CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #14

[mikkismom]

Childhood sweethearts who were forced apart by her disapproving father finally marry… after 60 years apart

http://swns.com/news/childhood-sweethearts-forced-disapproving-father-finally-marry-60-years-33471/

I guess it's not that unusual... JMO

 

[believe09]

I think there are new air times for Disappeared, lol:

8PM ET/PT, 7PM CT, re-airing at 10pm CT, 11pm ET/PT and
again on Saturday, April 6th at 9am CT, 10am ET/PT.

 

[zwiebel]

Thank you. What a lovely story, and there's two of them!*

It's a little uncanny. The man in this second story is called Robert, and his words remind me so much of what Bob said about Fontelle.

'...after a whirlwind summer romance Robert finally popped the question...'

"You have to grab it while you can because you don't know how long it will last."

"...even back then, I thought she was gorgeous..."

http://swns.com/news/childhood-sweethearts-get-married-60-years-after-meeting-24410/

 

[zwiebel]

It may be timely to add a little info about this part of England; Family Trusts and Bypass Trusts etc etc are almost unheard of there.

A large number of people don't ever get around to making a will in fact, which is not very wise. Usually.

 

[zwiebel]

I think there are new air times for Disappeared, lol:

NOOOOOooooooooooo....................................................*******

 

[Tricia]

TOMORROW NIGHT (Thursday April 4th) THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL'S "DISAPPEARED" WILL AIR THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF BOB HARROD

"DISAPPEARED" AIRS TOMORROW NIGHT 8 PM EASTERN.

CLICK RIGHT HERE FOR MORE DETAILS.

FROM THE WEBSLEUTHS MANAGEMENT AND MEMBERS THANK YOU FOR WORKING SO HARD ON MR. HARROD'S CASE. YOU ALL ARE TRULY AMAZING.

Tricia Griffith
Co-owner Websleuths.com
PS. I'm not shouting just put it all in caps to make sure everyone could see it.

 

[cleo612]

I think there are new air times for Disappeared, lol:

It is still showing at 8pm and 11pm EST here in Charlotte, NC via Time Warner Cable.

 

[zwiebel]

Whoa, we're on the front page!

Thank you Tricia!

Thank you Investigation Discovery TV!

 

[zwiebel]

A quick recap for any new visitors to Bob's thread:

Bob Harrod Disappeared from his Placentia, California home on Monday, July 27th, 2009. He did not take his car or (possibly) his glasses, despite being unable to walk very far or see very well, and his bank and credit cards haven't been used since. At least by him.

Bob had been widowed over a year by that date, after a single, long marriage which produced three daughters (RB, PB and JuM). He also had a son-in-law (JeM) and a grandson (AH) all living within easy travelling distance of him in California.

Bob had grown lonely and isolated in bereavement, apart from his best friend and neighbour (PE or CA Exile here at WS). He also became closer friends with his deceased wife's hairdresser (BL) and her family, and gave them cash and gifts. Bob's daughter's didn't like this and made an abuse report to social services, which Bob refuted and refused to pursue.

Meanwhile, back in May 2009 in Bob's birthplace of Missouri, Bob's childhood sweetheart (Fontelle, FH, Mrs Harrod) was lonely too. Her daughter asked what she could do to help Mom, and Mom thought of Bob; the man who she'd loved back in 1950 in Kansas City, who had asked her to marry him and given her a diamond engagement ring. And who had then been called up to serve in the marines at Camp Pendleton in California, and who had never returned to her.

Daughter could use the internet. Guess how long it took her to find the telephone number of an eighty-one year-old named Bob Harrod, living in California for decades, who had never made any attempt to conceal his identity? Fontelle picked up the phone and dialled...............

