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FBI 'Close' To Solving Kidnapping, Seeks Public's Help

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 26, 2009

TAMPA - Nearly a year after their son, Robert, was kidnapped from the family business at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, Pamela and Thomas Wiles believe he is still alive and are willing to work with the kidnappers to get him back.

"We aren't zillionaires, and business is bad, but we'll do whatever it takes," Thomas Wiles said in an interview today at the FBI's Tampa headquarters.

"We just want to work with them," Pamela Wiles said. "There's no hate. …What are their needs? What are their concerns?

"I don't care what condition he's in," she said. "I just want to know where he is."

Robert Wiles was business development manager for National Flight Services, the family's Toledo, Ohio-based aircraft service and maintenance company.

Two days after his April 1 disappearance, Wiles' parents received a ransom note. They followed the instructions to get their son back, but something went wrong. The kidnappers cut off communication.

Now the FBI says it is close to solving the case; agents have developed a prime suspect and persons of interest, according to agency spokesman Dave Couvertier. But investigators need a little more information and are seeking the public's help.

"We're just that close," Couvertier said. "A couple of grains of more information will tip the scales."

The key suspect and persons of interest had connections and associations in the Lakeland area, as well as Orlando and Melbourne, Couvertier said.

In particular, agents want to hear from anyone with information about Wiles' activities the afternoon of April 1, whether it is someone who had lunch with him or talked to him on the telephone or communicated with him in any way.

Agents also need information about who might have been upset with Wiles or may have consistently complained about him, as well as anyone who was jealous, almost to the point of being obsessed.

The suspect and persons of interest knew his work routine and his parents' affairs, Couvertier said. They are manipulative and may intimidate others who have information.

Wiles' parents said he had no enemies and that everyone who met him automatically liked him.

"He just loved spending time with people, with fun people," Pamela Wiles said.

But the family business is "very cutthroat," Thomas Wiles said. He believes there is a "very high probability" that the kidnapping was connected to it.

"In our industry, violence is something that doesn't happen," he said. But "competition is very intense. The truth is not always spoken. … People try to snatch business away."

His son's job was to attract new business.

Patricia Wiles isn't as firm in her belief that the business is connected to the kidnapping but said it's possible.

"Robert was very respected," she said. "He believed honesty is a marketable commodity. He did things according to principle. That's who he was."

The family's company services airplanes that carry up to 19 passengers, Thomas Wiles said. He said about five such companies nationwide compete, and that their company ranks about in the middle in size.

It has been in business since the 1970s, has about 120 employees and has never had any layoffs, he said.

The year before the kidnapping, the business had $8.5 million in sales, according to public records. In addition to Toledo and Lakeland, it has branches in San Antonio, Texas, and Toronto.

Robert grew up around airplanes; his parents met on one.

When he and his two younger sisters were children, the family had a plane with child seats that they used to visit grandparents. Their white dog, Sherbert, also flew with them. Once they accidentally left Sherbert behind, and they were called about a white dog running down the runway.

When Robert was about 5, Thomas Wiles arranged for them to ride in the Goodyear blimp. Robert passed up the chance to brag to a friend, though. To him, it was just another airplane ride.

After Robert was kidnapped, the family received at least 300 cards and e-mails of support from around the world, Thomas Wiles said.

He said there is "zero" chance his son was involved in his own kidnapping.

"He had no concerns about family loyalties," Wiles said. "He didn't have concerns about his future …Robert was not driven by money and power."

The couple said the professionalism, humility and compassion of the FBI has sustained them the past year.

"They're real people," Patricia Wiles said. "I don't know that I knew that."

Robert had plans to travel to the Keys with friends last June. He loves to fish and owns a 21-foot catamaran. His father was going to help him buy a bigger boat.

Pamela Wiles said her handsome, gregarious son, who turned 27 in September, didn't know what to do about all the women he attracted.

He's "just a real uplifting person," his mother said. He's funny, too – gently teasing his father about his expanding gut and calling his parents "Mambo" and "Daddio."

He gave his mother a dream catcher he made while volunteering as a camp counselor. It hangs over the headboard of her bed.

"I touch it every night," she said. "I have dreams about him. Sometimes, I don't want to get out of bed. I want to stay sleeping."

In the dreams, they're talking and hugging like they always did.

"It feels good," Patricia Wiles said. "I could feel him a lot. I can feel Robert's energy in me every day. Sometimes, that tells me he is alive."

INFORMATION SOUGHT

Anyone with information on the kidnapping of Robert Wiles can call the FBI at 1-866-838-1153 or go to the agency's Web site, tampa.fbi.gov for e-mail and other contact information.

Anonymous tips also can be mailed to the FBI at: 5525 W. Gray St., Tampa FL 33609. Or you can ask someone from the clergy or an attorney to contact the agency on your behalf; the FBI says it is will honor confidentiality.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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