Vanished in Columbus: Sacoya Cooper
Bre
No matter how hard Sacoya tried to stay off the radar, she would’ve slipped up somewhere; she would’ve shown that she was out there.
On August 31st, 2021, Sacoya Cooper left her home in Columbus, Ohio. This was the last time anyone reportedly saw her.
She was 33 years old, a daughter, a sister, a friend - a Black transgender woman with hopes, dreams, and a life full of both joy and struggle.
From a video Sacoya uploaded to Facebook-
Sacoya
Hey, what's up? My vibe right now is real, at the casino. Winning.
But after that day in August, everything changed.
Reporters
It has been one year since Sacoya Cooper went missing…
Police suspect foul play…
A $10,000 reward is being offered…
Her family rushed to find her. The police eventually launched a search. But as the days turned into weeks, the trail seems to have gone cold, and the questions only grew.
To understand Sacoya, you need to hear from those who loved her most.
Regina
I’m Regina Love, Sacoya’s biological mom. And it’s funny because today is her birthday. She would’ve been 37… I pray to God every day. I think about her every day, wondering what happened to her? Where is she? Where is her body? So we can have some kind of closure, some kind of memorial.
Sacoya’s story is not unique.
Hi, I’m Jacqui. I’m a queer journalist, and I became deeply invested in missing person cases when my stepson briefly went missing. That experience showed me just how broken the system is, especially for vulnerable populations.
Across the country, LGBTQ+ individuals go missing or die under suspicious circumstances far too often. Their stories are frequently ignored, deprioritized, or dismissed by the authorities and media.
They Were Here is a podcast committed to challenging that.
We tell the stories of missing and murdered LGBTQ+ people.
Because their lives matter, every family deserves answers.
Every unsolved case holds secrets. And sometimes, those secrets don’t sit in police files or evidence boxes—they live in memory. In something someone saw. In a detail someone heard.
If you’re listening now, you might hold a piece of the truth about what happened to Sacoya Cooper. Even the smallest clue, the thing you thought didn’t matter, could be the spark that brings answers.
Before the frantic calls, the missing person flyers, and press conferences, Sacoya was someone who loved to laugh and keep in touch with the people close to her. She was hardworking and determined to make ends meet, no matter what life threw her way.
Regina
She always kept a job, no matter what. She made ends meet.
Her mother remembers a child who could fill an afternoon with simple joys, playing ball with her younger brother, and spending time with loved ones.
Regina
I met her when she was nine and I realized that she was transgender…Being around family made her happy… We went to the park, had picnics, different stuff like that.
Younger brother James remembers someone who was always pushing forward, even when life wasn’t easy.
James
She was always creative she danced, she was a drum major for Libby High School. She knew how to vogue. She was a go-getter; if she didn’t have something, she’d make it happen.
She worked hard, sometimes holding two jobs at once. And when she loved you, she showed it, with a phone call, a check-in, or showing up when you needed her.
James
If we didn’t talk no other time…On our birthdays, we always talked. Even if we didn’t talk the rest of the year, we’d talk on our birthdays.
Her closest friend, Bre Belcher, shared that their connection lasted decades, through difficult times and new beginnings.
Bre
We’ve been through so much, from being homeless to signing leases…It’s just so many memories that we have together because we’ve been stuck together for so long.
They called each other sister.
In the weeks before she vanished, life was steady. Sacoya had rented her own home in Columbus, a house with a fenced yard, two cars, and her dogs. She lived there with her significant other of several years, Richard. Bre said, she was settled.
Bre
It was beautifully set out… fenced-in yard, two cars, pit bulls. Living the life that she wanted, very comfortable.
Sacoya had gotten to that comfortable place after years of effort. When she first moved from Toledo, she stayed with Bre. Richard was part of that move, too.
Within a month, they had their own place. Eventually, they upgraded to the house.
Bre
They came and put their best foot forward… I was like you have been doing what your doing, working, stacking money. She was just happy to have her own place.
Work was a constant. She had a full-time manager position at McDonald’s. Bre said that was the job she wanted- and she achieved it.
Another Facebook video shows her wearing her uniform and headset.
Sacoya
Just here getting this money at work on the clock, listening to music, getting this money, you already know how it go. Yeah. Money,
She made time for the people close to her, checking in and staying connected, even when she was busy.
The night before she disappeared, Bre saw Sacoya at a backyard hangout.
Bre
She said she was ready to buy a house… so Richard didn’t have to work so much. That was the last conversation we had.
