JOSH DOOLEY

jdooley@baxterbulletin.com

The body of Martin John Rogers, brother-in-law of local veterinarian Rob Conner, was found Thursday afternoon near his wrecked car down an embankment in western Maryland, according to a family spokesperson.

Rogers, 54, was last seen by his wife, Kelley, a 1983 graduate and Presidential Scholar at Mountain Home High School, when he left their Darnestown, Md., home on Aug. 21 for his job at the National Institutes of Health. Rogers was a scientist working on tropical diseases, particularly malaria, at the world-renowned research center near Washington, D.C.

Authorities say a passing motorist called in an abandoned vehicle. Maryland State Police investigated and found Rogers dead, a short distance away from his car. Authorities did not say how they think Rogers died, and an autopsy will be performed to determine the manner and cause of his death.

The search

As the search for Rogers began a few days after he failed to show up for work, authorities and volunteers had only one confirmed sighting to follow as a lead.

That sighting came on the day he disappeared. Surveillance video and use of a credit card confirmed a sweaty Rogers, who was wearing a green-checkered shirt and tan khaki pants, checking into a Motel 8 a few hours after he left home. Authorities say a reported sighting of Rogers on a local trail two days later was likely credible.

At first, the search for the happily married father of three was low key, according to Conner, who said the family thought he might have needed a few days to rest. But, when he didn't come home and didn't go to work, the search grew in scope and became more serious.

Volunteers created a search headquarters at a local church and fanned out through the area talking to people, searching and putting up fliers. A Facebook page was created, inviting readers to send in tips.

"The detective working on the case has found 583 missing people in his career. He told us that why a person leaves often helps them find out where they went," Conner said. "But when the detective went through all the normal reasons a person leaves — money problems, work problems, trouble at home, a girlfriend — none of that matched John."

Conner, along with one of his sisters, Penny Oxford, traveled from Mountain Home to Maryland to help search for Rogers. When he returned to Arkansas, Conner talked about how Kelley and her children were holding up following the disappearance of their husband and father.

As the search continued, Rogers' children, 16-year-old Emma, 15-year-old Carter and 10-year-old David, started school. Kelley continued to run both the family's household and the search.

"She's living in the middle of a tornado right now," Conner said at the time. "She's a scientist, she's a thinker, she's busy trying to solve this mystery herself, coordinate all the helpers and keep life as normal as she can for the kids.

"I don't know how long someone can keep that up, but I know she'll be as tough as she needs to be."

Kelley and John met while she was working on her Ph.D. in molecular biology at Yale.

The children, Conner said, were concerned. They, like everyone else, were stumped about the how and the why their dad went missing.

While the search for Rogers is over, the search for answers regarding his disappearance and death continues.