Authorities credit Gabby Petito coverage with helping find body matching description of missing Texas man
Authorities in Wyoming said they recovered a body Tuesday that fits the description of a 46-year-old Texas man who has been missing for over a month. The body was recovered from the same national forest where Gabby Petito's remains were found earlier this month, and authorities credited coverage of the 22-year-old's case with leading to new information behind Tuesday's discovery.
The Teton County Search and Rescue agency said it conducted a search for Robert "Bob" Lowery of Houston in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest after receiving new information over the weekend about his last-known whereabouts. The Teton County Sheriff's Office had said Lowery was last seen on or around August 19 in the community of Teton Village, but the search and rescue agency said in a Facebook post Monday night Lowery was actually last seen on the afternoon of August 20 on a trail inside the forest.
The updated information about Lowery also included the detail that he was carrying a duffel bag on the trail. The agency said Tuesday at least two members of the public contacted authorities with information placing Lowery on Black Canyon Trail, which the agency said is popular among hikers and mountain bikers during the summer.
The agency linked the new information to coverage surrounding Petito, whose remains were found at a camping area inside the forest. "The widespread news coverage of the Gabby Petito search helped bring light to Lowery's case," the agency said in a statement.
On Tuesday, searchers split into teams and combed through what the agency described as a "thick timbered area" around the trail. After four hours, a team with a search dog found the body that matched Lowery's description and a duffel bag on a "steep, timbered slope" off the trail, the agency said.
The body was recovered from the area Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said they didn't immediately know a cause of death.
