Cynthia R. Jabour – The Charley Project
Cynthia R. Jabour
Jabour, circa 1980; Robert Weeks, circa 1987; Patricia Weeks, circa 1968
- Missing Since: 10/05/1980
- Missing From: Las Vegas, Nevada
- Classification: Endangered Missing
- Sex: Female
- Race: White
- Age: 47 years old
- Height and Weight: 5'6, 125 pounds
- Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Jabour has a scar on her chin.
Details of Disappearance
Jabour was last seen in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 5, 1980. She had been dating a man named Robert Weeks off and on for almost six years, and she was last seen in the lobby of his condo at 10:30 p.m. They had a dinner date scheduled that night and she told friends she planned to end their relationship due to his jealousy and possessive behavior.
She has never been heard from again. Two days later, a friend who was concerned about being unable to reach Jabour forced her way into her apartment. There was no indication of her whereabouts there and no belongings were missing. After her disappearance, her car was found abandoned in the parking lot Caesar's Palace Hotel in Las Vegas. She left behind expensive clothing, and $47,000 in a securities account.
When questioned by police, Robert claimed Jabour had canceled their dinner date that night and he didn't know where she was. He was supposed to take a lie detector test, but on the day of the test he canceled the appointment, saying he had to go out of town on business. He went to Tijuana, Mexico, and then on to Chile. He didn't return to the U.S. until three years later, coming in through Houston, Texas on a Libyan passport.
Robert moved to San Diego, California and started using the name Robert Howard Smith. He started seeing a nurse named
Carol Ann Riley, but Riley was seeing another man as well, a doctor from Colorado, and planned to end her relationship with Robert and marry the doctor. Riley disappeared on April 5, 1986. She had a dinner date scheduled with Robert that night and planned to break up with him. After her disappearance, her car was found abandoned in a San Diego hotel parking lot.
When questioned by police, Robert claimed Riley had canceled their dinner date and he had no idea what happened to her. On April 7, just two days after Riley's disappearance, he left town, telling his roommate he was going on a business trip, and dropped out of sight. Authorities subsequently learned that Robert was using a false name; he had a history of going by different names and identities.
They also found out that Robert's ex-wife, Patricia Weeks, disappeared from Clark County, Nevada on April 25, 1968, a few weeks after their divorce had been finalized and she had been granted custody of their four young children. After her disappearance, her car was found abandoned in a parking lot. Robert told people that Patricia "either had a nervous breakdown or is probably dead." Jim Shaw, a business associate of Robert's, had disappeared from Las Vegas on May 5, 1971. His bloodstained car was later found abandoned. Acquaintances said he had argued with Robert the day he disappeared.
Police launched a manhunt for Robert, and he and the four disappearances were profiled on the television show
Unsolved Mysteries. Thanks to tips from people who saw the show, in April 1987 he was located in Tucson, Arizona, where he'd been living under the name Charles F. Stolzenberg. He was arrested on an outstanding embezzlement charge out of Nevada, and questioned about the four disappearances. In July 1987, he was indicted for Patricia and Jabour's murders.
A photo of Robert is posted with this case summary. At his trial, numerous witnesses testified that he was a controlling and abusive man, prone to jealous rages. Two of his and Patricia's children took the stand to talk about how their father had beaten their mother on numerous occasions; others corroborated this, and Patricia had twice gotten restraining orders against her husband. Witnesses also testified that when Robert saw Patricia sitting next to a male neighbor on a piano bench, he beat the man so severely he was unrecognizable, and didn't regain consciousness for three days.
Passages from Robert's diary Robert were presented for the jury; he wrote bitterly about Jabour, saying, "You have humiliated me beyond belief. I will even the score." The jury was permitted to hear about Riley's suspicious disappearance as well.
In April 1988, he was convicted of Patricia's murder and Jabour's murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. It was the first time in Nevada history that someone was convicted of murder without the victim's body. He died in prison in 1996; he was never charged in Riley and Shaw's disappearances. None of the bodies of the missing people connected to him have ever been found. He was interested in mining, and may have dumped them in mine shafts in the Nevada desert.
A photo of Patricia is posted with this case summary. Her vital statistics, and photographs and vital statistics for Jim Shaw, are unavailable.
Investigating Agency
Source Information
Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004. Last updated July 21, 2020; casefile added.
