For more than 25 months the family of Robert “Bobby” Weaver has been looking for the Oxford resident who took his dog for a walk down Hwy. 142.

Weaver, 28 at the time, was reported as a missing person on Sept. 6, 2013, one day after he was last seen, and his family did all they could to locate him. The Newton County Sheriff’s office was called in, the media involved, a reward was issued, and still nothing on Bobby’s whereabouts.

Then in August of this year, Jessica Weaver, Bobby’s stepmother reached out to the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons after seeing it on a television program. Research was gathered, with GPS, cell phone signal locators, aerial footage, interviews and more, and a search was conducted Saturday, Oct. 24 along Hwy. 142 by several teams, using horses, ATVs, dogs and on foot.

“It was so well put together, and so well organized,” Jessica Weaver said. “I was blown away.”

Jessica, Bobby’s father and other family members gathered food and provided support for the search party at the YMCA’s Stone Road complex as the search went on into the afternoon.

Then around 1:30 p.m., a member of the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office riding through an overgrown area, slashing away at briars with a machete, saw a wallet. The group that was searching on ATV’s, the self-proclaimed “Sheriff’s Posse,” scoured the area and discovered a cell phone, a wallet, a shoe and human remains.

The investigation team was called in and every bit of briar and kudzu and overgrowth in the area where the discovery was made was chopped down, rolled up and scoured over by dozens of volunteers and teams from the NCSO.

At approximately 3:30 p.m. that Saturday a member of CUE, Christie Davis, sat Jessica and Bobby’s father and told them something was found.

“It was a very emotional moment for detectives as well as the family,” Jessica Weaver said. “We were hopeful.”

The remains were sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s medical lab in Decatur, where six days later, on Friday, they were identified as those of Bobby.

“We wanted to find him but you have to fear that it was final confirmation of your worst fear,” Jessica Weaver said. “It was a lot of mixed emotion.”

Newton County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Cortney Morrison, who was at the final search, along with Investigator Brent Morrison and other deputies, said the GBI confirmed there was no foul play involved in Bobby Weaver’s death.

It is believed that after Bobby Weaver fell, still unknown how, he remained in the area through the two years, according to Investigator Brent Morrison. In 2013 the area near Hwy. 142 was recently cleared providing a path. Since then there has been a large buildup of brush overgrowth, which was covering the body.

Search members fought through all of that, tirelessly searching the area.

“Everybody was bleeding, sweating and crying,” Sgt. Cortney Morrison said of the search. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into it.”

Those tears translated to both tears and closure for the Weaver family.

Since Bobby’s dog King came home by himself, they have wondered and searched.

There are still questioned, but the search is over and family and friends will get to say goodbye at a memorial service Wednesday at Caldwell and Cowan Funeral Home.

A timeline of events

- Sept. 5, 2013: Bobby took his dog, King, on a walk (7:25 p.m.)

- Sept. 6, 2013: Evelyn Weaver, grandmother, reported Bobby missing to NCSO

- Sept. 9, 2013: King returned to Evelyn’s house

- Oct. 14, 2013: NCSO releases missing person BOLO and press release

- Feb. 19, 2014: Jessica and Bob Weaver, parents, offer $2,000 reward

- April 25, 2014: NCSO seeks new information from public

- Oct. 24, 2015: Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons and NCSO conducts search

- Oct. 24, 2015: CUE search finds remains with Bobby’s identification nearby -Oct. 29, 2015: Bobby identified as the person found near Hwy. 142