Robert Hoagland was found dead in upstate New York with a different name (Picture: Newtown Police Department)
A man whose disappearance nearly a decade ago was featured in a television series has been found dead – and with a new name.
Robert Hoagland was last seen at a gas station in Newtown, Connecticut, in the morning on July 28, 2013. The next day, he did not pick up a family member from the airport or go to work.
Police called for a welfare check found Hoagland’s wallet, phone, medication and family cars at his home, but he was nowhere in sight.
The case stayed open for years, as people reported possible sightings of Hoagland across the country. His high-profile disappearance made it on the Investigation Discovery TV series Disappeared.
Robert Hoagland was last seen at a gas station in Connecticut in 2013 (Picture: Newtown Police Department)
On Monday, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office in upstate New York contacted Newtown police with news that they responded to ‘an untimely death’ of a man in Rock Hill. The man was not initially identified, but investigators soon found documents that bore Hoagland’s name.
Newtown police on Tuesday confirmed Hoagland’s identity. He was 59 years old.
Hoagland was living with a different name in Sullivan County since around November 2013.
‘It’s pretty confusing,’ Hoagland’s son Christopher told NBC News on Thursday. ‘We’re trying to handle it right now to be honest. Haven’t really figured out any details.’
Christopher, who resides in Minnesota, will meet his family in Connecticut or New York. They are clueless on why Robert left his life in Connecticut.
There were no signs of foul play on Robert’s body, which has been taken to a coroner to perform an autopsy.
In addition, ‘there was no criminal aspect’ in Robert’s disappearance, according to police.
The Disappeared episode which aired in 2016 contained the synopsis: ‘When Robert Hoagland fails to pick up his wife at the airport, she’s frantic. His son tells investigators his Dad had a run in with some shady men, days earlier.
‘Security cameras show him buying a map the day he vanished but everything he owns is still at his home. What made Robert Hoagland disappear?’
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Robert Hoagland’s high-profile disappearance in 2013 was featured on the television series Disappeared.