Friends mourn loss of 'Cookie Queen' as body cam footage reveals new details about her arrest

NORMAN ― Authorities continued to review the late November arrest of a Norman baker and activist who died Thursday as a Cleveland County jail detainee, while a mournful community honored her with a candlelight vigil late Monday.

Jail officials say 38-year-old Shannon Hanchett was found dead in her cell early Thursday after spending 12 days in jail. County and state authorities are investigating the circumstances of her death, but new details about her arrest were made public Tuesday when the Norman Police Department released video recorded by an officer's body camera.

Police arrested Hanchett Nov. 26 at a mobile phone store after being called to the business by an employee. Hanchett exhibited behavior officers characterized as “consistent with some type of mental health disorder,” according to court documents.

The video released by police shows nearly 18 minutes of dialogue between the responding officer and Hanchett. It is not entirely clear what all was said between the two, as the video provided by Norman police had parts of the audio redacted. Police spokeswoman Meghan Jackson gave the following statement regarding the missing audio.

"Per state law there are certain elements that are not subject to public release," Jackson said.

The police officer maintained a calm demeanor throughout the audible portions of the video. Hanchett suggests in at least one portion of the video her children may be in danger. The police officer repeatedly tells her there will be a welfare check made at her house, but that he was going to have to arrest her for misusing 911 services.

The officer stayed with Hanchett in the store until a second officer arrived, when the pair handcuffed and arrested Hanchett.

Jackson said other officers completed a welfare check on Hanchett's family and "found them to be safe without need of assistance." Additional questions asked of the police by The Oklahoman regarding other details of the arrest were not answered as of publication.

Hanchett made an initial appearance in Cleveland County Court on Nov. 28, where she pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of making false calls to 911 and obstructing an officer. She was ordered to be held in the Cleveland County jail on a $1,000 bond, with her next court hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 14.

It is unclear why Hanchett did not post bond at any point following the arraignment.

'Cookie Queen' remembered by friends, loved ones

Friends and civic leaders in Norman expressed concern over Hanchett’s death during a Monday night candlelight vigil, questioning the length of her nearly two-week duration in the jail and the issues of her arrest.

“I’m pissed,” said Mahina Sunshine, who bonded with Hanchett over their shared experiences with chronic pain and illness. “And that is fueling me … because I am finally mad enough with this place that I’m not going to shut up, because she wouldn’t want me to.”

The 200 residents who gathered Monday night at Recess Taco Park near Hanchett’s Okie Baking Co. headquarters on Norman’s Main Street painted a portrait of a generous baker, a loving mother, a staunch LGBTQ ally, and a longtime advocate for people with mental health needs and chronic illnesses.

Former city councilwomen Kate Bierman and Sereta Wilson, who helped Ashley Brand and Emily J. Mick organize the vigil, were close friends with Norman’s “Cookie Queen,” as Hanchett was popularly known. They shared business space with Hanchett in 2019 and 2020 for their own Yellow Dog Coffee Company, before Hanchett decided to expand on her own and revitalize Main Street’s historic cottage.

“The beautiful Cookie Cottage (is what) Shannon made for our community so that she could love us, because we all knew she wasn’t getting rich over there,” Wilson said with a half-laugh, half-sob. “She did it so she could love us, so that people would have a safe place to be, so that she could advocate, so that she could feed, so that she could hug. She hugged that cottage, and she made it cool.”

“It is so hard to speak about the loss of someone who seemed to defy descriptors,” Bierman said. “She was kind, but fierce. She did everything in excess. Pink on pink. Deeper red. Brighter stained glass. More sprinkles. Love that brimmed over. The heavy sadness Norman feels is the purest truth of how precious she was, and I know her legacy will be carried on in all of us.”

Mick, a licensed professional counselor, remembered her first time meeting Hanchett. Describing herself as an introvert, Mick said Hanchett’s extroverted personality seemed completely opposite her own, but the baker’s openness and warmth immediately connected with her.

“‘We’re friends now,’” Mick recalled Hanchett telling her toward the end of their first encounter. “‘Buckle up! It’s going to be a wild ride, but you’re stuck with me.’”

In tribute to Hanchett, Mick read her favorite poem, “The Sunny Day” by Mary Oliver, highlighting the last line: “What is it you plan to do / With your one wild and precious life?”

“Boy, did this girl believe that life was precious, and boy, did she stay wild,” Mick smiled amid tears. “She encouraged everyone else to do everything they could with their one wild and precious life.”

For more than a decade, Hanchett worked in the field of child behavioral health for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. But after she was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, she left that career behind in 2018 to pursue her passion for baking.

Aglaia Biagi, originally from Brazil, said she has fibromyalgia and struck up a friendship with Hanchett over their similar conditions with chronic pain. She joked that she taught Hanchett “many bad words in Portuguese, and she was a really good student.”

“I can’t accept what happened,” Biagi said. “It’s unbelievable. I am going to miss her, but I’m sure she will live on in the hearts of all of us.”

Others remembered Hanchett as a person with “a heart for queer and trans youth” who was instrumental in founding Norman Pride, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the LGBTQ community.

“She was the personification of what it means to be an ally to queer people,” said Joshua Jay, who plans to host a drag show in Hanchett’s memory at The Mercury on Main Street Sunday night. “She loved us. She loved all of us.”

Rachel Laffitte, one of Hanchett’s sisters, flew in from Florida in time to attend the vigil. Visibly shaken, she took the mic and offered her own thoughts on Hanchett’s impact on her life.

“I could tell you a million stories, and it wouldn’t begin to cover who Shannon was to me,” Laffitte said, holding back tears. “And I know we’re supposed to carry on, but I can tell you that I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that right now, because the person I want more than anyone right now is her, and I can’t imagine my life without her.”

“She was the advocate and she was the mother and she always put everyone in front of herself,” Laffitte added.

Mary Smith, another friend, remembers the last words she heard from Hanchett before her arrest and death were “Bye, friend!” a phrase several other people who spoke also recalled from their final interactions with her.

“It was something she always said, because she considered everybody her friend,” Smith said.

Funeral services were live-streamed Tuesday afternoon at Havenbrook Funeral Home in Norman.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Norman's 'Cookie Queen' was remembered at a candlelight vigil