Found Deceased VA - Robert Kovack, 24, Blacksburg, 18 Sept 1998

New Posts

my brother was the one who wrote that article for the collegiate times. he was actually researching it from september until not too long before it came out!
 
tomjac said:
New 12 page article about Robert Kovack's disappearance can be found here:
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/13746.
Click to expand...
Tomjac, just read the article and 2 things stand out like red flags to me. First, were the roomates ever questioned or suspected of the disappearance? There is something not right about many of their actions. Secondly, why would a financially poor student run up a $12,000.00 credit card bill? Maybe he thought he had dug himself into a money hole that he could never get out of and just split to start a new life. That kind of debt would scare even a middle class student, especially if student loans would need to be repaid as well.
 
Stella said:
Tomjac, just read the article and 2 things stand out like red flags to me. First, were the roomates ever questioned or suspected of the disappearance? There is something not right about many of their actions. Secondly, why would a financially poor student run up a $12,000.00 credit card bill? Maybe he thought he had dug himself into a money hole that he could never get out of and just split to start a new life. That kind of debt would scare even a middle class student, especially if student loans would need to be repaid as well.
Click to expand...


I thought the same things when I read the article. I wonder if they ever examined his credit card statements. It was definitely hinky that the roommates wouldn't speak.

I actually thought that perhaps something happened to him at his apartment and the laundry hamper was used to dispose of him or other evidence?
 
If his car was broken into and items were stolen, they could have also stolen the gasoline?
 
afleming5010 said:
my brother was the one who wrote that article for the collegiate times. he was actually researching it from september until not too long before it came out!
Click to expand...

What an excellent story. Please tell your brother "thanks" for his efforts. I had never seen the info about the roommates - they do raise suspicion, don't they?

The credit card records have to hold some clues....were the charges for things Rob was buying or had the roommates been using his card(s)?

I so hope to see this solved some day.

As I've said before, I live in Summersville, work in Beckley and I pass the spot where his vehicle was found everyday. It's a rare day that I don't think about him as I go by....

I have always felt someone who knew him well enough to know his route home, "planted" the vehicle in that location...
 
A newpaper in Charleston,WV did a story in June http://www.dailymail.com/News/statenews/200906090865. They interviewed the Sgt with the WV State police and Rob's parents.

The two things that bother me the most are Rob not calling home to say he was on the way (since he always did so) and the behavior of his roommates.

As for the cc debt, it is large, but if he had a job lined up I don't think it would seem overwhelming. I've also wondered if he actually made the purchases. It would be interesting to know if the police verified that he made those charges. Another possibility is that someone else ran up the debt, Rob discovered it the day he disappeared and confronted that person.

I hope these recent articles will jog someone's memory and the police will get something new. I lived in Blacksburg when he disappeared and this case has always bothered me.
 

Attachments

  • RLKovack.jpg
    RLKovack.jpg
    8.9 KB · Views: 111
http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=103302

State Police Hoping for Tips in Missing Va. Tech Student Case
Posted Thursday, July 14, 2011 ; 05:51 PM
Updated Thursday, July 14, 2011; 07:46 PM

Video at link.

"
There is some concern that somebody did do something to him. We don't know where that happened or where that took place at. We don't know if that took place up here or in Blacksburg before he left and then they just brought the vehicle up here," Milam said.
Click to expand...
 
http://www2.wsls.com/news/2011/jul/25/wva-police-still-seek-missing-vatech-student-ar-1194884/


West Virginia state police say they're still seeking leads in the disappearance of a Virginia Tech student from Marion County nearly 13 years ago.

Robert Kovack's abandoned car was found Sept. 22, 1998, along U.S. 19 near the New River Gorge Bridge. The 24-year-old architecture graduate student was last seen in Blacksburg, Va., four days earlier, when he withdrew money from a cash machine. His roommates had said that he was headed home to see his parents in Rivesville, W.Va., for the weekend.
 
As far as the credit card debt - was he a party person? Altho he could easily be that much in debt and never party! I know it had/has become more and more common for college students to rack up big credit cards bills because credit cards used to be so easy to get and get in trouble with. I think he was probably part of the "norm" with that. And, some kids even paid for tuition/books, etc with a credit card.

TIA.
 
Hello everyone.

This case has bothered me for years for many reasons.

1. I worked at a local news affiliate in Roanoke when this happened.
2. I am a VT grad (class of 1994)
3. He is about my age.

Today I looked at NAMUS to see if maybe one of the states on the New River had unidentified people that fit his description. I didn't see any.

After rereading the CT article and living in this area, here is what I think.

- Something happened at that party. What, I don't know. But recently a student killed another and then dropped the body off in a remote part of Montgomery County. Unfortunately, there are a lot of those places here, more so when Robert was alive.
- I am not sure about the roommates. Being architectural students, they are probably pretty logical and wasn't thinking about Robert's room being a crime scene. For all they know, he was killed in WV.
- Then again them saying he had his basket, but it was never found could be a clue. Was it hidden with his body?

This area isn't extremely rural, but it would not be hard to hide someone and items.
 
I completely forgot about this site until a few days ago and I had to make a new login in order to answer this (almost 6 years later, sorry). I don't remember Caleb making any comments about what he thought happened. Reading through his research and the article, I always thought that the roommates were responsible. A few things that bothered me about this were the items that he left behind (toothbrush/paste, shaving kit, book bag) vs. what he took with him (just his laundry basket). The thought of the $80 cash withdrawal never sat well with me either. Back then $80 was a pretty good amount of money, and it seems like a very, very specific amount to withdraw. Also, why would he put his car in 4 wheel drive for a drive home in the fall? It wouldn't have been snowing out, and he would have driven some pretty well traveled roads to go back to WVA, so it seems unlikely that he drove the car himself. I also have to question why the police department never put too much effort into this. When they figured out that the car was left there well after it should have passed that location, they should have stopped looking for a missing person and started an investigation into his disappearance. I wonder where the lap top is now, and if anyone has bothered to try to get into it since then. And what happened to the palm print? Did anyone look for evidence in the tracker or on his belongings after the original investigation?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 117 more.
Total: 4,482 (members: 118, guests: 4,364)

Online statistics

Members online
118
Guests online
4,365
Total visitors
4,483
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
592,545
Messages
17,970,740
Members
228,804
Latest member
MeanBean
Back
Top