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What happened to James Cooper? Monroe teen vanished 28 years ago

Cooper declared legally dead in 2017

James Robert Cooper (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

MONROE, Mich. – It has been 28 years since a 16-year-old boy from Monroe left for school and was never seen by his family again.

On Oct. 25, 1996, James Robert Cooper left for school without his wallet or identification. He made it to Monroe High School that day and was seen outside the building, but after that point, family members do not know what happened to him, according to the Doe Network.

He never picked up his last check from work. He was declared legally dead in 2017, according to the Doe Network.

Cooper was 5′11′' tall, weighed around 155 pounds, had brown hair, and blue eyes. He had braces on his teeth and scar tissue on his right arm. He was last seen wearing a tan corduroy jacket.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Monroe Police Department at 734-243-7500.

The photo below shows Cooper age-progressed to 35 years old.

---> Find more coverage of Michigan cold cases here.

An age-progressed image of what James Robert Cooper could look like at 35 years old. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

Why is ClickOnDetroit covering so many cold cases?

We’re working to bring attention to as many unsolved and missing persons cases from around the state as we can. Our hope is that getting this important information out to the public will help generate tips for investigators and potentially lead to closure for the affected families. If you have a cold case you’d like us to look into, please let us know by using the form below.


About the Author
Kayla Clarke headshot

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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