Robert Lee Kellar
Missing Person
Age at Report: 20
Weight: 135 lbs.
Height: 6' 01"
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Missing From: Muscatine, IA (Muscatine County)
Missing Since: February 12, 1990
Story from the Muscatine Journal
January 26, 2006
A son’s disappearance ... a family’s pain: Nearly 16 years after Robert Kellar’s
family last saw him, the Muscatine resident is still missing
by Melissa Regennitter
MUSCATINE, Iowa - Robert Lee Kellar always wanted to be a singer in
a rock and roll band. He would hitchhike to California, Colorado and
Florida, exploring the United States and chasing that dream.
It has been nearly 16 years since his family has seen him. They haven’t
forgotten his outgoing personality and contagious smile.
Now, they just wish they knew what has become of him.
His sister, Stephanie Ruefer, 35, of Muscatine remembers her brother
leaving in February 1990.
“He didn’t say where he was going; he was always traveling here and
there. He just wanted to do his own thing,” Ruefer said. “We didn’t
talk to him much when he was away. Every two to six months, he’d come
back, so we weren’t necessarily worried that we hadn’t seen him.”
Kellar was 19 when he left Muscatine for the last time. No one in
the family has heard from him since then.
Having problems
Kellar’s mother, Verna Craig, of Muscatine had tears in her eyes when
she talked about the boy she remembers and misses deeply. Craig, 57,
said her son was having problems and may have been using drugs.
“He wasn’t acting like himself,” Craig said about Kellar’s behavior
during the months prior to his disappearance. “I think he was depressed
and also had other problems that were hard for him to handle.”
Ruefer reported Kellar missing in 1992, two years after he left on
his last cross-country trip. She said the family assumed he would
be back. Muscatine police took the report but didn’t find evidence
of a crime.
Though they were worried, they waited. Eventually, the family lost
hope of his return and grew concerned that something was wrong.
Ruefer has spent many hours searching Web site lists of missing people,
wondering about the fate of her brother. A few weeks ago, she took
Kellar’s photograph to the Muscatine Police Department in hopes of
having the case reopened.
According to Capt. Mike Scott of the Muscatine Police Department,
because there was no indication of foul play in the disappearance
of Kellar, the investigation concluded that he left the area voluntarily.
In such cases, police enter the information they have into the National
Crime Information Center (NCIC), a computerized index of criminal
justice information. If Kellar is ever located, the information of
his whereabouts will be forwarded to the Muscatine Police Department.
Search network
Scott also passed the case information on to the Doe Network volunteers
who search Web sites, news articles and law enforcement agency information
looking for connections in missing persons and unidentified persons
cases.
The Doe Network functions through a Web site that lists each incident
by case number.
Angie Bunch, 31, of Williamsburg, Ky., is the Indiana and Iowa area
director. She said the network began with two people in 1999 and now
there are more than 580 volunteers. Donations support its operation.
There are 38 missing persons and four unidentified victim cases posted
for the state of Iowa on the network’s Web site.
“That is nowhere near the number we should have,” Bunch said.
She encourages interested families to contact the Doe Network to place
information about missing persons in the database.
To date, the Doe Network has not solved any Iowa cases. Nationwide,
34 cases have been unraveled, some with the assistance of law enforcement
agencies.
According to Bunch, 15 volunteers have already responded to the posting
of Kellar’s disappearance. One volunteer told Bunch she had a feeling
that she had seen his face in past searches.
That feeling has yet to produce any useful information.
Those in the family of Robert Lee Kellar continue to seek closure
to heal the loss and fill the void.
“Honestly, I think he is completely gone -- passed away,” Ruefer said.
“I can only hope someone, somewhere has a clue to his disappearance.
We want to know regardless of the situation.”
Contact Melissa Regennitter at: 563-263-2331 Ext. 317 or mregennitter@muscatinejournal.com
If you have information regarding the disappearance of this individual,
please contact the Missing Person Information Clearinghouse Iowa Division
of Criminal Investigation at 1-800-346-5507.
Sources and References:
Muscatine Journal, January 26, 2006
IDPS Missing Persons Clearinghouse
