Robert was last seen in Parker, Colorado on August 11, 1985. His mother, Laura Bowling, left with him and his eighteen-month-old sister, Ashley Anne Bowling, and her boyfriend, John David Hinton. By the time they resurfaced in Louisiana, Robert was missing. Laura gave Ashley to a Louisiana couple to raise. She claimed the couple paid her $10,000. Laura eventually returned to Colorado without either of her children. She and Hinton both said Robert had died, but they had conflicting explanations as to how; Hinton said he died of pneumonia, and Laura said Hinton had shaken him to death. Ashley was located in 1996, still living with the Louisiana family who had adopted her.