Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 11/12/1976
- Missing From:
- Missing From Modesto, California
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 01/12/1949 (76)
- Age:
- Age 27 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’6 – 5’7, 120 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A green t-shirt with ties at the top and gold braided hoop earrings.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Cooper’s nicknames are Jackie and Sally.
- Details of Disappearance:
- In 1976, a woman named Cooper vanished from Modesto, California, after leaving with her coworker, James Toliver, right after withdrawing $4,000. Her family said Toliver threatened to harm them if she didn’t go with him. Cooper has never been found.
Toliver is suspected of being a serial killer responsible for the disappearances of several other women in the Modesto area. These include Mary Watkins (disappeared in 1979), Hester Lee Chandler (disappeared in 1974 after withdrawing $9,000 from her bank; she was 60, 5’7″, 130 pounds, with brown hair and eyes), and Toliver’s own wife, Patricia, who disappeared in 1978.
Toliver, a forklift operator and cannery worker, was a gambler who dated many women after his wife vanished, using the name “Jim Joy.” In 1980, his body was found next to his truck near Lake Tahoe. He’d died of a heart attack, but he had a gun and a pillowcase with $98,000 in it. A mile away, the body of Florence Richina, a teacher who’d also recently withdrawn $98,000, was found; she’d been shot. Toliver’s footprints led from Richina to his truck, and her belongings were found in his home.
Police suspect Toliver killed all four women, but the cases remain unsolved.
- Agency:
- Modesto Police Department
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 11/12/1976