The Tribune

UPDATE: The Bahamas Consulate General Miami Office has confirmed that Merlyn Cooper, a 78-year-old Grand Bahama resident who went missing at the Miami International Airport Sunday evening, has been found alive and well.

FROM EARLIER:

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Staff Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

POLICE in Miami are searching for Merlyn Cooper, a 78-year-old Grand Bahama resident who went missing at the Miami International Airport Sunday evening.

The woman, who has dementia, was travelling with her daughter, Gemini Cooper, when she was last seen around 3.50pm.

Airport cameras captured her walking outside the terminal. She has not been seen since, and relatives and authorities are concerned for her safety.

The woman’s daughter, Astrid Cooper, said her mother and sister had travelled from London to Miami on Sunday on British Airways.

They were in the baggage claim area when Cooper disappeared.

“We don’t know where she is right now and have been looking everywhere,” Ms Cooper said.

The Miami Dade Police Department issued an official missing person’s flyer on Monday with a photo and description of the elderly woman.

Detective Luis Sierra said investigations showed that Cooper walked out of the terminal at the Miami International Airport at 2100 Block of NW 42nd Avenue, Miami, Florida.

She was wearing a red sweater, blue jacket, and black pants. She is about five feet, four inches and 175 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

“I gathered she just walked out of door number 11 at Miami International Airport and came from London, and no one saw her again,” the detective said.

“She is an endangered missing person, and we do know she needs services because she has dementia.”

Ms Cooper, a well-known retired educator, went to Europe with her daughters over the Christmas break. According to Astrid, Gemini and their mother were travelling together, but she arrived later.

“She was in a wheelchair, and someone was assisting her while my sister went to look for the bags. She had gotten up, and nobody knew where she went,” she said.

“I don’t know how lucid she was, but they looked at the cameras and saw that she went outside.”

Ms Cooper needs medication. Anyone with information concerning her whereabouts is asked to call Detective O. Tellez or any detective of the Miami-Dade Police Department Special Victims Bureau/Missing Persons Squad at (305) 715-3300 or Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).