Body Found In Vacaville, ID’d As Missing Federal Investigator Sandra Coke
A body found in a Vacaville park in Northern California last week has been positively identified.
According to police, the body found in Vacaville is that of missing federal investigator Sandra Coke, 50. Cops are being circumspect about the circumstances under which the woman disappeared and was found, but some key details of the case are available.
Sandra Coke was last seen alive back on August 4. Her 15-year-old daughter says Coke left to meet someone who had information about the family’s dog, which had gone missing.
That was at 8:30 PM, and Coke remained missing until the body found in Vacaville was confirmed to that of the missing defense investigator for death-row inmates.
On Friday afternoon, search teams uncovered Coke’s body in a “woodsy area near Laguna Valley Park in unincorporated Vacaville.” Local news sources report that a person of interest was sought in the investigator’s sudden disappearance, saying:
“Police did not release additional information Tuesday afternoon but did say that 56-year-old Randy Alana was still a person of interest in the case. Alana, Coke’s long-ago boyfriend, is a registered sex offender with a long criminal history including convictions for rape and kidnapping. Representatives for Coke’s family were not immediately available for comment.”
In a statement prior to the confirmation that the body found was indeed that of Coke, her family said:
“We are still awaiting confirmation from the authorities that the body found on Friday afternoon is that of our beloved Sandra. Our hearts are heavy to think she may not be coming home to us, but we have been sustained through this ordeal by the unbelievable outpouring of love, concern and prayers from all of you. We thank you so much for your calls, emails, texts and posts. Sandra’s community is an amazing one!”
Posted on Facebook, the statement prior to the sad announcement sparked friends and colleagues of Coke to comment. One said:
“Sandra has been an amazing friend and coworker, utterly brilliant she threw her whole soul in to the most searching and detailed examination of our clients lives and functioning. For those of us who work with her she is entirely irreplaceable.”
When the body found in Vacaville was confirmed to be that of Coke, police spokeswoman Johanna Watson explained that the department was “extremely limited in the amount of information we can share with the community” about the investigator’s death.