Nearly three months have passed since the disappearance of 33-year-old Robert Lee Hourihan, a loving son, husband and father from Columbia. He said a routine goodbye to his wife in the early morning hours of April 8 and then presumably left to go to his job in Richmond.

“He wasn’t scheduled to work the day he left, but I found out later that he wasn’t,” his wife Tara says. “He had had the day off.”
The Hourihans’ car, a white 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier with the license plate TARAMAE was found abandoned in the parking lot of a Target Store in La Plata, Md., on May 28 “which makes no sense,” Tara says. “As far as I know, my husband and I don’t know anybody in Maryland.”

And with no new leads shared since the discovery of her family’s vehicle, Tara continues to seek answers and ask for help.

“[Investigators] are being very closed-mouthed, I think just because they have to be cautious. I think they may have some information, but nothing they can discuss yet. I am hoping they have information that is going to lead to some answers. I just want him found. That’s all I care about right now. I just want to know where my husband is. That’s my daily prayer.”

As weeks go by, Tara’s concern for her husband’s well being has deepened; “especially with his heart condition. He would get so sick. He would have cold sweats, vomiting, a massive migraine…”

Robert was born with a rare heart condition called Long QT syndrome—a disorder of the heart’s electrical activity that may cause sudden, uncontrollable heart rhythm when one is stressed.

“He had a rough time with it. There was a lot of things he couldn’t do—he couldn’t play sports when he was young. There’s no way he could make it this long without his meds,” Tara says. “And they are still sitting in my cabinet in my house.”

“I know Lt. Wells is doing everything he can to look into whatever leads [investigators at Fluvanna Sheriff’s Department] get. I wish we could get something more.”

Robert’s family members are just a few miles away in Buckingham. “They’ve been very helpful,” she says. “They have been out searching, they put up reward money, hired a private investigator. They want nothing more than to have him found.”

And then there’s Melody, the Hourihans’ 6-year-old daughter. “She has suffered a serious loss. She has had nightmares, big bouts of tears. She’s hurting. She’s in a lot of pain and watching that is like having someone rip my heart out of my chest. It’s excruciating because there’s nothing I can do.”

Melody and Tara receive family therapy and get “tremendous support” from their church family.

“We’re trying to handle [Robert’s disappearance] as best as we can, but we’re all hurting. We’re hurting deeply. To know my husband was to love him. He’s one of a kind. My best friend and I just don’t understand any of this. I told him goodbye—I thought he was going to work. I never thought it was going to be goodbye forever. If I could, I would go back to the 8th (of April) and make sure he never left the house.”

If you have information, contact Fluvanna County Sheriff’s Department at (434) 589-8211, or Crime Stoppers at (434) 977-4000.