A 29-year-old self-help influencer from New Jersey has been missing for a week and might be in New York City, authorities and his parents said.
William “Bill” Hooper left the home he shares with parents James and Marilyn Hooper in Lyndhurst, N.J., on May 21, bound for New York City, according to his family. He did not bring his phone or wallet and has not been heard from since.
The high school and college athlete was last seen exiting Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station around 9:39 a.m. last Thursday and walking toward 34th Street, James Hooper said Monday in a social media statement. The 6’3”, 150-pound influencer, with brown hair and blue eyes, was wearing a blue and yellow flannel shirt, glasses, dark pants, gray slip-on Vans, and carrying a backpack, his father said.
Though William Hooper has many friends, he has not reached out to any of them or contacted his family, his parents said. Relatives, friends and people the Hoopers have never met are sharing his parents’ social media posts, the Bergen Record reported.
On Tuesday, Lyndhurst Police Chief Michael Carinno posted a video appeal, standing alongside James and Marilyn Hooper on a train platform. Carinno said the search does not involve a criminal investigation and told William, “You’re not in any trouble.”
Carinno said his department is working with counterparts in the New York City Police Department and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority told the Daily News by email that its officers have been alerted to keep an eye out for Hooper in case he passes through one of the facilities the agency oversees. The NYPD did not immediately respond to a Daily News inquiry.
“Bill, if you can hear this, our only priority is your safety,” James Hooper said in the video. “You being safe is number one, us knowing you’re safe is number two, and you coming back to us is number three.”
He and Marilyn also expressed gratitude for all the community support.
“Please just come back home. Your brothers are out there, working hard, every day, trying to find you,” Hooper entreated. “We love you Bill.”
The younger Hooper has been a rising TikTok star for his short videos doling out life advice based on his own experiences and insights. They ranged from advising recent grads to build your own winning structure to keep their momentum going after school ended, to the dangers of people-pleasing.
@bill_hooper If you have your health, you have everything you need #strengthandconditioning
Hooper had fallen on rough times of late, his parents told NJ.com, starting with a leg injury that cost him his job at a Manhattan wine shop. He’d had to move back in with them in January.
Meanwhile, his TikTok following grew exponentially, from 10 people to more than 23,000 in the space of a year, his mother said. Overwhelmed and anxious, he stopped posting in March.
In a January video he noted that the upsurge in followers had made him “feel like an imposter,” telling the camera, “I’m just a normal guy. There’s nothing really special about me.”
In his last video, on March 18, Hooper opened up about his leg injury and said he was “able to walk again” after working out. He realized how much he had been taking his health for granted, “something that you shouldn’t do,” he told his audience. “Do not take your health for granted. Your health is, like, everything, man!”