A whole decade has passed since a dedicated husband and father disappeared in Virginia. His daughter was then only six years old. In the ten years he has been away, he has missed countless birthdays, holidays and milestones.
His wife, Tara, became sad about her husband’s disappearance and told Dateline she was even more sad about the loss of their daughter.
“She was so young when he went missing,” Tara said. “She doesn’t really remember him, and that’s what hurts the most.”
Ten years have passed since Tara last noticed her husband. Their daughter is now 16 years old. But Tara keeps praying for answers so she can finally close her family.
“I wish I knew it was the last time I would see him,” Tara said, recalling the day her 33-year-old husband went missing. “I would have held him a little longer.”
Tara met Robert when they were both children. They rode with the school bus and went to the same church. Robert was Tara’s first love. But he had no idea, until one Easter Sunday when the secret came out at church. He told her he wished he knew sooner, and immediately asked her out on an appointment. They have been together since that day.
Years later, the morning of April 8, 2011 was just like any other, Tara thinks. She said she woke up and started making his husband coffee and lunch for her husband. She makes sure Robert takes his heart medication, like every morning. She said that everything looked normal when we walked out of the house and went to work in Tara’s Chevrolet Cavalier in 2004.
But when Robert did not arrive home that evening, Tara knew something was wrong. Her calls and text messages to his cell phone remained unanswered. Nor did anyone see or hear of him all day.
Tara told Dateline her husband is not a man who would leave his family and run away alone. He also needed his medication for the heart condition and would not go away without it. But that was not the only reason.
“His daughter was his whole world,” Tara said. “He will never leave her. He would not just come home. ”
Tara filed a report of missing persons and an investigation was instituted by the sheriff’s office in Fluvanna County. According to Major David Wells, an investigation revealed that Robert was seen later that morning at the EW Thomas Grocery in Palmyra, Virginia, around 8 p.m. His last phone call was at 07:41, also in Palmyra.
What troubled Tara was that Palmyra is the opposite direction of her husband’s work in Richmond. Further investigation revealed that Robert would not work the day he disappeared, but rather had to meet with a male acquaintance, but according to Major Wells, the investigation revealed that he never made it to that meeting. .
After weeks of investigation, authorities located the Chevrolet Cavalier with the personalized license plates “TARAMAE” that Robert was driving when he went missing. It was found abandoned in a Target parking lot in La Plata, Maryland, more than 100 miles away from where Robert Major Wells told Dateline that some of his belongings, including his tools and his work shirt, were in the vehicle, but his cell phone was missing.
The area was searched, but nothing led them to Robert. Major Wells said there were hours of camera footage of the vehicle in the parking lot, but because so much time had passed between Robert who went missing and the car had been located, the footage of the car was already recorded around April 8th.
Major Wells, who has been on the agenda since the beginning of the case, told Dateline that disorder is suspected in Robert’s disappearance and that authorities believe the person or persons known to Robert.
“We believe several parties were involved and know what happened,” Major Wells said. ‘Someone out there knows something and the information could be the missing piece in the puzzle to put it together and find out what happened to Rob. We now hope that so much time has passed, someone will come forward. ”
Robert’s wife, Tara, told Dateline that she was not only devastated but also angry that the people responsible for her husband’s disappearance were still at large.
“He was a father and a husband and a brother – he loved so many people so much,” Tara said. “The people who did it not only destroyed his life, but ours as well. And the idea that they can do that to another family is even more heartbreaking. ”
Major Wells told Dateline he just wants to give the family answers and peace of mind after so many years of questions and confusion.
“This family has been through so much,” Major Wells said. “His daughter was so small when she lost her father – it’s heartbreaking. The least we could do was shut them down. ”
Robert and Tara’s daughter is now 16 years old. Tara said she has very few memories of her father, and as the years go by without any answers, it both becomes harder to get closure.
For the past ten years, Tara, who had to adjust to being a single mother, also took over the role of caretaker for her mother, and later her father, who both passed away.
“I lost my husband and my mother and my father,” Tara told Dateline. ‘I lost my whole family except my daughter. And what’s worse is to look at her loss in her short life. ”
But when Tara looks at her daughter, she sees so much of her husband in her.
“She looks so much like him,” Tara added. “It’s like a piece of him is still with us, and I’m grateful for that.”
Robert would be 43 years old today. At the time of his disappearance, he was about 5’8 “to 5’11” tall and weighed about 200-250 kg.
Anyone with information about Robert’s case is asked to contact Major David Wells at the Sheriff in Fluvanna County at (434) 589-8211.