Vanished in Columbus: Sacoya Cooper

Four years after Sacoya Cooper left her home on Aug. 31, 2021, her family and friends say they are still searching for answers - and for accountability - in a case that police have said is likely foul play.

Cooper, a 33-year-old Black transgender woman, left her West Side home late that night, according to her partner, to buy flavored bottled water. She never returned. A few hours later, at 3:20 a.m. Sept. 1, a brief, silent voicemail reached her closest friend, Bre Belcher.

“If she was off the radar, she would’ve slipped up somewhere - called, posted, something,” Belcher said. “That’s how I knew something was wrong.”

Cooper’s brother, James, drove to Columbus the day the family realized she was missing and spent nearly a month canvassing neighborhoods, walking her dogs along familiar routes and posting flyers. “Something wasn’t right,” he said.

Police recovered Cooper’s black 2009 Ford Fusion in October 2021 on the city’s West Side after locating it with a license plate reader system, according to a department news conference in February 2022. Investigators said the plate on the car did not belong to Cooper but did not identify the registered owner. At the time, police announced a reward of up to $10,000 through Central Ohio Crime Stoppers and said they believed Cooper was the victim of foul play.

Family members say communication from authorities has been limited and inconsistent. They said they were told at one point the assigned detective was on vacation and that they did not receive regular updates in the interim.

“A backup should’ve been assigned,” James said. “Weeks went by with nothing.”

In September 2023, a court affidavit signed by a Columbus police detective and reviewed by the family stated that blood and .40-caliber projectiles were found in Cooper’s recovered vehicle and that testing identified the blood as belonging to Cooper. The affidavit also identified Roger Smith Jr. as a person of interest in Cooper’s earlier missing-person case and said a .40-caliber handgun seized during an unrelated search would be compared with evidence from Cooper’s car.

It is not clear what, if any, results came from that comparison. The Columbus Division of Police did not respond to multiple phone and email requests for comment on the affidavit or the current status of the investigation.

In a phone call for this story, a man identifying himself as Smith said he did not know Cooper and ended the call.

At the 2022 news conference, a police spokesperson said Cooper’s case was being investigated the same as other missing-person cases. During that appearance, officers repeatedly referred to Cooper by her birth name, a practice known as deadnaming that LGBTQ+ advocates say is harmful and can hinder both searches and identification.

“It feels like they swept it under the rug,” Cooper’s mother, Regina Love, said. “They found the phone, they found her car - we still don’t know anything.”

Advocates say the case reflects broader disparities in attention and resources for missing people who are not white, cisgender women.

“Missing white woman syndrome is real,” said Viktor Velstra, who helps maintain a database for LAMMPP, an LGBTQ+ accountability group focused on missing and murdered persons. “It’s not that missing white women shouldn’t be searched for - they should. It’s that LGBTQ+ people and people of color often don’t get the same urgency, resources or respectful reporting.”

Belcher, who studied criminal justice, has assembled her own working file from public records and tips. “At this point, it feels like I’ve gathered more than the people who are supposed to be leading this,” she said.

Family and friends described Cooper as loyal and driven - a steady presence who checked in with quick calls and worked multiple jobs when needed. She had recently moved into a fenced house, kept two dogs and held a full-time manager position at a McDonald’s restaurant.

“She kept me laughing,” Love said. “She had a good heart.”

Description at time of disappearance

- Name: Sacoya Cooper
- Age then: 33
- Height/Weight: 5-foot-5, about 145 pounds
- Hair: Black, styled in lemonade braids
- Clothing: Black-and-white dress, Baby Phat sandals
- Vehicle (recovered): Black 2009 Ford Fusion

Anyone with information is asked to call Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477. Tips can be anonymous.

Episode Source Material

Original reporting by Jacqui Fulton. 

FBI (Washington, DC): Devin “Sacoya” Cooper — Kidnapping Victim, by FBI. Published n.d. Accessed August 21, 2025 by Jacqui Fulton. https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/devin-sacoya-cooper

Ohio Attorney General (Columbus, OH): Missing Adults — Devin “Sacoya” Cooper, by Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Published n.d. Accessed August 21, 2025 by Jacqui Fulton. https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Law-Enforcement/Investigator/Ohio-Missing-Persons/Missing-Adults-1/Cooper-(3)

NBC News (New York, NY): Police Suspect Foul Play in August 2021 Disappearance of Columbus, Ohio Woman, by Dateline NBC. Published November 9, 2021. Accessed August 21, 2025 by Jacqui Fulton. https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/police-suspect-foul-play-august-2021-disappearance-columbus-ohio-woman-n1302327

YouTube (San Bruno, CA): Police Provide Update on Columbus Woman Missing Since August, by WBNS. Published n.d. Accessed August 21, 2025 by Jacqui Fulton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQs5OjKhaO8

YouTube (San Bruno, CA): Police, FBI Discuss Renewed Efforts to Locate Missing Columbus Woman, by WBNS. Published n.d. Accessed August 21, 2025 by Jacqui Fulton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ9hFHedoko

Google Drive: Document About Suspect, by Jacqui Fulton. Accessed August 21, 2025 by Jacqui Fulton. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k3WaOOeDS0zRftsib627woMsrbBqE6bX/view?usp=sharing

WWSB ABC 7 (Sarasota, FL): Petito Case Costly to North Port Taxpayers, Records Show, by WWSB Digital News Staff. Published November 22, 2021. Accessed August 21, 2025 by Jacqui Fulton. https://www.mysuncoast.com/2021/11/22/petito-case-costly-north-port-taxpayers-records-show/