In the late winter of 1979 in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, a young woman named Ida Faye Basco, who was 23 years old, vanished under puzzling circumstances. Known to her loved ones as Faye, she disappeared along with her 22-year-old boyfriend, Robert Edward Kelley Jr. The couple was last seen at their residence on Hoo Shoo Too Road in Baton Rouge. Friends who had been invited over for dinner that evening arrived at their trailer to find no trace of Ida or Robert.
The home showed no signs of a struggle or forced entry, yet the couple, along with their vehicle, were gone. The perplexing absence of both individuals and their vehicle left behind a quiet scene that offered no immediate clues as to what had transpired.
The initial response to their disappearance was complicated by the fact that a formal missing persons report was not immediately filed with law enforcement. This lack of an official report in the early stages created challenges for a timely investigation. Over the years, both Ida and Robert have remained listed as missing persons, with their cases eventually gaining the attention of the Baton Rouge Police Department and the LSU FACES Laboratory. The laboratory has worked to maintain active profiles for the missing couple, hoping to generate new leads from the scant information available. In a significant step for the investigation, DNA from Ida's daughter, who was only four years old when her mother vanished, was later added to missing persons databases.
Decades have passed, yet the mystery of what happened to Ida Faye Basco and Robert Edward Kelley Jr. endures. The narrative of their disappearance is marked by an unsettling lack of evidence and the absence of any credible leads. They were believed to have been associated with a red Ford truck, which has also never been found. The case is a haunting story of loss for a daughter who grew up without her mother, and a family left searching for answers for more than four decades. The investigation remains an open and unsolved cold case, a silent testament to two lives that seemingly ceased without explanation one day in Louisiana.Last Seen: Mar 15, 1979
