Paul Jason Cowart was a 21-year-old White man who disappeared in northwestern Missouri amid what investigators later described as a pattern of killings tied to Ray and Faye Copeland. Prosecutors said the Copelands lured transient farmworkers with promises of work and that victims were shot at close range, often in the back of the head, then hidden in shallow graves, barns or even a well on rural properties where Ray had worked. Cowart’s remains were among those recovered and identified in late 1989 as authorities uncovered multiple burial sites.

A Livingston County grand jury returned an indictment in December 1989 charging the Copelands with five counts of first-degree murder. At trial the state presented ballistics linking a .22-caliber Marlin rifle to the killings, a register of farmworkers’ names with X notations investigators said helped identify victims, and reports described a quilt made from victims’ clothing attributed to Faye Copeland. Both were convicted and sentenced to death; Ray Copeland later died in prison and Faye Copeland’s sentence was eventually commuted. Does anyone have information about Paul Jason Cowart’s life or where he was last seen working in the Mooresville–Chillicothe area?