North Adams Man Guilty of Murder

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A North Adams man was convicted Friday of murdering his wife, Charli Gould Cook, in 2019. 

 

A Berkshire Superior Court jury found Michael Cook Sr., 47, guilty of murder in the second degree, assault and armed assault with intent to murder, and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and assault and battery on a family or household member.

 

Cook had broken into the Chase Avenue home of his estranged wife on July 11, 2019. The 41-year-old woman was in her bed when Cook hit on the back side of her head with a hammer. The assault resulted in significant injury to her skull causing traumatic brain injury. Emergency personnel found her unresponsive when called to the home approximately 1 a.m. that morning.

 

She passed away approximately five months after the assault at Baystate Medical Center. The medical examiner ruled her cause of death as a direct result of the brain injury from the July 11th assault. Cook was arrested on assault charges and indicted in 2020 of murder. He had been detained without the right to bail since that time after being determined a danger to the community.  

 

Charli Cook was a native of North Adams who attended McCann Technical School and had worked as a certified nursing assistant.

 

Sentencing will take place on Thursday, Oct. 10, at Berkshire Superior Court.