At 3:20 in the morning on September 1, Bre’s phone rang. She didn’t pick up.
Bre
It wasn’t really a message… just silence. If I wouldn’t have had that, I wouldn’t have even known she called me.
There were no words, no background noise, just a few seconds of empty audio before the line went dead.
That call came just hours after she was last seen.
Earlier that night, according to Richard, she’d left their home in her car around 11:30 to go to the corner store for flavored bottled water, the only kind she drank.
Bre
She loved that water, so I could see her going to get it.
But Sacoya didn’t come home.
Bre
“September 1st, I wake up. I, I'm, I have a call from Richard. He's, he is, he is like, “sis.” I'm like, “yeah”, he is like, “is Sacoya over there?” I'm like, “no. Why?” He was like, “she hasn't been home all night.” I'm thinking nothing of it. I, uh, you know, well give her a few turns. She probably out doing something. Probably sleeping, probably, you know. Had a long night or something and, uh, give it time, give her some time.So after that, I continuously called Sacoya, continuously. Continuously called, and I, and I, and never got a call.
That evening, Richard and Bre went to the police station to file a missing persons report. But the office was closed.
Bre
And when we was leaving, there was an officer going in and that's when we stopped him and told him what was going on…And he took , a brief summary of what was going on and gave us a card. Uh. It was gonna be the investigating detectives.
But according to the family, the police didn't actually do anything to investigate her disappearance that night. No canvassing the neighborhood or pinging her phone.
In Atlanta, her brother James got a call from their mother.
James
At first I thought maybe she just took a break… but something sat with me that same night. I packed up my car and drove to Columbus.
James knew something was wrong. He immediately walked out of his job and never went back.
James
I stayed for almost a month, trying to figure out what’s what.
James began retracing Sacoya's steps, walking parks with her dogs, talking to people she knew, and teaming up with Richard to spread the word. I reached out to Richard for his side of things, but so far haven't heard back.
James kept calling Sacoya’s phone. Checked familiar spots. Waited for her to walk back through the door. But she didn’t.
Within days, her family shifted from hoping she’d turn up… to knowing something was wrong. And they felt that the authorities were not helping them. They hadn't heard from the detective since their first encounter at the police station, almost two weeks ago, when they filed the missing person report.
The family was finally told that the detective had been on vacation.
James
When we kept reaching out to Columbus Police Department, they kept saying that, oh, the detective is on vacation.
No one else was ever assigned to the case. Something that still bothers James.
James
A backup person should be able to go in and take a look at report, then follow up with people in the meantime. Like, no one reached out to us. Like, it literally was like a week, a week and a half…before we even got any type of assistance, any type of seriousness out of the police.
Sacoya’s home was in a central location, surrounded by businesses. If she made it to the store, there may have been cameras that caught her. And the store had surveillance. But according to the family, police later told them there was no surveillance footage showing her at the store.
Bre
And I find it very ironic that there is like no digital footprint of her…there could be a reason, which is that the police lagged at the beginning of the investigation.
While they waited for official updates, the family kept searching, on foot, in cars, anywhere they thought she might be. They talked to people in her neighborhood and tried to keep her name in circulation online. Bre handmade a flyer and xeroxed copies at the library.
Bre
Me and Richard just started, uh, placing flyers throughout the city.
Then, there was Sacoya’s car, a 2009 Black Ford Fusion. According to the police, it was found in a different location from where she was reportedly last seen. Police said the license plate on the car didn’t belong to Sacoya. But haven't said who it belonged to.
At a press conference in February 2022, Detective Radich of the Columbus Division of Police described how the vehicle was located.
Detective Radich
The vehicle was located using our license plate reader system… I got an email a short time later that the vehicle was spotted out on the west side of Columbus. Upon getting into work that morning, I went out to that location and the vehicle was there.
It’s not clear how they found the car with a plate reader if it had different plates.
Detective Radich told reporters the vehicle was recovered in October, more than six weeks after she disappeared. He said the car was processed by the crime scene unit but would not comment on the evidence, citing the open investigation. Sacoya's Mom, Regina, felt helpless.
Regina
“They found the phone, found her car, and uh, I think they just swept it under the rug.
During the press conference, police repeatedly referred to Sacoya by her birth name, a practice known as “deadnaming,” which is harmful to transgender people.
A year passed by with no word from Sacoya and virtually no information from the authorities.