 

[Angelo]

April 4th 8pm ET



Long Lost Love

Eighty-one year old Bob Harrod is overjoyed when he marries his childhood sweetheart after sixty years apart. But days before his new bride moves in, Bob vanishes. Police cannot locate him and soon find a strong motive for foul play: Bob is a millionaire.


http://investigation.discovery.com/tv-shows/disappeared/tv-schedule.htm

 

[zwiebel]

"Your call was an answer to my prayers. I have been thinking of you every day lately."

So wrote Bob to Fontelle in May, 2009. Within 8 weeks he'd asked her to come to California to visit him. They didn't waste time. It was just the same as in their sweetheart years.

"She makes me laugh one hundred times a day", Bob said in an interview.

June 29th, Bob and Fontelle went to OC Registrar office to book their wedding - and came back married when they discovered they could marry right then and there. They didn't even tell the kids until it was a done deal.

Bob's three adult daughters say they were really happy for him. Here's a letter sent by one of them after the wedding, that doesn't demonstrate this:
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #9


July 7th, Fontelle - now Mrs Harrod, goes back home to Missouri to pack up her things and say goodbye to all her family there. She would never see Bob again.............................

 

[zwiebel]

First thing that happens once Mrs Harrod is off the scene is that youngest daughter JuM makes another report of elder abuse (according to another sister). Social services don't get a chance to see Bob again either though.

Sunday, July 26th, 2009, there is a 'family meeting' at Bob's house, where his three adult daughters and son-in law and adult grandson (probably) are present. Daughter RB says the meeting 'was NOT heated; Bob was heated because he was 'selfish and conditional.

Grandson AH however, tells police there has been 'fighting in the family'.

Monday, 27th July, Bob is happily preparing for his wife's return from Missouri. He had called his long-term housekeeper to come today, outside of her regular day, to help. The time she arrived is still uncertain. Son-in-law JeM also arrived, around 9.30am, to carry out some minor repairs. At 10am Bob is believed to have taken a call from an impeccable source.

It's not known what happened next. Housekeeper has been reported as arriving at Bob's home at either noon or 3pm. Either way, she says Bob didn't answer the door and hadn't left the key in the mailbox as he usually did. She started worrying - a lot - and didn't stop when son-in-law drove up to the house. Son-in-law, she says, was more concerned with whether she was supposed to be there that day. He lets them in to Bob's house.

Housekeeper by now has such a dreadful feeling, she asks son-in-law JeM to go upstairs and check if Bob is there. He does. And she waits, and waits and waits. Just silence answers................

 

[zwiebel]

Eventually, son-in-law shouted down that Bob wasn't there. The housekeeper got on with her housekeeping, but her feeling of dread increased when she saw that Bob's bed wasn't made. That was yet another thing that she had never encountered in all her years of working for Bob before.

Son-in-law JeM left before the housekeeper. It's likely he returned though, as it's reported he left a note on the counter for Bob, telling him he would return the next day to finish up the repairs. He never did.

At some point, someone made Bob's bed, because it was made that night when police were finally called to check on Bob.

Mrs Harrod had been calling and calling Bob that evening, because he hadn't answered her usual call. It wasn't until 9pm California time though, that JuM, son-in-law's wife, finally called Fontelle and told her Bob was missing. Mrs Harrod says she told her Bob had been missing since 11am. It was Mrs Harrod who called California LE, from Missouri, to report Bob missing.

Around 9.32pm that night, Bob's grandson AH, who lived a block away, stood on the driveway of Bob's home waiting for LE to accompany him inside before he would enter the house and check his grandfather was okay. Grandson AH is the son of daughter JuM and son-in-law JeM.

Police found everything in order, but no sign of Bob at all.................

 

[Seajay]

My times in my siggie are still correct for the West Coast, Pacific Daylight Time for Bob's story. Bob's story starts at 5 pm. I have Time Warner Cable. HTH.

 

[Cubby]

"Your call was an answer to my prayers. I have been thinking of you every day lately."

So wrote Bob to Fontelle in May, 2009. Within 8 weeks he'd asked her to come to California to visit him. They didn't waste time. It was just the same as in their sweetheart years.

