Missing
Walter Greg Fowler
Fowler, approximately 1999
Date and time person was reported missing : 06/19/1999
Missing location (approx) :
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 04/27/1955 (66)
Age at the time of disappearance: 44 years old
Height / Weight : 5'8, 220 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A gray Wildcats t-shirt, black shorts, Adidas sneakers and a camouflAge at the time of disappearance: -print Redman cap.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes. Fowler goes by his middle name, Greg. He had a beard and mustache at the time of his disappearance.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Fowler was last seen in Bowling Green, Kentucky on the morning of June 19, 1999. His wife, Debra Kessinger, said he told her he was going fishing at Barren River Lake along the Allen/Warren county line. He never returned from his fishing trip and has never been heard from again.
Debra searched for her husband herself and contacted family members and friends to ask about him after he didn't return home from his trip. She called the police, but they told her she had to wait 24 hours to file a missing persons report.
On June 21, she contacted a state official at Barren River Lake who offered to meet her there and help her search for Fowler. En route to the lake, while driving over the Kentucky 101 Bridge, Debra saw her husband's boat in the Barren River, two miles downstream from the lake, and pointed it out to the state worker. On June 21, searchers found his minivan off Osborne Ford Road.
Fowler had worked as a lineman at Farmers Rural Electric Cooperative for twenty years prior to his disappearance. On June 18, the day before he was last seen, he called in sick.
Authorities stated they didn't find any overnight provisions in Fowler's boat or vehicle, though he was supposed to be on an overnight trip. The boat had no motor or oars when it was found.
Fowler also hadn't mentioned any plans to go fishing to his coworkers, and his family and friends said he preferred golfing and turkey hunting to fishing. The Barren River is shallow and investigators stated they should have found his body if it had been there.
In August 1999, two months after Fowler's disappearance, police stated they had reclassified it as a possible homicide. Debra is a suspect in his case, but authorities believe more than one individual was involved in his death.
There's a theory that Debra and her son, Walter's stepson, Mac Kessenger, killed Fowler together and disposed of his body. Debra described the allegation as "crazy" and stated Mac had been raised by her parents on their farm and she didn't have a close relationship with him.
Debra and Fowler were $250,000 in debt at the time of his disappearance and she was the beneficiary of his life insurance policy, but Debra said she didn't know about the policy until 2008, when Fowler was declared legally dead.
Debra was convicted of arson in 2015 and sentenced to six years in prison. She burned down a Dollar General store, causing over a million dollars in damAge at the time of disappearance: , to cover up thousands of dollars' worth of missing money and merchandise. She was the store's manAge at the time of disappearance: r and committed the arson just before an audit would have exposed the losses.
Debra maintains her innocence in Fowler's case. She stated she'd been working as a police informant when he disappeared, telling police about the activity of drug dealers, and suggested these dealers were involved in Fowler's disappearance.
She also suggested he simply walked away, perhaps going to Montana, to escape his debts and the stress of his life. She described their relationship as "a usual marriAge at the time of disappearance: " with no major problems.
No charges have been filed in Fowler's case; it remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Warren County Sheriff's Office
270-842-1633
September 2021 updates and sources
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
The Bowling Green Daily News
WBKO
The Glasgow Daily Times
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
