More than a month after 46-year-old Robert “Bob” Lowery vanished while visiting Wyoming, authorities received a tip that there had been a sighting of the Houston father back on August 20, 2021, on the Black Canyon Trail in Bridger-Teton National Forest, near Grand Teton National Park.
Although his family has been searching for weeks, Teton County Sheriff’s Deputy Chad Sachse told Dateline the recent coverage of Gabby Petito is what aided in the tipsters coming forward with the new information.
“You never know what little bit of information could help,” Sachse said, adding that they’ve received a lot of attention in the past weeks because of Gabby’s case. “Hopefully, more tips will come in to help these other families.”
Bob’s sister, Leigh Lowery, told Dateline she is also hopeful that recent national attention on the area will bring awareness about other missing person cases.
Leigh, who lives in Texas, will be traveling to Wyoming for a search on Saturday. She said details are still being worked out, but is urging experienced mountain bikers and hikers to join. Those who are interested can email the family at RobertLoweryFamily@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page Find Robert "Bob" Lowery.
Leigh told Dateline that her brother had recently resigned from his job in real estate and had left his Houston, Texas home on August 19 to travel and go on various hiking and camping trips before settling into a new work venture.
But his family became concerned when the devoted father stopped contacting his two children, ages 10 and 15.
“Bob talks to those kids every day, multiple times a day,” Leigh said. “He’s never out of touch with them. But it’s been 37 days and nothing. And that’s what’s concerning.”
Leigh and her family filed a missing persons report with the Teton County Sheriff’s Office and an investigation revealed that Bob was last seen on video on August 19 at Piste Mountain Bistro at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village, Wyoming. The following morning, he took a Lyft to Pearl Street Bagels in Wilson.
Leigh told Dateline she has since been able to access Bob’s bank accounts and phone records. She said she discovered that there hasn’t been any activity on the accounts since August 20. Leigh said she also contacted the Lyft driver who drove him that day, but said the driver couldn’t recall whether Bob had camping gear or if he had mentioned any plans to go camping or hiking.
Deputy Sachse told Dateline they put out a call to the public for information on Bob’s whereabouts. Their phone lines remained silent until the Teton area was suddenly on the news for days covering the Gabby Petito case.
Deputy Sachse told Dateline that the two cases are not related and that the area where Gabby’s body was later located was on the opposite side of the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
But now armed with new information, Sachse said it gives them a new place to search.
He told Dateline that two hikers said they saw Bob around 2:45 p.m. on August 20, on the Black Canyon Trail that he had been hiking. He was sitting on a rock and had with him the Nike duffel bag police had previously described in their call for information, along with a tent and sleeping bag. The hikers said they exchanged hellos and went on their way.
Leigh told Dateline that a search of the trail and the wilderness off the trail will lead to finding her brother. She said there’s not enough information to put together what they think happened to him, but said it’s not like her brother to just disappear and cause anyone to worry.
“I don’t see my brother leaving his children and causing any sort of concern or fear,” she said. “We just need to find him. That’s our focus right now.”
Bob is described as being 6 feet tall, weighing 185 lbs., and has brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a dark pullover, a black “Pirates” baseball hat with the yellow letter “P,” blue jeans, hiking boots, and was carrying a large Nike duffel bag, blue sleeping bag and grey tent.
Anyone with information on Bob’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Teton County Sheriff’s Office at 307-733-2331.