"She makes me laugh one hundred times a day", Bob said in an interview.

June 29th, Bob and Fontelle went to OC Registrar office to book their wedding - and came back married when they discovered they could marry right then and there. They didn't even tell the kids until it was a done deal.

Bob's three adult daughters say they were really happy for him. Here's a letter sent by one of them before the wedding, that doesn't demonstrate this:
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - CA CA - Bob Harrod, 81, Orange County, 27 July 2009 - #9


July 7th, Fontelle - now Mrs Harrod, goes back home to Missouri to pack up her things and say goodbye to all her family there. She would never see Bob again.............................

Actually that letter was dated July 17, 18 days after Mr and Mrs. Harrod wed. They married on June 29.

 

[zwiebel]

Thank you Cubby!

 

[zwiebel]

My times in my siggie are still correct for the West Coast, Pacific Daylight Time for Bob's story. Bob's story starts at 5 pm. I have Time Warner Cable. HTH.

And you've got Mr Z on your side, Seajay!

 

[zwiebel]

Tuesday, 28th July, Bob's daughter JuM travels to Bob's house and changes the sheets (according to another sister) on Bob's already made bed. She is not accompanied by her husband, son-in-law JeM, despite the fact he'd left a note telling Bob he's coming back that day to finish up the repairs.

JuM gives a spur-of-the moment interview with a camera crew who had got wind of Bob's disappearance. In it, she says that Bob went missing 'Maybe one? Noon'

After this, confusion reigns.

There are reports that Bob had dementia/didn't have dementia. Didn't take his glasses/may have had his glasses. Was maybe wearing an all-white outfit/maybe not. Maybe disappeared at 11am/12pm/1pm/2-ishpm/3pm. It all depends on when son-in-law left Bob's house to visit the hardware store, and police say he made 'multiple trips' that day. Son-in-law JeM has never spoken to the media about Bob's disappearance.

Bob's daughter, PB, says she spoke to Bob the morning he disappeared, between 11am-12pm, and overheard son-in-law telling Bob he was going to the hardware store.

Son-in-law's son, grandson AH, told police his father had seen a suspicious black vehicle outside Bob's house that day, but neither police or son-in-law have mentioned it since............

 

[zwiebel]

Apart from Mrs Harrod's interviews to the media, things grow a little quiet after Bob disappears. At least two of Bob's daughters, son-in-law and grandson either decline, stop speaking or have never spoken to the media.

Mrs Harrod returned from Missouri and stood firm in Bob's house, waiting for him to be brought home. Bob's daughters had welcomed her, on camera, with hugs and kisses and gentle, helping hands. This changed shortly afterwards, but that's where the money issues raise their head; the fact Bob was at least a millionaire; the hundreds of thousands of dollars loaned to Grandson AH, the houses owned by Bob, that family members lived in; the Trust/Will that left everything to his children, but that Bob had made notes about changing, to add his new wife. Just before he disappeared.

Somewhere on websleuths, way back there in 2009, a diligent poster had been going through the information about Bob's case, trying to sift a timeline from the initial rush of information. It wasn't me, and they are still here by Bob's side today.

What they asked then, still holds true today. 'Does anyone know what time Bob Harrod went missing?'..........

 

[zwiebel]

While there may not have been much activity on Bob's missing person case from his children and in-laws, his estate is a different story.

It's been a positive hive of activity.

Maybe someone else could chip in with this? Maybe starting with those hundreds of thousands of dollars Bob loaned to his grandson, AH, and what ever happened to that money?

Also, daughters' statements to media that their father, Bob, 'meant the world' to them, and that they were happy he met and married Fontelle, and welcomed her......anyone want to chip in with an opinion on this?

The only other thing I have to add at the moment; can someone else find an example of a reward like Bob's ($50,000, funded from Bob's own money), where 'Family members are excluded from claiming this reward'?

I can't understand, if you want to find a missing person, why you would exclude anyone from claiming the reward if they have information.