Robert Fox left his house to run an errand and never returned. Seven months later, his wife of 25 years is still searching for answers

In a town of fewer than 4,000 people, it’s not unusual to find love close to home. Letitia Fox met her future husband, Robert, when they were young. He was her best friend’s brother. “His sister’s still my best friend,” Letitia told Dateline. Years of friendship eventually turned into marriage. Robert and Letitia Fox have been married for 25 years. They live in South Point, Ohio, down the street from the house Letitia grew up in. It’s a close-knit community that has shaped their lives for decades. That community keeps her going today. “I’ve had people walk up to me and just hug me, people I don’t even know,” she said. Even those who know her well wonder how she’s holding it together. Because in March, her husband, 47-year-old Robert Fox disappeared. “I keep going and fighting because I have to find him, and I’m going to find him,” Letitia said. March 19, 2026, was a day like any other at the Foxes’ home. “We’d get up for work every day and he would take me to work,” Letitia said. The couple carpooled because Letitia’s shift started before Robert’s and ended later than his. Letitia says that after they got home from work that night, Robert told her he had to run an errand. He asked her to come along, but she stayed at home. “He gave me a kiss and told me he loved me,” she explained. Robert was dropping off traffic cones at the home of an acquaintance, Lynn Pauley, whose daughter was learning to drive. Robert had offered to lend them cones to use for practice. Letitia says she expected Robert to be back within a half hour, maybe a bit longer if he got caught up chatting. Lynn’s house was a 10-minute drive from theirs. Just before 8 p.m., Letitia got a call from Robert that he was waiting for Lynn, but would be home shortly. When he still hadn’t arrived by 8:30 p.m., she called him, but he didn’t answer. That’s when she knew something was wrong. “His daughter’s calling him. We’re all sitting there like, ‘This isn’t like him not to call or answer the phone back,’” she said. Letitia waited anxiously at home for a phone call, her mind racing through possibilities. Around 10 p.m., she drove by Lynn’s house and saw that the traffic cones were there, so she figured Robert had at least made it to Lynn’s. At midnight, after her son got off work, the family began searching for Robert. Letitia drove around South Point with her son, daughter, and her daughter’s best friend, looking for Robert. After a couple hours of searching, Letitia thought of checking out apartment buildings. “The first one we pull into, we go around, come back, there’s my Jeep parked back in at the Lawrence Village Apartments,” she said. The car was unlocked, but Robert was nowhere to be found. His phone and keys were also missing. The Foxes knew a handful of people who lived in the apartment complex, but Letitia says they weren’t close enough to anyone there for Robert to be visiting at that hour. She started calling out to anyone who was awake to help her locate her husband. “The woman in the front says she could see the Jeep going by,” Letitia said. The woman had security camera footage, which Letitia watched. She says she recognized the person in the video as Lynn Pauley. “You see Lynn get out the car, back it in. He’s trying to lock the door, but he’s unlocking the door. And he takes off walking with stuff in his hand.” Letitia shared the video with Dateline. In the footage, a man wearing overalls is seen exiting the Jeep at 10:24 p.m. No one else is visible. Dateline reached out to Lynn Pauley but has not received a response. Letitia and the children eventually returned home to try to catch some sleep. She says within minutes of getting home, she got a call from Robert’s employer who said Robert hadn’t shown up for work. Letitia says the employer had tried calling Robert before reaching out to her. “They’re like, ‘But some man answered his phone,’” Letitia said. “So I call it, and the apartment manager answers the phone.” According to Letitia, it was the manager of Lawrence Village Apartments, who told her that Robert’s phone had been found in a drain on the property. Letitia says she and her daughter went to retrieve the phone and check out where it was found. Robert kept his ID and cards in the back of his phone. “It was all there. Nothing had been used and touched,” she said. According to Letitia, her sister-in-law found Robert’s car keys later that day on the grounds of the apartment complex. Around 8 a.m., Letitia and her daughter went to Lynn’s house, just across the interstate from the Lawrence Village Apartments. Letitia says you can walk there in a couple of minutes. She says she and her daughter confronted Lynn with Robert’s phone, and showed him the security video of him parking Robert’s car. Letitia says she did not get any useful information from Lynn, so she went back to the apartment parking lot and called the police to report her husband missing. The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office took the report. Letitia says she gave the officers Robert’s phone and car keys, and shared the security video of the parking lot. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Detective Sergeant Brad Layman, who is handling the case, confirmed to Dateline that Lynn Pauley is the man seen parking Robert’s Jeep in the security video. Layman says the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office met with Pauley on March 20 and “got a statement from him.” Investigators spoke with numerous residents of Lawrence Village Apartments and community members and collected additional security footage from the area. “There was probably about 15 search warrants done in those first three or four days, including Mr. Pauley’s property, where we had cadaver dogs, drones, ATVs,” Layman told Dateline. He says the Sheriff’s Office searched neighboring properties numerous times as well. Layman says Robert’s phone was sent to a forensic crime lab for analysis, and investigators are awaiting the results. They hope his text messages will help investigators determine what happened to Robert the night he disappeared. Layman confirmed that Lynn Pauley is a person of interest in Robert’s disappearance, but emphasized that investigators are looking at others as well. “We have numerous persons of interest that we’re looking at and looking into,” he said. No suspects have been named in the case. Layman stresses that information from the public is critical to the investigation. “The more people we can get talking about it, the better off we’re gonna be.” The Fox family won’t stop talking about it. It’s now been more than seven months since Robert kissed his wife goodbye to leave for a quick errand and never returned. In July, Letitia marked their 25th wedding anniversary without Robert. “He was our everything. He made sure our family ran, and now it’s me,” Letitia said. “I know my family needs me, and Robert is counting on me to find him.” Robert is 5’5”, 230 lbs. He has blue eyes and brown hair. He was last seen wearing a blue King’s Daughters T-shirt, khaki pants, and white sneakers. Anyone with information regarding Robert’s disappearance is encouraged to contact the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office at 740-532-3525 and dial extension 8 for Investigations. If you have a story to share with Dateline, please submit it here.