Press Release
Earlier this year, the Virginia State Police launched a website to display the newly developed cold case database in response to legislation introduced previously in the General Assembly. Cold cases include investigations into homicides and missing or unidentified persons cases that remain unsolved for at least five years. After working with the website administrators, the Fluvanna County Sheriff’s Office has been able to upload and publish two cases from Fluvanna County that meet the definition.
The Sheriff’s Office believes the recent publication of this information has the potential to generate leads and productive discussion from within our community. Investigators and the families related to these cases ask that anyone with information contact the sheriff’s office directly or submit any information through the tip submission button on the respective case on the cold case database website located at the website below. https://coldcase.vsp.virginia.gov/fluvanna-sheriffs-office/.
Two Fluvanna cold cases
Robert Lee Hourihan has been missing for ten years. Photo courtesy of the Fluvanna County Sheriff’s Office
Robert Lee Hourihan was last seen on April 8, 2011, at the E.W. Thomas grocery store in Palmyra, Virginia. He was wearing blue work pants, a grey work shirt, and brown boots. Hourihan was originally believed to have left his residence to go to work in Richmond, Virginia, at approximately 7:40 on the morning of the 8th. He left driving a 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier displaying a Virginia vanity plate “TARAMAE.” The vehicle also bore a Winnie the Pooh sticker in the rear window. It was later determined that he was instead set to meet an acquaintance in Palmyra. It has been reported that he never arrived at that meeting. On May 28, 2011, the vehicle was located, abandoned in the parking lot of a Target store in La Plata, Maryland.
Renee Field. Photo courtesy of the Fluvanna County Sheriff’s Office
Janet Renee Field was last seen on July 2, 2014, at her residence near Scottsville, Virginia, in Fluvanna County. Her car was found at the Park-and-Ride commuter parking lot in Zion Crossroads, near I-64 in Louisa County on July 4, 2014. Her purse, vehicle keys, and mobile phone were still in the vehicle. Her Virginia driver’s license, cash, and credit cards were missing. She is known by her middle name, Renee. She has ties to Short Pump, Richmond, and Lexington, Virginia. She is known to frequent plant/gardening stores, health food stores, and holistic healing centers.
