Collegiate Times

The thirteen-year-old missing person case of a former Virginia Tech student remains unsolved, but a W. Va. judge could force state police to relinquish important documents by the end of the year.

A Kanawha County judge will hear testimony later this year before deciding the fate of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Educational Media Company of Virginia Tech. Robert Kovack was a graduate architecture student when he was reported missing nearly 13 years ago.

He vanished without a trace somewhere between Blacksburg and his hometown of Rivesville, W. Va.

Kovack’s Geo Tracker was found abandoned four days after he was last sighted alive on Sept. 22, 1998 on U.S. Route 19 near Fayetteville, W. Va.

But while investigators have followed thousands of leads, none have provided closure in the case.

In 2009, the Collegiate Times published a ten chapter in-depth piece regarding Kovack’s disappearance.

The newspaper was denied its request for information from the West Virginia State Police and subsequently filed a lawsuit claiming FOIA violation. The US government enacted FOIA as mandated disclosure of certain government documents.

There are exceptions to FOIA, including information that would compromise a criminal investigation.

The West Virginia State Police claim this case falls under such an exemption.

The department argues releasing information would be harmful to the investigation and rejected the FOIA request.

Brian Wheeler, the attorney representing EMCVT, argues that the West Virginia State Police “cannot keep the documents secret forever simply because they remain unsolved.”

“What have they done recently to solve this case,” Wheeler said. “Who knows if anything has been done in the last decade?” Ultimately, these questions will be answered in court.

The presiding judge, Wheeler said, will have to determine if the case fits the parameters of an ongoing investigation. There are no
precedent cases.

The West Virginia State Police did not return calls to the Collegiate Times. Lt. Steve Taylor with the Blacksburg Police Department said the investigation remains open locally. “I can’t go so far as to say we get valid leads, but there are times we receive leads that we investigate,” Taylor said.

Taylor declined to comment further on the investigation.

Michael Kovack, Robert Kovack’s older brother, said he had not heard information regarding his brother’s case in years.

“There is nothing new; nothing has changed,” Michael Kovack said. “Realistically, after a while, you have to face the facts. You may never know what happened.” Michael Kovack said that two years ago the family officially declared Robert deceased, despite the fact that there was no official confirmation from police.

The declaration kept bill collectors at bay but was a challenging decision for the Kovack family.

“That was tough, but you have to move on,” Michael Kovack said. “It’s either you let it consume you or you move on with your life.”

Michael Kovack admitted that his brother’s memory invades his mind daily. “Me and my father went fishing last weekend, and that was something the three of us used to do together,” Michael Kovack said. “It came up. The little things bring back memories.”

Michael Kovack commented on the nature of the relationship his brother had with his mother and father, furthering expressing the emotional stress of the disappearance.

“My mother sat by the phone day after day,” Michael Kovack said. “I told her she had to live her life; not saying to give up, but moving on with life. You accept fate for what it was or let the obscurities get the best of you. You have nothing, and that’s probably the hardest part.”

“Each day you hope that something breaks and you can put this part of your life to rest, or that he is out there somewhere and he comes back," Michael Kovack said.

But for the Kovack family, closure is the only thing that will full satisfy. “For the past 12 years we have lived in limbo,” Michael Kovack said. “It’s something that I would not wish on anyone.”

A version of this article appeared in the Jun 2 issue of the Collegiate Times.