The two men took Backes to the abandoned State Theater on Collingwood Boulevard, where they raped and tortured the young girl for the next several hours.

After raping Balonek, Cook used a baseball bat he had found in her car to beat Cole, inflicting fatal brain injuries.

[5] In September of that year, Anthony committed a crime in the western part of the city, just two blocks away from the Ottawa Hills police station.

After his brother's conviction, Nathaniel decided to cease his criminal lifestyle, and in the following years was arrested only for minor offences.

Ultimately, Nathaniel pleaded guilty to killing Thomas Gordon and to being complicit in the murders of Dawn Backes and Connie Thompson.

[11][12] Retired Toledo Police Department Detective Tom Ross said he believed the murders were racially motivated, adding that several of the victims were stalked.

[15] Despite protests from the victims' relatives, the court, given the terms of agreement and the deal with the judge made in 2000, found no legal basis to prevent his release and granted the request.

[16] Nathaniel Cook was released on August 10, 2018, but his freedom is extremely limited: he's obliged to participate in rehabilitation programs for sex offenders,[17][18][16] to wear a GPS bracelet, and is forbidden to approach places crowded by children.

In 2019, information surfaced that he was living 200 meters from a school in Toledo, but after an investigation by police, it was found that Cook hadn't violated the rules and regulations, and was let off.