Cooper, Jimmie Ray
unknown – unknown
- Name variants
- —
- Record count
- 8
- Sources
- life_events
- Places seen
- Bloomfield; Bloomfield / Dexter, Missouri; Bloomfield, Missouri; Dexter Memorial Hospital; Malden, MO
- First event date
- 1977-08-11
- Last event date
- 1977-10-07
Timeline — 8 events
- 1977-08-11 Ended a 14-hour crime spree by shooting himself in the stomach; wounded and taken to Memorial Hospital in Kennett in fair condition; born Dec. 10, 1946 in Malden; family moved to Wood River, Ill. as an infant; broke federal probation in Illinois; had been working in Bernie as a concrete finisher; wanted by Illinois authorities on a rape charge and by the FBI for parole violation.
- 1977-08-12 Charges filed in Stoddard County: two counts of kidnapping and two counts of stealing over $50; thefts stemmed from a stolen scanner radio and a stolen truck in the Bernie area; held under 24-hour Stoddard County sheriff's guard at Doctor's Hospital in Poplar Bluff
- 1977-08-12 Self-inflicted .38-caliber gunshot wound through the stomach (occurred Wed. Aug 10) after a 14-hour spree of kidnapping, gunfire and chases; needed kidney surgery at Dunklin County Memorial Hospital in Kennett, then transferred to Doctor's Hospital in Poplar Bluff
- 1977-08-15 39-year-old Malden area man facing kidnapping, assault and theft charges; recovering from self-inflicted bullet wound; guarded around the clock by Stoddard County deputies; had been treated at Dunklin County Memorial Hospital in Kennett and Doctor's Hospital in Poplar Bluff.
- 1977-08-15 Already charged in Stoddard County with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of stealing more than $50; charged with taking two Dexter policemen and three members of a local family hostage following a chase; subject of the Bootheel's largest manhunt in history Tuesday and Wednesday; previously forced the driver of the car to drive to Malden, held a dozen people hostage in return for his wife and one child, and held officers at bay for more than an hour.
- 1977-08-16 Charged in Stoddard County Magistrate Court with two counts of kidnapping during the week of August 8-12, 1977; bond $10,000 for each count of theft and $50,000 for the kidnapping charge; described as the object of the Bootheel's largest manhunt in history the prior Tuesday and Wednesday.
- 1977-08-18 Age 30; charged with two counts of kidnapping and stealing over $50; transferred from the Dexter Memorial Hospital to the Stoddard County jail this morning after Sheriff Ralph Mouser checked him following a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the stomach; accused in a 14-hour crime spree from Dexter to Malden, allegedly holding two Dexter policemen and a family of 12 hostage near Malden; three hostages in a stolen car from Dexter to Malden; also wanted by Dunklin County, the FBI and Illinois authorities; to appear in Magistrate Court for arraignment on the Stoddard County charges.
- 1977-10-07 Defendant Jimmie Ray Cooper was bound over for Stoddard County Circuit Court yesterday on two counts (headline 'Cooper to face charges'; the remainder of the story text is cut off at the page fold in the capture, so the specific charges are not readable).
Dates and spellings are preserved as found in the source records; contradictions are kept, not smoothed over. See the methodology for how this archive handles uncertainty.