When a California man reunites with a long lost love after a lifetime of separation, they decide to finally marry.

Immediately afterward, he disappears and suspicion surrounds those who may have been preying upon his multi-million dollar estate in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

I'm your host, Leah, crime analyst by day and true crime storyteller by night.

I'm your co-host, Scott.

Robert Herod was last seen alive on July 27, 2009. At the time, he was a retiree living in La Placentia, a town in Orange County, California. Make no mistake, though,

Robert's retirement was anything but boring. Robert had lost his wife, Georgia, to illness the year

before. This loss really altered Robert's world. They'd been married for over 50 years. After her death,

he fell into depression, losing weight because he was barely eating,

and sometimes breaking down into tears. His daughters worried for him, but didn't know what to do.

It wasn't like they could bring their mother back. In the wake of his loss, Robert's grief

chipped away at the lively, happy person he'd once been. So when something happened that

brought new light into his life,

he embraced it. That something was reconnecting with a woman named Fonel, and Fonel wasn't just some

old classmate or childhood friend. She'd once been very important to Robert. At the dawn of the

1950s, when Fontel had been 15 and Robert had been 21, they'd been engaged.

Their engagement wasn't the only big thing to arrive along with the 1950s, though.

The Korean War also began, casting its shadow across the nation.

Robert joined the United States Marine Corps, whether voluntarily or because he was drafted, I'm not sure. But either way,

this meant he had to leave his then home state of Missouri. He and Fontel didn't know when they'd

see each other again, or when they'd have a chance to start a life together, if ever. Because of this,

they eventually made the tough decision to end their engagement, and that was it for the couple.

Robert eventually returned from the war, but he and Fontel never reunited. Each of them married other people

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