Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 23, 1992                   TAG: 9203230139
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COUPLE WAS GOING `TO BE WITH GOD'

Candice - who was dropped off with a blanket, a wallet full of money, two family Bibles and her mother's journals - was found trudging along Interstate 77 near Rocky Gap, Va., by a passing minister. She told police that her parents also had asked her 5-year-old brother, Jacob, if he wanted to get out of the car, too, or go with them "to heaven."

He was found with the Coopers, unharmed, when they were arrested Saturday night near Beckley, W.Va., about 60 miles away.

"I've never heard of anything like it before, and I hope I never do again," said Virginia State Police Officer D.P. Whittemore.

Police found no weapons in the Coopers' car, and they said Sunday they do not know what the couple was doing in the hours between the girl's apparent abandonment, at about 12:15 p.m., and their arrest some nine hours later.

Both Cassandra Cooper, 29, and Candice's stepfather, Lorne Cooper, 27, who was honorably discharged recently from the Army, were being held at the Raleigh County, W.Va., jail. Police said both are unemployed.

The family's sad, strange odyssey apparently began late Thursday or early Friday when, leaving the lights of their town house blazing, they loaded into their 1985 red Chevrolet Cavalier and headed toward Fort Mill, S.C., on an unannounced visit to Cassandra Cooper's great-aunt and great-uncle. The relatives, who live at the New Heritage USA religious complex built by fallen evangelist Jim Bakker, said the Coopers arrived at their home about 5:30 a.m. Saturday, frantic for "scriptural advice," the great-aunt told police.

"She said they were real agitated, that they almost seemed euphoric, like they were on something, but they weren't," Whittemore said. "They said they had been on a fast the last week, and they had been praying all the time. But they never really said what the problem was."

Two hours later, again without explanation, the family decided to take off, leaving a note that said, according to police: "We have come if only for a moment. Thank you for showing me the truth."

Later, Candice told police that her parents began talking about a suicide pact as they entered Virginia from North Carolina on Interstate 77, and soon asked her if she wanted to join them in death. When she was dropped off on the side of the road, her mother handed her seven journals that she had been keeping for several years, full of poems and thoughts about life that she had addressed to her daughter, police said. Lorne Cooper gave her his wallet, which contained his driver's license and about $200 in cash.

Candice left most of the things on the roadside, Whittemore said, and began walking south on the interstate, where she was picked up immediately by the minister. He took her to state police headquarters and later bought her a hamburger and a pair of shoes. She was not crying and appeared calm, joking with police officers as the afternoon wore on and occasionally asking about her parents, "Where are they? Have you heard anything?"

All the child could tell police was that the Coopers had said they were "going to the mountains" to carry out their plan. Police sent out search units, notified authorities in nearby West Virginia and dispatched a helicopter to look for the red car. When it was found, the Coopers were headed south on Interstate 77, but police could not say where they were going.

Candice, who briefly was in the custody of the Bland County, Va., Social Services Department, was released Saturday night to her great-aunt and great-uncle. The relatives are trying to get custody of Jacob, who was in the care Sunday of the Raleigh County, W.Va., Human Services Department.

The Coopers, who do not yet have an attorney, have said they will waive extradition to Virginia, police said.