Disappeared - Long Lost Love - Full Transcript
Narrator: Her flight to California is set for Wednesday, July 29th- her one month anniversary with Bob. As her departure date approaches,
Fontelle continues to talk to Bob every day.
Fontelle: I called him twice a day. I would call him in the morning and we would talk, and then I would call him in the evening every night, 10 o'clock.
...I tried to call Bob Monday evening and I didn't get an answer,
RB: He had a fear of driving on freeways, so he didn't go very far from home. Pretty much Dad would sit in his recliner and read the Wall Street Journal or watch the news.
Det. Loomis: Bob's white Camry was parked in the driveway. We gained entry into that vehicle and we went into the glove box and we found an address. ... probably 20 miles or so from Placentia. And we thought, "Okay, this is it. Bob has gone to this couple's house and this is what we're looking for."
Det. Loomis: Bob had actually brought Fontelle down to their home the day before Bob and Fontelle got married and that he had arrived in the evening. We found that very interesting because there really is no way to get to Balboa from Placentia without getting on the freeway, contrary to what the family said that he never drives the freeway.
Narrator: The fact that Bob drove so far at night suggests that he is still quite capable and his mind sharp. Detectives contact Bob's doctor to confirm.
PB: She was taking financial advantage of my father.
I became aware of this when I was helping Dad with his taxes. All of the sudden, there was exorbitant amounts of money going out to her. I was very shocked.
RB: Just before Christmas after Mom passed away Dad had loaned $15,000 to this woman. One of my sisters was so suspicious of what was going on
that Department of Elder Social Services was contacted and they went out and conducted an interview with Dad. They found he was being abused but that he was apparently of sound enough mind to not want to wish to pursue it.
Narrator: Josie states that she did not drive by Bob's house that day and police are able to confirm her alibi. While Josie insists she knows nothing about Bob's disappearance, his family sees a motive for her wanting him gone.
PB: I think the barber woman's motive would be to not pay back my dad for all the money that she had borrowed from him. That's the only thing I could think of.
RB: My dad would have never described himself with the "M" word. If you were to go to their house, it was humble. We would give him clothes as gifts and he would prefer to wear old things. Old, comfy favorites.
He was not a materialistic man.
Narrator: Frustrated, Bob's daughters drafted a formal letter to their father, demanding that he comply with his responsibilities as trustee. But, according to them, Bob got extremely upset when he caught wind of their plan.
PB: It upset him, and it wasn't anything about asking for money or anything else. It was just asking for information that he was supposed to give us. And, it caused a problem.
Det. Radomski: Things got so complicated or heated between Bob and his daughters that he basically wrote them off for 6 months. He didn't want them to visit, he didn't want them to call. I think he was just upset that he was getting bombarded by requests regarding the trust and he's still trying to deal with his wife's death at the same time, so I think he was just overwhelmed.
PB: Once the papers were found and these articles were read aloud, everything settled back down and everyone was fine.
RB: We sat around joking and laughing about the barber and also Fontelle and teasing him about being a newlywed and- she was going to be there in a couple days.
PB: Everyone left on good terms. There was nothing that was left over and everyone was fine.
Narrator: Later that night, Fontelle spoke to Bob on the phone. According to her, he was still quite shaken by the exchange with his daughters.
Fontelle: Bob was very upset because of the meeting. It was argumentative. Roberta is always the first one he says to start arguing and causing confusion in the family.
Narrator: Fontelle says the conflict was not over the trust, instead it had to do with another announcement Bob made.
Fontelle: He told the girls that as soon as I got back from Missouri, he was going to add my name to the house, to his checking account, and also to the estate.
Narrator: But, Bob's daughters dispute that he ever said such a thing.
PB: The meeting that was held was not about Fontelle at all. She was not part of the discussion that day.
Dad does not share his private or personal matters with anyone. He never had and he continued not to and that's his choice.
RB: I do not suspect anybody in my family. The fact that he disappeared the following day is strictly coincidental.
RB: In the first couple of days after Dad disappeared, we realized that Fontelle was not on any of Dad's accounts so we talked to a family law attorney and we took a copy of the trust to that attorney and we were advised of what needed to be done to free up money so we could help Fontelle out.
Fontelle: The three girls came to the house and they told me they'd been to see an attorney, and they told me that the attorney advised them to throw my
out in the street. Now, mind you, I'm newlywed- left everything I had. Gave up everything to come out here to be married and they're going to throw my
out in the street and I don't even have a home to go back to anymore.
RB: We did not kick her out. We did not tell her to leave. We told her that we were advised that we should not have let her in the house, but we didn't ask her to leave. There's no way we could have done that to her.
RB: We don't know whether to be angry or mourning. I can't help but think somehow, some way somebody he connected with was a big mistake. And I'm not talking about his wife, I'm talking about somebody very dark. You just don't expect you're ever going to go through something like this. It's an absolute horror.
