The New Orleans Police Department confirms that a Galveston teenager reported missing in the French Quarter on Saturday has resurfaced safely in the Houston area with her husband.
While questions remain unanswered about the incident, 18-year-old Hailey Cokins appears flustered but safe — at least according to accounts posted on her Facebook page.
"I AM NOT MISSING EVERYBODY LISTEN UP AND LISTEN GOOD," reads a post from Tuesday. "SOME FUCKIN IDIOT PUT HIS HANDS ON ME, DUMPED ME ON BOURBON STREET, THEN REPORTED ME MISSING."
Cokins' disappearance sparked a minor scandal on Monday as news media attempted to piece together a rather intriguing set of facts, ranging from the teen’s recent drug arrests to a Facebook prayer page titled “God Save Hailey.”
The disappearance sparked a mystery thanks to reports of drug arrests and a Facebook page titled "God Save Hailey."
But the most striking of details have involved the teenager’s recent marriage and separation from Michael Brent Sewell — a 33-year-old Montgomery County man who made headlines in 2012 for posting a sex video of his ex-girlfriend on YouTube, allegedly as punishment for her breaking up with him.
According to Sewell’s Twitter page, he and his bride have split amicably and continue to remain close. Cokins’ Facebook post thanks her estranged husband for rescuing her from the French Quarter debacle, calling his chivalrous gesture “SOME DOWN ASS SHIT.”
Public records from May show that the couple’s separation may not have been as friendly as the husband’s tweets make it out to be though. In May, Sewell was charged with strangling Cokins in Montgomery County. A district court issued a restraining order that expired July 23.
While the New Orleans Police Department continues to tell CultureMap they “worked with Houston police” to locate Cokins, neither HPD nor the Harris County Sheriff’s Office currently report any record of the search and say they can't confirm Cokins' whereabouts.
Cokins and Sewell did not respond to CultureMap's requests for comment.
Cokins is reported to have returned to Houston with her husband after she was reported missing in New Orleans on Saturday.
