The body of a man has been found in a hunt for a missing 19-year-old who disappeared nearly a month ago after a house party.
Police scoured 2,000 hours of CCTV and spoke to 400 people as part of the investigation and confirmed the discovery this evening.
The corpse was sighted in a wooded area near Kilsyth Road in Scotland at around 4.15pm.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘Formal identification has yet to take place however the family of missing man Cole Cooper, 19, has been informed.
‘Enquiries remain ongoing to establish the full circumstances.’
Cole Cooper was reported missing on May 9 prompting a major search operation involving helicopters, divers and financial investigators.
His family last saw him on May 2 or 3, and he was caught on CCTV around 6am on May 4 in Longcroft, Falkirk, attempting to enter his father’s house unsuccessfully.
The most recent sighting of Mr. Cooper was on May 7 at 8.45pm on the A803 at the junction with Cumbernauld Road, Longcroft. He approached a school friend for a ride, but the request was denied.
Cole Cooper pictured with this mother, Wendy Stewart. The 19-year-old went missing nearly a month ago
CCTV footage of Cole, who was last seen at around 5.50am on May 4
Since then, Police Scotland has interviewed almost 400 residents through door-to-door investigations and has reviewed over 2,000 hours of CCTV footage.
The missing man was previously called around 5ft 10ins, of medium build with brown short hair, and was last seen wearing a black puffer-style jacket with black jogging bottoms.
His disappearance has been described as ‘completely out of character’ and Mr Cooper’s family are said to be devastated.
A portal was set up for the public to share footage, images and possible lines of inquiry, with detectives saying they have received ‘numerous’ submissions.
Officers previously reported the investigation was being treated as a missing person’s inquiry rather than a criminal probe.
On May 28, detectives said the examination of more than 1,000 hours of CCTV had taken place along with door-to-door inquiries at more than 220 homes.
Around a week later, the hours of CCTV examined had increased to more than 2,000.
Chief Inspector Alex Hatrick, the local area commander, said earlier today: ‘Our priority remains tracing Cole and getting answers for his family on his whereabouts.
The missing man was described as about 5ft 10ins, of medium build with brown short hair
‘We have a dedicated team, including specialist officers and national resources, following all lines of inquiry.
‘Specialist search teams as well as the air support and dive and marine units have been searching Longcroft and the surrounding area.
‘I would like to thank the public for the support they’ve shown for this investigation and all the information provided to police. It shows the community is as committed to finding Cole as we are.’
In a heartfelt plea last week, Mr Cooper’s mother Wendy Stewart begged her son to ‘come home’.
She said: ‘I love and miss you so so so much. Where are you son? My heart is breaking I just want a big cuddle from you son.’
The worried mother also posted a touching video of Mr Cooper singing into a microphone and dancing with her, with the caption ‘Please help get my gorgeous, kind loving boy back to me’.
Mr Hatrick had said: ‘I continue to urge anyone with information on Mr Cooper’s movements or whereabouts to come forward.
‘No matter how significant you believe that information is, it could prove vital.’
Anyone with information had been asked to contact 101 quoting incident number 828 of May 9.
