Collegiate Times

Robert Kovack, a Virginia Tech graduate student, went missing 10 years ago.

Mothers know fear.

They know it when their toddler first jumps into a pool, they know it when their teenager stays out past curfew, and they know it when their child goes away to college.

But sometimes fear does not go away.

So it goes for Jacqueline Kovack, who 10 years ago tried to call her son Robert, then a graduate student at Virginia Tech. She called on a Friday, but her son wasn't home. She waited until Saturday, but her call was never returned. She called several times on Sunday, but Rob still wasn't there.

Rob always called home on Sunday night, but this time Jacqueline's phone never rang.

Jacqueline called again on Monday morning demanding answers. But this time, she was told that Rob had left Blacksburg on Friday evening, heading home to Rivesville, W.Va., for the weekend.

His vehicle was found abandoned three days later - Sept. 22, 1998 - on U.S. Route 19 near Fayetteville, W.Va. And so began one of the most mysterious cases in Virginia Tech history - a missing person investigation full of contradictions, loose ends and boundless conjecture.

But it's also the story of a young man of modest means and tremendous potential. It's the story of a brotherly love spanning decades. And it's the story of a mother's fear that, in 10 years, has never been replaced by relief or closure.

Chapter One: The last sighting

Robert Kovack withdrew $80 from an ATM at Freedom First Credit Union on South Main Street in Blacksburg at 5:21 p.m. on Sept. 18, 1998. The ATM's video surveillance confirms that this was the last record of Robert Kovack.

An hour before, Rob had been positively identified getting gas at the Wilco station on 825 N. Main St. He was wearing blue jeans and a polo shirt and had a brief conversation with the station's attendant.

Rob told the man that he was heading home to see friends, and after paying for his gas with a check, he took off in his red Geo Tracker, heading up Progress Street toward his apartment.

Perhaps just after his sighting at the ATM, Catherine Porzio, a fellow architecture student, saw Rob in Cowgill Hall at approximately 5:45 p.m.

Porzio arrived at the building and entered the elevator. It stopped on the second floor, and as the doors opened, Rob stepped onto the elevator. The two had a brief conversation before Porzio exited on the third floor. She said Rob asked her how she was doing, but nothing further.

She told police that he looked exhausted, with "bags under his puffy eyes." He had also shaved his beard, something that, to her, made him appear considerably heavier.

Porzio was supposed to see Rob later that night at a party, but she heard through mutual friends that Rob would not be there, despite an invitation.

If her perceived timing is accurate, Porzio may have been the last known person to interact with Robert Kovack.

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