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Authorities in Ohio are investigating a possible criminal act in the 2021 disappearance of a transgender woman, whose car was discovered several weeks after she went missing.
Sacoya Cooper, 33, was last seen on August 31, 2021, when she left her partner’s home in Columbus to visit a nearby convenience store. It remains uncertain if Cooper ever reached her destination, but her car was located, unoccupied, weeks after she disappeared.
The Columbus police revealed that Cooper’s vehicle turned up on the city’s West Side with stolen license plates, which has led investigators to suspect that her disappearance involves foul play. Although the car was found in mid-October 2021, police did not make this information public until four months later, without offering any explanation for the delay.
According to a report from NBC, a friend of Cooper’s received a phone call from her at 3 a.m. on August 31. This late-night call wasn’t considered unusual due to Cooper’s inconsistent work hours. However, alarm bells rang when Cooper’s partner reached out to the friend to ask if Cooper had spent the previous night at her place.
After neither the friend nor the partner could reach Cooper, the friend encouraged the partner to report her missing to the authorities.
Reports indicated that Cooper’s phone is also missing.
Cooper is a transgender woman whose legal name is Devin Cooper. She was described as standing 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighing about 145 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing black long braids, a black and white summer dress, and black and white Baby Phat sandals.
The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Cooper. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts should call Columbus police at 614-645-4545
Cooper’s case is being covered as part of CrimeOnline’s “Finding the Lost: Black and Missing” series, which will feature a missing Black person every day in February. The full series can be read here.