On a day where the residents of Atchison, Kansas were expecting a blizzard, 18 February 1977 turned out to be a beautiful spring-like day. Four-year-old Jeremy Coots and his babysitter's four-year-old son, left the babysitter's house to play and enjoy the lovely weather.
According to a Kake article, Melodye Hathaway, Jeremy's mom said, “They supposedly got into a fight, and Jeremy went into one direction and Jimmy tried to follow him and he couldn’t find him. So he went back home and told his mom that Jeremy had went over the hill and well, that meant towards the river.”
Jeremy had severe hearing loss but when he wore his hearing aid he could make out voices at a normal level. His mother says his hearing aid was probably on at the time he went missing, but if not he would only be capable of hearing voices at a screaming level, as per an article in The Atchison Daily Globe 20 February 1977.
Jeremy's mother and father left work that day to search near the babysitter's house. An extensive five day search failed to find him. Dogs tracked to a spot in the Missouri River. Crews dragged the river but that yielded no clues and Jeremy remains missing today.
Although Jeremy's mom admits it is likely her son drowned, she points out that there were railroad tracks nearby and a child's footprint was found near them. It is possible someone abducted her son and that he is still alive today. This reminds me of the disappearance of Dylan Ehler from Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada 6 May 2020. He was at his grandmother's house when he allegedly wandered away while playing in the backyard, and is suspected to have drowned in Lepper Brook, his body swept into the Bay of Fundy, never to be found. His boots were found by divers in the brook, but that is all that has ever been found of then three-year-old. There were also railroad tracks nearby from which Dylan could have been abducted and his boots tossed into the brook to stage a drowning.
Jeremy's mother clings to the hope that he is alive and well but prepares for the worst if he is ever located. She bought a burial plot and headstone for Jeremy as she did not want to have to do that when they found him. If Jeremy is alive today, he would be 51 years old. He has been missing for 47 years.
She has written a book titled, In Search of Jeremy: A Mother's Story.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Jeremy Coots please contact the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (Topeka, Kansas) 1-785-296-8200 or submit a tip on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website.
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