Case of Castle Rock man missing for five years now receiving national attention

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (KRDO) – Five years after a man with a traumatic brain injury vanished from a care facility in Castle Rock, his case is now being featured on the nationally-renowned true crime podcast "Missing Persons."

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) says Robert Gautsche was last seen on Feb. 4, 2021, walking near 5900 Promenade Parkway after leaving his care facility in the Silver Heights area of Castle Rock. He was 58 at the time of his disappearance.

Gautsche's case is one of the latest covered in the "Missing Persons" podcast, which dives into some of the estimated 900,000 missing persons cases across the U.S.

DCSO said the show's hosts reached out to Detective Kristen Tinsley for the episode, who has been investigating the case for the last five years.

"Since that first week, we have not received any leads or potential sightings of Robert," Tinsley said. "Without someone stepping forward to let us know he’s okay, it is going to be very difficult for us to ever locate him."

The sheriff's office says, despite not having any leads, investigators have not given up on finding him. As the episode airs, they're hoping it will renew attention to the case and bring new answers.

"A detail that seemed small in 2021 could be everything now. If you remember seeing Robert…or anything out of the ordinary that night…your information matters," DSCO said in a post about the podcast episode.

You can listen to the "Missing Persons” episode covering Robert’s case here.

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