Willie Cooper, a 74-year-old World War II U.S. Army veteran, left his Madisonville, Texas, home on June 21, 2000, and never returned. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease about a year earlier but reportedly presented well and the condition was not widely apparent. Cooper drove away in his 1995 Chevrolet pickup while his wife of 52 years slept. He was wearing a gray knit shirt with a Texas Rangers logo, black pants, and a plain black baseball cap.

Investigators believe he may have been trying to reach his hometown of Daingerfield, Texas, about 184 miles from Madisonville. A police officer stopped Cooper in Fairfield, about 49 miles from his home and on a route toward Dallas, but the officer did not know Cooper was missing. The pickup was later found locked and apparently overheated on the side of Interstate 45 in Fairfield; nothing was taken and there was no sign of Cooper. Some agencies list his disappearance as July 22, 2000, in Dallas, but the official date is June 21, 2000, from Madisonville. His whereabouts remain unknown.

If anyone knew Willie Cooper’s movements that day or has information about his pickup truck or the stretch of I-45 near Fairfield, please share what is known.