John A. Robek -- Missing Since May 1974 From Youngstown, Ohio

Details from NamUs**: 

"On 5/31/1974 John left his residence on Amherst Avenue to go target shooting with a friend. He never returned home." "His vehicle was located at his residence."

I think this photo may be taken from the 1968 yearbook for Boardman High School. Certainly, this is a very similar photo of him there. If it is the same photo, then it would have been taken about six years prior to his disappearance. A photo closer to the time of his disappearance would be much better if anyone has one available.

Missing Person: John Adran Robek, called John A. Robek in NamUs and similar sources (Adran comes from Ancestry)

Last-contact date: May 31st, 1974 (Friday)
The area where the MP was last seen: Youngstown, Ohio. His address was 7033 Amherst Avenue (Google Maps)
Link to government source: NamUs #MP78484

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: White or Caucasian
Sex: Male
Age at time of disappearance: 24 years old
Birthdate: November 2nd, 1949 in Youngstown, Ohio

• I'm not sure of the exact birthdate for John A. Robek but a date range can be calculated using his age at the time of the disappearance.

Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Scar: None listed at NamUs
Height/weight: 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds
BMI*: John A. Robek was in the normal range for BMI.

• Please, Google-search BMI if you aren't familiar with the phrase. I think it's an important tool to be aware of when working on missing-person cases.

Tattoos: John A. Robek did not have any tattoos associated with his profiles. If you know this to be a mistake, then please contact this site.

John Adran Robek was last heard from on May 31st, 1974 when he was 24 years of age. This individual has now been missing for nearly 51 years as of March 2025.

I found that this individual had a profile uploaded to Ancestry, likely by a family member. That's where I got the birthdate and the middle name from.

Missing Person Had Risky Profession

I did find some newspaper coverage regarding this missing person. Apparently, he was an undercover narcotics agent. That sounds like a dangerous job but whether that's a red herring or not isn't something I know. I would assume his youth made him a candidate for the work.

His parents were John Peter Robek and Marian Louise Bailey, both deceased as of the original time of this blog post (which was March 2021). The missing person had the same first and last name as his father so the middle name is important if you are conducting searches on Ancestry.

I noted that the missing person had four siblings, all of which were marked as private accounts on Ancestry. That's usually a designation for the living, meaning that there should be people alive who know more details of this missing person case. He also had an Unknown Spouse mentioned on the website.

#MP78484 Tue, Jun 18, 1974 – Page 20 · The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) · Newspapers.com

What one should make of the NamUs description could be debated.

It does say in his profile that John's vehicle was found at home. So the missing person went target shooting with a friend and the friend was doing the driving?

I don't see how the last place John could have been seen was his home on Amherst Avenue if he had gone out with a friend. The way the NamUs description sounds, it seems like the friend should offer something on the matter. 

But I did find a source that said this investigation had to be done secretly, I am assuming because of Robek's line of work. Perhaps enough time has passed that details can be opened up.

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find many articles on this person in the time that I afforded to this case. Feel free to share any information you have in the comments.

You can follow the tweets for this blog by following Shane Lambert at Twitter. https://twitter.com/UncoolNegated.

Author: Shane Lambert

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Shane Lambert is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of March 2021.

Website hashtag: #MPCSL

*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Text might be paraphrased. If taken verbatim, then grammar or spelling errors are not necessarily corrected from original sources.
Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing person's case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.