Robert Kovack, a Virginia Tech graduate student, went missing 10 years ago.
Chapter Three: The Geo Tracker
Rob's clean-cut appearance transferred into his lifestyle
His immediate family insists that he kept his car in immaculate condition, refusing to let it collect dirt, and had a payment plan to cover its cost in a reasonable time. It was the first vehicle he'd bought himself, a financial decision he was forced to make because of transportation needs to and from Tech.
But the dirt and grime found in his vehicle is the least puzzling to family members and investigators.
Sgt. Brad Mankins of the West Virginia State Police said there were no keys in the vehicle's ignition, while Michael noted that the driver's side door was locked, but the passenger's side door was not.
State police crime lab technicians swept the Tracker for fibers or hair strands, but they were largely unsuccessful. Police found small, white-tipped black hairs from a Dalmatian dog in the vehicle. A friend of Robert's came forward to police and said his dog and he had ridden with Rob earlier in 1998.
Police found one latent print, or a fingerprint, that shows only a small portion of the finger's surface that is often smudged. Investigators also found one palm print.
They were unable to positively identify either print and were also unable to find a laundry basket that Rob was thought to have taken with him. The only item
Rob's roommates remembered seeing him leave with was a blue clothes hamper. It has never been recovered.
A slit was also found in the soft-top canvas, near the passenger's side door, and an amplifier that had rested in the rear part of the vehicle was missing, something investigators said may have been stolen by rafters frequenting the New River.
Police theorize that rafters spending their summer in the area may have seen the car abandoned for multiple days and gone to investigate. They would have used a knife to cut through the soft-top roof and unlock the passenger's side door. They may have then stolen the clothing and amp from the cargo area of Rob's vehicle.
At one point, a resident of Craig County called a trooper involved in the investigation and said she had found an empty blue clothes hamper, missing its lid, on her property while walking. The sheriff's department investigated and described the hamper to Robert's mother. But she said although it was similar, it was not the same size and did not think it belonged to Rob.
When the Tracker was discovered, it was just beyond the New River Gorge Bridge, out of gas, just two and a half driving hours from where he was last seen, and engaged in 4-wheel drive, harvesting another unanswered question.
Rob had learned to drive on a stick shift, 4-wheel drive Subaru in Rivesville. He had then purchased the Tracker, a 4-wheel drive SUV, and driven it for several years before his disappearance. He was experienced with switching between 4-wheel drive and 2-wheel drive, and understood the use for each gear.
And in a mild September, there would be no need for Rob to put his Tracker in 4-wheel drive on the highway.
"My theory on that, and it is just a theory, is that something happened in Blacksburg," Michael said. "Somebody that knew my brother knew where he was from, and just drove the vehicle as far north as they could. You go in 4-wheel drive because you'll run out of gas much quicker."
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Caleb, congratulations on writing the first decent article I've ever read in the CT. And I''m not being sarcastic.
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Nice article and the most thorough one I have seen on this case, which has bothered me for years!
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really well done.
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This was so interesting just by the way it was written! I feel so sorry for the family though! :( Definitely a lot of things not adding up!
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I believe he jumped into the Gorge after amassing a lot of debt, or somehow having an emotional breakdown.
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I think his body would have been found if he had jumped. Too many rafters around and too many rocks for him to be caught on to have simply disappeared if he had jumped.
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This is fascinating.
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Why did his roommates pack his things like that? That's very odd. Otherwise, I would have said maybe he just was so exhausted, as his classmate noted, that he didn't realize he'd left the Tracker in 4-wheel drive and failed to notice it out of gas. But the fact that at least two people state they did not see it within the time it would've been left there is extremely bothersome.
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This was a very well written article. Maybe if the state police release the reports on this case, some piece of information will trigger someones memory. His family deserves to know what happened!
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Hi, I just read this article after seeing that Caleb won the college reporter of the year award. Congratulations to him on the award, which was well-deserved after such a carefully researched article. I used to write for the CT and Caleb has made us all proud.
I did have one question though. The article mentions that Rob's roommates packed his things up despite being asked not to, so nobody ever knew what state his room was in when he left. But then it mentions that when investigators and family searched the room it looked like he'd never left town, and the backpack was still where he'd left it when he last came home. These two facts seem to conflict with each other. Was the room mostly packed up but there were still a few things out? It's VERY strange that the roommates would box up his stuff when he'd presumably at that point only been missing for a couple of days, especially after they were asked not to. I wonder if they ever gave any explanation for that.
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I just ran across this article while searchig for information on the Morgan Harrington case. I was a student at VA Tech when this guy vanished. Several friends of mine who were architechure majors knew him. back then everyone just assuemd that he was depressed and "took the bridge" and the area around the gorge was well searched. They had orgainized search groups and a lot of students went up there to help look for him. Nothign about the roomates boxing his stuff up ever came out back in 1999 when this happend. I think they may know more than they are lettign on.
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Yes, the roommates' actions were never explained in the article...presumably investigators questioned them and determined that they were not suspects, but why on earth would his roommates touch his room so soon after he left? Really, really strange.
My heart aches for his family.
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I was a student at VA Tech when this guy vanished. Several of my friends knew him well because he was their GTA. At the time this happened everyone was searching the New River Gorge because they thought he had jumped off the bridge. The fBI probabluy assumed it was a suicide. Based on the information in this article (some of which I never recall being made public in 1998) I think it is pretty clear they were looking for clues in the wrong place.
The roommates were clearly trying to hide something. Why would you dismantle your roomate's bed and pack up all of his belongings unless you were 100% sure he wasn't coming back? At this point nobody knew where he was! After reading this article I honestly don't think he ever left Blacksburg (no call home, shaving kit, backpack, and toothbrush at the apartment) and I think the roomates know what happened to him. I think his car was driven to the New River Gorge bridge and abandoned to create a diversion so everyone would assume he had comitted suicide by jumping off. This very likely gave the people responsible for his disappearance time to get rid of any evidence. I think all of the clues in this case points directly at the roommates!
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I agree that the roommates displayed more than a lapse in good judgment -- there was no reason, after the family requested them to leave his possessions alone, for them to be cleaning and packing things up. Since the article describes him as someone who stand up for himself, it's possible that a dispute got out of hand and resulted in his injury or death. Sad for the family that the investigator they hired didn't really put much effort into this case.
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Perhaps if you send copies to some FBI investigators they may take an interest in this case. Your article is well written and compelling enough to entice any investigator to search for answers.
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Perhaps if you send copies to some FBI investigators they may take an interest in this case. Your article is well written and compelling enough to entice any investigator to search for answers.
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