Family Looks for Clues in Father's Disappearance

Aug. 6, 2007 — -- Bob Levinson is a father of seven children with a big, talkative and friendly nature. He has been married 33 years.

He is now retired from the FBI after more than 20 years as an agent; his family says that he worked as a private investigator for corporations on things like produce smuggling and that he helped news organizations like ABC and NBC.

But when Levinson's family said goodbye to him almost five months ago, as he departed on his first trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, it had no idea that would be the last time family members would hear or see Levinson.

Various reports suggest that he went to seek out information on cigarette smuggling for a client of his security firm, but it's not clear whether Levinson ever landed in his assumed destination of Dubai. He was last seen in Iran and his whereabouts are unknown.

"You're talking about a man who lived for his wife and children, and for him not to be around is uncomprehendable to us," his daughter Susan Levinson said. "It's scary. We don't know if he will ever come back. We don't know if we'll ever know what happened to him and that's our biggest fear."

Susan Levinson said she still calls his cell phone to hear his voice sometimes.

"It's very hard because I do live with my family," she said. "I'm constantly reminded of his absence. Everything around us was dad. So it, it's hard. Every place we go, dad has taken us to."

The family traced Levinson's flight to the Iranian resort island of Kish. From there the international mystery of his disappearance begins to look like something from a spy novel.

Now several questions have arisen. What was Levinson doing? Was he working for a corporation or a reporter at some network? Was he taken by the Iranians as a bargaining chip in the standoff with the United States?

"We know he entered in Iran," the State Department said. "We have repeatedly asked authorities for information about his whereabouts."

Adding to the mystery is Dawoud Salahuddin, an American who changed his name and left the United States after allegedly assassinating an Iranian diplomat in the 1980s.

Salahuddin, an American fugitive, said Levinson disappeared after an innocuous meeting with him in Iran.

Christine Levinson said that as she waits for her husband's return, she worries about his health.

"He has some medical problems too, and because he has diabetes and he has high blood pressure … and we are concerned because he is also 59 years old," she said.

She said the family has taken the incident one day at a time.