Leaving Orlando for Memphis

News 13 (Orlando) Reporter Kelli Cook is leaving central Florida and is headed to Memphis.

The Orlando Sentinel says that Wednesday was Cook's last day. She had started at the Orlando cable news channel in May 2008.

She has moved to ABC affiliate WATN in Memphis, where she will work as a weekend anchor and a reporter. But the biggest draw: family.

"I definitely missed being around family," Cook said Monday. "Most of my family is in Memphis, including my parents, nephews, a host of cousins and the extended family. I wanted some time to reconnect with them."

As she was packing to leave, Cook said she came across an old journal that she began while at News 13. She wrote about covering the case of  Nicole Ganguzza, the University of Central Florida graduate student who was killed in June 2008. Ganguzza had been on an evening jog on the Little Econ Greenway, and the case has not been solved.

"It clearly made a big impact on my life," Cook said. "I wrote, 'Today, I made a point to talk to my parents and tell them that I loved them.' I'll never forget her. She taught me to appreciate life and never forget to respect the people that I'm covering." 

Cook's impression of reporting on Central Florida? "Working in Orlando was such a wild ride," she said. "One day you're covering a shuttle launch, and the next day you're on a murder trial that the entire world is watching. I literally woke up every morning and wondered what the day had in store.