Missing former student became involved with religious sect

Nicholas Coppola planned on traveling with a religious sect before he went missing.

By Jimmy Hibsch

Published Dec. 27, 2010

The parents of a former MU student said their son withdrew himself from family and friends after becoming involved in a religious movement before he disappeared earlier this month.

Nicholas Coppola, who lived in Columbia and was most recently enrolled at MU during the spring 2010 semester, was last seen Dec. 12 when he was arrested for trespassing in Wright City.

Coppola’s parents, Gene and Nellie Coppola said they have been searching for their son every day since Dec. 20, when police told them they found their son’s abandoned vehicle.

Thomas Ruzicka said he and Coppola have been very close friends for about 10 years and became much closer when they went away to college.

“He grew up, lost a lot of weight and came out of his shell,” Ruzicka said. “He became more sociable and he's lately been getting more into philosophy and things like that.”

Both of Nicholas Coppola’s parents and Ruzicka said he had become distant over the past few months.

“He quit contacting his friends frequently,” Nellie Coppola, Nicholas’s mother said. “He never had his cell phone on. He was very bad with communicating with everybody. He would come home from Columbia and tell us he was going for a walk. Two days later, he would be back in Columbia.”

Ruzicka said he noticed a shift in Coppola’s personality before his disappearance.

“I started talking to him less,” Ruzicka said. “Even looking at his Facebook, though it's not a good source, he hadn't really talked to anyone since mid-November. I don't want to say he figured something out, but something did change -- something he read.”

Ruzicka said he and Coppola often had conversations concerning the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Hindu scripture.

“He was trying to find materials that could give him a philosophy to live by,” Ruzicka said. “We were talking about it and addressing concepts in it and by the way he was referencing things in the book, I could tell he was taking things very seriously.”

Coppola had also been reading James Redfield’s “The Celestine Prophecy,” a book following one man's spiritual awakening. 

“I'm guessing he read something that really resonated with him,” Ruzicka said. “Whatever he interpreted that book as, I really think he thought it was the truth.”

Coppola's parents said he had been planning to go to California with a group of the book's followers, something he often told his roommate.

“He mentioned to us that he was going to go west, but you know, we found his car and he didn’t have any extra clothes,” Gene Coppola said. “If he was going to go somewhere, he would have been a little more prepared.”

Ruzicka said the book isn't meant to be the foundation of a cult, but rather a spiritual movement. He said Coppola might have been involved in a subgroup that used the book as their material.

Coppola’s parents noted their son was on medications.

“He's kind of mentally confused a little bit,” Nellie Coppola said. “He's not dangerous, but he doesn't have some of his meds he should be taking.”

Coppola’s family has been searching from Fulton, Mo., to St. Charles, Mo. They have worked with the police searching homeless shelters and abandoned buildings.

“We don't have too much yet,” Nellie Coppola said. “No one's said that they've seen him since then and we've asked a lot of people.”

They asked anyone to help in their search for their son, checking abandoned buildings, woods and similar places.

The family encouraged anyone with any information to call Foristell police at (636) 639-2150 and ask for an on-duty officer.

“Please just call us and let us know he is safe,” Nellie Coppola said. “That is all that matters. His whole family just wants to know he is alive and well.”