Did Anyone Noticed Cole? A Household's Search for Lost Young Man

As young adult Cole Cooper ventured out into a cool May night earlier this year, no-one would have thought he was in the concluding period of his life.

He had been out with friends at a tavern near his home in Scotland's central area.

But some time afterward, his phone was off - no texts, no social media posts.

After there was still no trace of him five days later, his family called law enforcement.

Alert: This article contains disturbing information and discussion about suicide

His relatives told that they notified police from the outset that Cole's vanishing wasn't normal conduct - and that he had been dealing with his psychological state.

"We explained to the police about Cole's mental health. While Cole had not been diagnosed with clinical depression or comparable problems, he did have challenges," said the parent.

"And they still did not designate Cole as a critical risk.

"He's not once fled... authorities have never been concerned in my son's life until the moment he disappeared."

The police initially classified Cole to be moderate risk after performing an analysis and speaking with family and friends.

They said Cole often shifted between addresses and that it was not uncommon for him to be uncontactable with his household for certain durations.

Cole's family felt like they had little option but to become investigators and initiate their own public call.

His family member, Aimee, said: "We just resolved we're going to take charge when they're not heeding us."

They utilized social media, posting one simple message: "Did anyone seen Cole?"

"The minute that it appeared online, it started to kind of expand," Aimee said.

Cole's case began propagating across the Scottish region and beyond. His image was on various social media videos, Instagram stories and social media posts.

The household set up a specialist page, and sightings and details were circulated digitally between thousands of people.

The relative said they got many contacts from people who thought they had encountered Cole.

The relatives coordinated search teams, which included up to 300 people at points in the advanced periods of their investigation.

The vanishing had stunned the close community in the village, the local settlement on the banks of the channel near to where Cole dwelled. Community members searched the region as they participated in the hunt.

The family also began to perform their own personal visits, encouraging people to examine their surveillance systems.

"It's quite disheartening that it reached a stage where we were needing to take that action," his aunt said.

"In place of you concentrating on your grief and your distress and your desperation for that young man, you're now in a alternative position."

Police Scotland says the family had expressed a wish to perform their own searches and appeals, which they were entitled to do.

"We counseled them on this. Nevertheless, at no point did Police Scotland ask or urge the relatives to lead the search or provide information," a representative said.

The authorities had also been searching for Cole.

Five days after he was reported missing, they issued their opening public call - then they raised his risk level from intermediate to serious.

Victim recovery dog teams and aerial devices were deployed, as well as the police helicopter and underwater search teams.

The family pieced together the last hours of Cole's life and established a chronology of where the young man had traveled, seeking leads.

They found footage of him from shortly after he exited the tavern in Denny, in the county, on the Saturday night.

He was captured on camera proceeding to a house party, then later a residential surveillance picked him up traveling to and from his parent's home, even though he wasn't in.

The household got CCTV footage from a auto repair shop which recorded Cole as he headed down the central avenue at Longcroft, hesitating near a bus stop.

At six in the morning,