Regina
I was always calling them and asking them questions if he found her or if this or that, you know, and they would always say that they couldn't ex, they couldn't tell me anything because it was still under the investigation and, uh, they couldn't tell us anything. So. That's all we, that's all we have.
Near the anniversary of Sacoya’s disappearance, the police held a second press conference. Detective Radich-
Detective Radich
We are hoping that in partnership with the FBI and Central Ohio Crime Stoppers, we can generate information necessary to locate Ms. Cooper. Uh, we believe that there are witnesses.
They announced that a $10,000 reward would be offered for information leading to her location.
Different Detective
We believe that there's a possibility that somebody out there just needs that little bit of oomph when you see this family that's, that's suffering, uh, to come forward and to give us the information we need in order to resolve this missing person's case.
The family finally felt hopeful that the police were working on the case and that someone might come forward with information. But they say that after the second press conference, communication from law enforcement faded again. Eventually, updates stopped coming.
Regina
It'll be four years, the 31st of this month. They still haven't told us or called us about anything and you know, that's, that's hurting.
According to the family, three years after Sacoya’s disappearance, they obtained a court document from a reporter, an affidavit signed by Columbus Police Detective Ronald Lemon Jr. and dated September 7, 2023.
The affidavit describes officers executing a search at a residence on Woodthrush Way in connection with a homicide investigation involving a ten-month-old child. During the search, detectives noted that Roger Smith Jr. was identified as a person of interest in an earlier missing persons case involving Sacoya Cooper.
The document states that Sacoya’s vehicle was recovered by Missing Unit Detectives and that “blood and spent projectiles were found in the vehicle.” It further states that the blood was later identified as belonging to Sacoya Cooper, and that the projectiles were “.40 caliber ammunition.”
Detectives executing the Woodthrush Way search recovered a .40 caliber handgun, which the affidavit says would be compared with the evidence from Sacoya’s case.
It’s been two years since this affidavit was filed. However, family members I spoke to have not been notified of any of this by the authorities, and the results of the test on the gun aren’t known. This information has not previously been made public.
Sacoya’s family isn't sure if, or how, she knew Roger.
As part of my reporting, I conducted a background check on Roger Smith Jr. Records show he has faced multiple accusations ranging from domestic violence and assault to concealed weapon charges, and a charge for changing the tags on a car in 2016.
I reached out to Roger for a comment.
Roger: Hello.
Jacqui: Hi, I am calling to speak to Roger Smith, Jr.
Roger: Can I ask who’s speaking?
Jacqui: My name's Jacqui Fulton and I'm a reporter looking into the case of Sacoya Cooper.
Roger: Who the hell is that?
I explained to Roger that Sacoya is a missing person from Columbus.
Roger: Who the hell? And what the fuck? I have no idea who- what you're talking about.
I told him we saw an affidavit saying the police found her car with evidence in it.
Jacqui: So that's all we were wanting to talk about it.
Roger: Well, uh, you know what? Just, just for the bull crap- trying to hit me with some bull crap, I'm gonna go ahead and dismiss you because that just, it just sounds so, just miscellaneous and thrown off.I don't even like that. So you have a good blessed day.
Jacqui: Okay, well, if you decide you wanna talk about it- {line disconnects} Oh!
He hung up and didn’t respond to further attempts at contact.
I also contacted the Columbus Division of Police to request comment on the affidavit, the background check findings, and the family’s account of the investigation.
Call
For the missing persons unit, press five.
I called, emailed, and even sent a Facebook message to them.
Call
Sergeant James Fuqua, public information office is not available. Record your message at the tone…
But I have yet to hear back.
As she watched the investigation unfold, Bre kept thinking about what might have been done differently - and why some obvious moves still hadn’t happened.
Bre
I mean, if you want help from the public, … won't you be putting this name and this picture of this person out there?
From the beginning, Sacoya’s family has believed that who she was, a Black transgender woman, shaped how her case was handled.
Jacqui
Do you think her case was handled differently because she's a black trans woman?
James
Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, um, absolutely. Absolutely. That's definitely, um, a big part. As to why she's being treated like this has been pushed back.
Both James and Bre pointed out that the Gabby Petito case happened around the same time. It received wall-to-wall coverage on the national news. Massive amounts of taxpayer resources were utilized. The North Port Police Department alone paid out over $100,000 in overtime for searches.
The pattern isn’t unique to Sacoya’s case. National data shows that missing persons cases involving transgender women of color are often deprioritized, leaving families to search and advocate on their own.
