Shortly after it became known that Wade Michael Page was the Sikh temple shooter, Page's landlord said he thought the gunman was from Chicago. However, nothing in Page's history indicated any Chicago address.
Tuesday night, though, the Chicago connection seems to be Page's ex-girlfriend, Misty Cook, who herself has connections to white power organizations.
When the 40-year-old white supremacist stormed this Sikh temple on Sunday, he had only lived in metro Milwaukee for a short time.
"What has changed him, I have no idea, and obviously, we're never going to know," said his stepmother, Laurie Page.
Wade Page, racist and white supremacist band leader, moved to a home in South Milwaukee in early June.
He moved in with Misty Cook, 31, seen in a 2009 Cook County Sheriff's Department mug shot after being arrested on DUI charges, according to authorities.
At the time, Cook lived in a Northwest Side building, according to public records. A current resident here told the I-Team that she did not know of Cook or of her relationship with the Sikh temple shooter.
It is unclear whether Wade Page, the mass killer, lived with her in Chicago or knew her during the several years Cook lived on the Northwest Side.
Cook and Page did apparently share a common enthusiasm for white power groups. In web photos collected by the Anti-Defamation League, she is pictured with members of white supremacy organizations.
After the Sikh temple attack, federal authorities found a handgun in Cook's apartment, but there is no evidence or suggestion that she had anything to do with the Sikh temple mass shooting. She apparently had no contact with Page of late.
"Shocking. I mean, I met him, like I said, he seemed soft-spoken and quiet, I never had a lot of conversations with him other than with my daughter, and it's shocking," said Cook's mother, Bernie O'Dea, in Wisconsin on Tuesday. The gun removed by police from the home that Cook once shared with the Sikh temple shooter could be a problem for Cook.
She cannot legally own a gun because she has a previous felony conviction.
Police have not yet referred a gun charge against Cook for prosecution, according to state and federal officials.
