The jokester.
The life of the party.
The center, the light, the heart of his family.
Robert Branch was known as many things. His family called him Bobby. His friends called him Bobcat. He was a father of five. Worked in construction. Fell in love with acting.
"Everybody loved Bobby," says his cousin Chanel Dudley.
On October 2, 2014, he disappeared.
"His friend last sees him on October 2, 2014" on the 1700 block of Barclay Street, says Detective Jill Beauregard, who works in the BPD Homicide Cold Case Unit. "His friend was going in one direction and Mr. Branch was going in the other direction, and that was at about 2 p.m."
His family and friends endured nearly two years of pain, trying to find him.
"It was hurting everybody," Bobby's aunt, Robin Dudley, says of that time. "It was so painful not knowing where your family member was at, what happened to them."
"Personally, the not knowing, I've lost sleep, you know, it has really affected my mental health," says Chanel.
Bobby was supposed to meet his cousin but didn't show up and wasn't picking up his phone.
The whole family started calling him.
"Nobody heard from him that night, so everybody was worried by the next day," says Robin.
He was officially reported missing on October 4, 2014.
"We put out fliers, we went through the whole neighborhood," says Robin.
But the family already had a bad feeling, which would prove to be right.
"On June 15th of 2016, at approximately 3 p.m., BPD receives a call for skeletal remains," says Det. Beauregard.
The remains, found in a vacant property in the 100 block of East North Avenue, were identified as those of Robert Branch.
Robin says, they'd put up fliers near that vacant house while he was missing.
His remains were found by a person who'd bought the property and was planning to renovate it.
Beauregard says it's not clear whether or not the vacant was where Bobby was murdered.
"Because he was missing for two years, and the vacant was sort of deteriorating," she tells WMAR-2 News. "There appears.. to be no blood around the skeletal remains, but I can't say there wasn't blood at one time."
Also not found at the crime scene—a murder weapon.
Bobby died of blunt force trauma, not a gunshot wound.
"I seen the picture [of the crime scene], so I couldn't even get past that part," says Bobby's friend Frankie Jones.
The only DNA found at the scene belonged to Bobby, meaning forensic genealogy isn't an option in this case.
Beauregard says it would take someone coming forward to solve this case.
And his family and friends are pleading that if you know what happened to please come forward.
That's why Chanel reached out to WMAR-2 News.
"If you know anything, anything, say something, please, say something," asks Robin.
"You know something, please say something, man, because I know right now they could see the hurt in my face," says his uncle Kevin, Robin's brother. "They could see it."
"I'm hopeful somebody will step up and say something," says Chanel.
If you have any information that might help police with Robert "Bobby" Branch's murder case, call the Baltimore City Police Homicide Unit at 410-396-2100. You can also call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP. Callers may remain anonymous.
You may be eligible for a reward of up to $6,000.
