When a Colorado teen struggles with the effects of a past family tragedy, local authorities demand that he attend a residential treatment facility for troubled youth, where things take a turn for the worse.

After a desperate phone call from her son, his mother prepares to intervene only for him to immediately disappear.

A mother seeks answers that have been withheld for more than 30 years in this

episode of Last Seen Alive.

Thanks for listening to Last Seen Alive.

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

And I'm your host, Scott.

Robert Pilsen Ray here, who often went by Bobby, was last seen alive on July 6, 1990. He was 15 years old at the time,

and unlike many missing children, he didn't disappear from his own neighborhood. Rather,

the place he disappeared from was an unusual one, one where he ostensibly should have been safe.

The events that ultimately led to Bobby's disappearance began not in that place, but years beforehand when he'd met a small child. His biological father

had never been present, but when Bobby was very young, his mom, Jean, married a man named

Gerald. And Gerald, who Bobby very much considered to be his father, was a great dad. He was a caring and

involved father who especially enjoyed sharing his love for the outdoors with Bobby. According to

true crime writer Kat Lee, it was under Gerald's guidance that Bobby learned how to do things like

build a campfire and identify which berries were safe to eat and which were poisonous.

Useful skills.

Definitely, as I'm sure anyone who's ever accidentally eaten a poisonous berry can attest.

So, Jean and Gerald also had another child together, Bobby's little brother.

Overall, they were a happy family, and the fact that Gerald was so actively involved in his son's lives was

especially impressive because he suffered from life-altering disabilities. Before he'd met and married

Gene, Gerald had served as an air traffic controller in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War,

...