Viktor
We see multiple barriers when it comes to getting black trans women reported missing. Um, authorities may not take it very seriously. Um, they may not take report all. And that's, um, if there's somebody to report them as missing. Um, many times authorities don't want to take a report from a friend or a chosen family member.
That’s Viktor Velstra, admin of LAMMP- the LGBT+ Accountability for Missing and Murdered Persons.
Viktor
They want to have a physical report given in person by a. Biological family member. Um, and because of how many trans people are estranged from their families, that can be difficult. Um, but even for trans people who are not estranged from their biological families, um, often there's a, a lack of concern, deprioritization.
Lack of resources given to it. Um, and we always like it when we do see some support from the local community. Um, but really institutions and authorities should not be making the community and the family members of the victim, uh, fulfill the, the gaps in the system that. Other groups of people get to have and get to access.
Um, and that's also included in news coverage and in their official reports and databases where we see people dead named and misgendered, which can mean that people, even if they are found, are not identified for a very long time.
Advocates have a name for this imbalance: “missing white woman syndrome.” It’s the term used to describe how cases involving young, white, middle-class women often receive far more media coverage - and often more police resources - than those involving people of color, men, or members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Viktor
Missing white woman syndrome is a serious issue, um, that affects LGBTQ plus people, but also anybody who is not a middle class white woman. Um. And that is partially because, uh, that is who the media will cover and who will get the most attention from them, and that puts added pressure on the authorities to solve those cases and to give more resources.
Towards those cases. Um, and it's not that missing white women should not be looked for because of course they should. Um, it's that other groups do not get the benefit of, of that kind of a search and that kind of institutional support. Um, usually across jurisdiction, sometimes international support. We just, we do not see that, um, with LGBTQ plus people at all.
Um, we do not see that with trans people. There might be local coverage, um, but unless there's something very salacious happening, um, then we hardly get any. Any mention whatsoever in media?
When asked during a press conference if they were treating Sacoya’s case any differently, Detective Radich said-
Detective Radich
No, this is treated just the same as any other missing person case. Um, we investigate 'em all the same.
Bre has resorted to her own investigation into her friend's disappearance. She took criminal justice classes in college. Gathering every scrap of information she can get her hands on.
Bre
So it was really like pulling background checks, internet and things of that nature. Um, and I just put a file together.
She wonders if she now has more information on Sacoya's disappearance than even the police do.
Bre
She's considered a cold case now, so she's only looked at, um, uh, ev uh, once a year on a anniversary. That's the only time that they open her case.
Per James the detective has changed, but no one ever told him who was handling the case now. I was also unable to find out who has the case after multiple attempts to contact the authorities have gone unanswered.
For Sacoya’s family, the search for answers isn’t just about solving the case; it’s about urging anyone who might hold a piece of the truth to come forward.
Regina
What did you do and what did she do to you? Why did you do this to her? She never hurt nobody.
James
Once you take a life, it's like regardless of what you do, there is no coming back.
They want people to understand that withholding information isn’t just keeping a secret, it’s prolonging their pain and denying Sacoya the dignity of being found.
Through every interview, every story shared, Sacoya’s presence comes through, her laughter, her loyalty, her ability to make people feel seen.
Bre
Like everybody says, to get to know somebody is to love somebody, you know? Um, she's …a very outspoken person. .. she's a good-hearted … and a good individual.
For her friends and family, that’s the legacy they want remembered. Not the unanswered questions, not the headlines, but the woman who loved fiercely, stood by her people, and found joy in the everyday.
Regina
She kept her mama laughing. She kept me laughing. Every time she come by, I would pull her, you know, the last time she's over, she had a little dress on her and I pulled her. It was so, it was short, and I pulled it down on her and she just said, “oh, ma”, she was, she was very, she was very sweet.
That’s who Sacoya was. That’s who they want the world to remember.
At the time of her disappearance, Sacoya was 145 lbs, 5 ft 5, with black lemonade braids, wearing baby phat sandals, and a black and white dress.
If you know something—even the smallest detail—say something. What you remember could be the key to bringing answers.
Please contact the Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477.
You can also visit They Were Here on Facebook to see photos of Sacoya and learn more about her case.
This podcast was created by me, Jacqui Fulton. Fact-checking by Fendall Fulton. Original music by Aaron Levison.
Special Thanks to
Anna Mcclain
Jenny Snead
And Lilly Snead