The Person
Robert Joseph Fritz, affectionately known as “Bobby Joe,” was a 5-year-old boy growing up in Campbellsport, Wisconsin in the early 1980s. He had a distinct strawberry-colored birthmark on his outer left thigh, and those who loved him fondly remember his sweet childhood speech, which included a noticeable difficulty pronouncing the letters “T,” “K,” and “R”. Bobby Joe was a typical five-year-old whose sudden absence left an irreplaceable void in his family and a permanent mark on his small hometown.
The Case
On the afternoon of May 14, 1983, Bobby Joe was playing kickball with his siblings and neighborhood children at a neighbor’s house. In the afternoon, he told his sister he was hungry and his sister walked him part of the way back home, saw it was a straight shot back to the house and returned to continue playing. It was only when his siblings came back to the house when everyone had the sinking realization that Robert never made it back. Despite massive, multi-day community grid searches and dive team operations in the nearby bodies of water, no trace of the boy was ever uncovered. Law enforcement strongly believes Bobby Joe was abducted. For over forty years, the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office has investigated numerous leads—including deep looks into regional suspects—but his disappearance remains one of Wisconsin’s most enduring unsolved mysteries.
My Thoughts
I had seen Robert’s picture online even before starting Tribute Sketches. This was yet another portrait that I completed, uncertain of whether or not I’d be able to contact his family. His face reminds me of my nephew and it brings a somewhat personal element to this drawing. It’s always my hope that by reiterating his case online and on social media that if you’re out there, Bobby Joe, that you end up putting 2 and 2 together and coming forward. Your family is still looking for you and have submitted DNA samples with 23 and Me. If you think you could be Robert Fritz or if you have any information in relation to this case, reach out to the Fond Du Lac County Sheriff’s Office at 1-920-929-3390. I have yet to get in touch with his family to send them the physical drawing.
