by Van Vlack.

On Thursday, November 14, Douglas forced Mildred to accompany him on an afternoon automobile ride, then bound her wrists and again physically attacked her. The following day, Mildred and her attorney went to Pierce County Deputy District Attorney Stewart Elliott to file a complaint against Douglas for criminal assault. But when she learned the penalty was 20 years in prison, she decided to drop the charge. Instead, she wanted Elliott to talk to Van Vlack and enforce the restraining order.

However on Monday morning, November 18, Joseph F. Hook and his attorney, Idaho State Senator Wesley Lloyd, demanded Elliott charge Douglas Van Vlack with violation of the new Washington state kidnapping law. Elliott said it didn’t meet the criteria for kidnapping, since there was no request for ransom, but agreed to charge Van Vlack with abduction and assault.

Sometime during the week, Van Vlack stole a .38-caliber Remington Model 51 semi-automatic pistol and shoulder holster from Morley Barnard, a casual friend, who was living at the YMCA. Earlier Van Vlack told Barnard he planed to take Mildred to Mexico and if anyone interfered, he would kill her. Barnard didn’t realize his gun was missing until days later.

At 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, 1935, Mildred Hook was on her way home from work with her close friend, Doris Clark, age 20, a student nurse. The two women had just stepped off a downtown streetcar and were walking north on Mason Avenue toward the Hook residence when Douglas Van Vlack drove his car over the sidewalk, blocking their path. He got out of the car, brandishing a pistol and smelling of liquor. The couple quarreled for 15 minutes, then he told Mildred she had 30 seconds to get into the car or he would shoot her and commit suicide. When Clark tried to intervene, Van Vlack pointed the gun at Mildred, and shoved her, crying, into the car. Before driving away, he told Clark to tell Mildred’s father he would kill her if anyone set the police on their trail or tried to