Spc. Robert Hornbeck from the Third ID Missing after Weekend in Savannah, GA
Specialist Robert Hornbeck of the US Military Third ID was last seen in downtown 
Savannah, GA the weekend of April 16, 2006. Hornbeck’s father had made a call to his son and the line went dead. That was the last that anyone has every seen or heard from Robert Hornbeck.
When his father called looking for him, Spc. Robert Hornbeck answered his cell phone and spoke just a few words before the connection went dead: “Dad, I’m on the stairs.”
Since the day that Robert Hornbeck vanished his father Eric Hornbeck has tirelessly searched for his son in all conceivable places.
“He’s got to be around here somewhere, I think within half a mile,” Beth Hornbeck, Robert’s stepmother, told us.
“I’ve looked in alleys, I’ve looked in garbage cans, I’ve looked under bushes,” said Eric.
But still no signs of their son. “We got him through Iraq for the year, but I couldn’t get him through Savannah,” said Eric. “I don’t understand it.”
(WTOC 11)
Spc.Robert Hornbeck just returned from Iraq in January. He only had two weeks of active duty left and was supposed to be getting married in July according to reports. Which has made Robert Hornbeck’s father think the worst possible scenario for his son.
Which has led a father to believe the worst. When asked if he thought his son was still alive, Eric said, “No, I don’t. I think time is against us now.”
Iraq veteran missing in Savannah Soldier vanishes in minutes
Robert Hornbeck, who returned to Fort Benning in January after a year in Iraq only to vanish during a weekend getaway to Savannah.
“For three days, I checked garbage bins, alleys. I even chased some homeless people out of abandoned buildings,” the soldier’s father said Tuesday. “You can speculate until you’re blue in the face. And, Lord knows, I have.”
More than 70 volunteers turned out Wednesday evening to help search for Hornbeck in the downtown area. They walked the streets and alleys peering into bushes, looking in garbage bins and handing out fliers to passersby.
It has become a complete mystery as to Robert Hornbeck’s disappearance. Leading people to not know whether a crime was committed or that he ran off for some unknown reason.
“We have no evidence that Mr. Hornbeck is a victim of any crime,” Wilkins said. “All searches to this point have not yielded any information on his whereabouts.”
Fliers posted in downtown storefronts with Hornbeck’s photo and a full-page ad his father bought in Sunday’s Savannah Morning News haven’t turned up any fresh tips. Neither has a $10,000 reward offered by the family.
The longer he searches, Eric Hornbeck becomes more worried that his son is either dead or “he has postwar trauma and he’s holed up somewhere.”
UPDATE (4/26/06): Missing Soldier Reportedly Spotted in Statesboro
A trucker first spotted someone matching Hornbeck’s description around 7am yesterday morning near mile marker 137 on I-16.
Robert Hornbeck was last seen wearing a white button-up shirt with blue stripes, dark khaki pants and shiny black shoes. He has an American flag tattoo on his left bicep
Several people seem to claim they may have spotted Robert Hornbeck.
There’s possibly a new lead in the disappearance of Robert Hornbeck, the Third Infantry Division soldier missing since Easter. Yesterday morning, three different people say they saw Hornbeck in Statesboro.
At this time, investigators aren’t sure that it was Hornbeck. The witnesses believe they saw him along I-16, but the sheriff’s department has found no evidence to prove he was ever there.
One of the witnesses says she was on her way to work when she saw Hornbeck. Police met up with her at work and showed her a picture of the missing soldier. She identified him as the man she saw earlier that morning.
(WTOC 11)
If anyone has information about Robert Hornbeck, they’re asked to call CrimeStoppers at 234.2020. The family is also offering a $10,000 reward.
UPDATE: FOX NEWS, Where Is Specialist Robert Hornbeck?
Transcript from “On the Record,” April 26, 2006.
Eric, correct me if I’m wrong but you and your wife were out that night with your son and his friend and at some point, about 11 p.m., you retired and then it wasn’t until about three o’clock or 3:12 a.m. that you received a phone call is that right?
ERIC HORNBECK, FATHER OF MISSING SOLDIER (by telephone): That’s correct. It was at 3:12 a.m., Greta, and it was his buddy Jeremy [Stone] that said that they were lost. They didn’t know if they were in a good area or not and they needed a ride home.