Teen missing nearly 3 weeks

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

POST FALLS — Post Falls detectives continue to search for a missing teen nearly three weeks after she left her home.

Police believe Mari Bennett-Cooper, 17, communicated via social media with someone in the Seattle area before she boarded a flight to Seattle from Spokane on June 16.

"It can be difficult to find people in a big area," Post Falls Police Capt. Greg McLean said.

McLean said there have been three reported possible sightings of Bennett-Cooper in Newcastle and Marysville areas outside Seattle, but those haven't been confirmed and none are on video surveillance.

The most recent possible sighting was outside a McDonald's in the Marysville area on Wednesday.

"A girl thought it was her with two other people," McLean said.

PFPD is working with police departments in those areas along with Bennett-Cooper's family in hopes of finding her.

McLean said it appears Bennett-Cooper had been planning to leave for the Seattle area.

"She went on her own free will, purchased an airline ticket with cash out of her bank account and planned it over a couple weeks," he said. "It's not like she left on a whim."

McLean said police have been unable to find out whom Bennett-Cooper had contacted in the Seattle area.

McLean said the teen has not had contact with the family since she left home.

Bennett-Cooper was last seen at the Spokane International Airport wearing blue jeans and a sweatshirt. She was not captured on surveillance at the Seattle airport. She has brown hair and blue eyes, is 5 feet tall and weighs 145 pounds.

McLean said the teen has a history of disciplinary issues at home, and has run away three other times — twice in 2015 and once last year.

Those with information are urged to call Post Falls Police at 773-3517.