Has Somebody Seen Cole? One Family's Quest for Missing Youth
As 19-year-old Cole Cooper stepped out into a crisp May night this past spring, nobody would have considered he was in the last moments of his life.
He had been spending time with pals at a tavern near his dwelling in the central region of Scotland.
But hours later, his phone was off - no texts, no digital activity.
Once there was zero indication of him five days later, his family called law enforcement.
Caution: This article contains emotional content and references to suicide
The Cooper family explained that they informed officers from the start that Cole's disappearance wasn't usual activity - and that he had been facing challenges with his emotional well-being.
"We explained to the police about Cole's emotional state. Even though Cole had not been identified with depression or similar conditions, he did have challenges," said his mother.
"And they nonetheless did not designate Cole as a serious risk.
"He's at no time fled... authorities have never been engaged in my son's life until the time he disappeared."
The police originally classified Cole to be intermediate risk after conducting an analysis and talking to family and friends.
They said Cole frequently moved between addresses and that it was not unusual for him to be uncontactable with his relatives for periods of time.
Cole's family thought they had no choice but to become investigators and launch their own search request.
His aunt, Aimee, said: "We just determined we're going to take charge when they're not paying attention to us."
They took to social media, publishing one simple message: "Has somebody noticed Cole?"
"The moment that it appeared online, it started to kind of spiral," Aimee said.
Cole's case began propagating across Scotland and elsewhere. His photograph was on numerous TikToks, Instagram stories and online announcements.
The family set up a specialist page, and sightings and details were distributed online between thousands of people.
Aimee said they received hundreds of messages from citizens who believed they had spotted Cole.
The relatives organised search parties, which included up to three hundred individuals at moments in the subsequent phases of their investigation.
The vanishing had stunned the local population in the area, the former mining village on the shores of the Forth-Clyde canal near to where Cole dwelled. Local residents searched the locality as they helped with the search.
The household also began to carry out their own personal visits, encouraging inhabitants to examine their security cameras.
"It's rather unfortunate that it arrived at a stage where we were needing to do that," his aunt said.
"Rather than you devoting attention to your sorrow and your distress and your anxiety for that person, you're now in a alternative position."
Law enforcement says the relatives had indicated a intention to conduct their own searches and appeals, which they were entitled to do.
"We guided them on this. However, at no point did the authorities ask or prompt the household to head the search or provide updates," a representative said.
The officers had also been seeking Cole.
Five days after he was declared missing, they published their opening public call - then they elevated his risk classification from moderate to serious.
Recovery dog teams and aerial devices were deployed, as well as the aerial unit and underwater search teams.
The relatives pieced together the final moments of Cole's life and created a chronology of where the teenager had gone, looking for indicators.
They discovered footage of him from immediately following he departed the tavern in the town, in the county, on the specific night.
He was recorded on camera heading to a house party, then afterward a home security system recorded him traveling to and from his father's residence, even though he wasn't in.
The relatives got CCTV footage from a auto repair shop which recorded Cole as he headed down the main street at Longcroft, hesitating near a bus stop.
At six in the morning,
