In the late summer of 1985, a shadow fell over a family from Parker, Colorado, with the disappearance of three-month-old Male Robert Bowling. On August 11, the infant, along with his eighteen-month-old sister, Ashley, was last seen with their mother, Laura Bowling, and her boyfriend, John David Hinton. The four of them reportedly left Colorado for Louisiana. However, when Laura Bowling and Hinton resurfaced, the children were no longer with them.
This marked the beginning of a long and painful mystery for the family, as both Robert and Ashley were officially listed as missing.
The case took a significant turn years later when Ashley was found. In 1996, investigators located her living with a family in Louisiana who had adopted her. Her biological father was able to reunite with her. While this brought a measure of relief, it also deepened the mystery surrounding Robert's fate. His mother, Laura, reportedly gave conflicting accounts of what happened to her infant son. At one point, she claimed he had died of pneumonia, and at another, she accused Hinton of shaking him to death. Hinton also stated that Robert had died from pneumonia. There were also claims that Robert's body was placed in a plastic bag and discarded in a trash bin in Louisiana.
Due to the conflicting stories and the lack of physical evidence, the circumstances of Robert Bowling's disappearance remain unclear. With no photographs of him ever taken, authorities have had to rely on composite sketches, showing age progressions to what he might have looked like at ages nine and twenty-three, to aid in the search. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate his case, holding out hope for answers in the decades-long mystery. The case is a heart-wrenching example of a child vanishing under suspicious and contradictory circumstances, leaving a family with unanswered questions and a permanent void. The conflicting narratives provided by the only two adults last known to be with him have created a complex and unresolved investigation.Last Seen: Aug 11, 1985
