Ryan Cooper, 22, was last seen in Rochester, New York, in the late spring of 1999, with some reports placing his disappearance around May 16, 1999. He was a young father with a three-year-old son and his girlfriend was pregnant at the time. A member of the Seneca Nation, many relatives lived on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. Ryan had distinctive tattoos including a cat, a joker, the word Indio, and JH Ryan, and scars on his left cheek and lip from acne.

Years passed without answers and Ryan’s mother died in 2010 without knowing what became of her son. In March 2011 federal authorities charged several people in a long-running drug-trafficking probe; among those charged were two of Ryan’s cousins, James Kendrick and Pablo Plaza, in connection with multiple crimes and the killings of Ryan and Francisco Santos. Prosecutors say Ryan was killed because he knew details about Santos’s disappearance and burial. Plaza later admitted being present when two people beat Ryan to death. Kendrick was later convicted on murder charges. Ryan’s body has never been recovered; investigators believe his remains were dismembered and disposed of near railroad tracks in Rochester.

Did anyone in Rochester or on the Cattaraugus Reservation know Ryan’s habits or movements in May 1999?