LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Three years after Robert Eaton was reported missing, authorities have confirmed the identification of his body found in Missouri, bringing long-awaited closure to his family.
Eaton, a Louisville resident, was last seen in February 2022 in the vicinity of Caesars Southern Indiana, near Elizabeth, Indiana. According to family members, he had a history of mental illness and often went missing. He did not have a cell phone at the time.
A month after Eaton was reported missing by his mother, a body was recovered in June 2022 from the Mississippi River near Portageville, Missouri — over 300 miles from where Eaton was last seen. The New Madrid County Sheriff’s Office stated that the remains showed no signs of trauma and had likely been in the river for at least two to three months. Due to decomposition, investigators were unable to obtain fingerprints or identify the body through conventional means.
The case remained unresolved until last year when Southeast Missouri State anthropologist Dr. Jennifer Bengtson and her students became involved. Utilizing advanced DNA testing and forensic genealogy, they built a detailed biological profile and constructed a family tree that eventually led to new investigative leads.
“One of those leads connected investigators to a relative who had posted on social media about a missing loved one matching Eaton’s demographic profile,” said Dr. Bengtson.
In April 2025, investigators interviewed Eaton’s relatives and collected familial DNA samples, which confirmed the body as Eaton’s.
“Providing answers to families who have lost loved ones is the most rewarding part of this work,” Bengtson added.
While the circumstances surrounding how Eaton’s body ended up in Missouri remain unclear, family members traveled to New Madrid County last week to retrieve his remains and bring them home to Louisville.
Sheriff Joey Higgerson of New Madrid County expressed optimism about the impact of the case: “This investigation has opened the door to new techniques that will transform how we handle similar cases moving forward.”
