He left to see a friend in Wilmington and then disappeared. What happened to Bobby Steele?

Charles Steele left his sister's house in Claymont without saying goodbye last April. Kelly Canning had no idea that would be the last time she would see her younger brother.

Steele, a 43-year-old known as Bobby to friends and family, had reached out to his sister weeks earlier for help. He wanted to start a new life, to leave behind a past of addiction and homelessness.

When Canning picked him up in Elkton, Maryland, on April 9, 2023, he acted strange.

She'd seen her brother on drugs before and said that he wasn't this time. Something was different.

"He was terrified, just terrified. And now, because he's gone, there's so many questions I wish I had asked him that I didn't," said Canning. "I thought I had all the time in the world to ask the 'whys' behind everything."

When they arrived at Canning's house in Claymont, Bobby didn't want to make a fuss. He took a long shower, using almost an entire bar of soap and a full bottle of shampoo, and offered to clean the tub afterward. His sister did his laundry and offered him clothes from her husband, Mike.

Bobby kept on apologizing. She jokingly told him to shut up.

He slept the entire night.

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As a young teen, a tragic accident led to addiction

Bobby and Kelly grew up together, alongside their sister who was disabled and has since passed away.

As children of divorced parents, the siblings lived in Bear. Bobby loved baseball, and being a brother to his two sisters.

At 13 years old, Bobby was playing out in a treehouse with a friend when he was severely burned.

"That kind of set off the path in his life," his sister said. "He couldn't play baseball anymore. He couldn't do the things that really he loved to do."

According to his sister, Bobby became addicted after being given morphine in the hospital for his burns.

"The drugs, just, the drugs are so horrible," said Kelly Canning. "They just change a person so much."

The siblings went to Glasgow High School.

When Bobby was around 16 years old, he received a payment from a homeowners insurance company for the burn accident. The family sought damages after hospital bills began to mount into the hundreds of thousands.

After Bobby ran out of money, the problems started, his sister said. He was in and out of jail for several years. He would get clean and then fall back into addiction.

Their mother, whom Bobby depended on for emotional and financial support, died while he was in prison in 2013, when Bobby was 33 years old.

When released, Bobby began to rebuild his life.

"He started to really figure it out," said Canning, who said he had a great job and was living with a friend. "He was really looking forward to life."

However, Bobby fell back into old habits.

Relapse leads to life as a nomad

Canning would lose contact with Bobby for months throughout his late 30s to early 40s. He knew she disapproved of his life choices.

Five years ago, she contacted the police to try to find him. She learned Bobby had been staying at different homeless encampments around the Elkton area with his girlfriend, Leah Vari.

Police described him as the "fanciest, cleanest homeless person they've ever met." Bobby was fine, they said.

Bobby met his girlfriend on Facebook in 2016. They stayed with friends, at encampments or motels around the Elkton area.

"We stayed outside for a long time," Vari recalled.

They made the best of what they had. For years they lived in a tent, tall enough for the two to stand up in, with lights and a small propane stove.

"I've had homes, and they've been huge, and then I've had nothing," said Vari. "Home to me is who you're with, and what you make it. Not necessarily what you have." Vari said that he wasn't using drugs.

Last year, Vari and Bobby decided they'd be better off as friends, and parted ways. Before he left for his sister's, something was off, Vari said.

"I knew he was just hiding something from me," she said. "He definitely was worried about something. He was scared of something."

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Bobby disappears, again

On April 11, two days after Bobby came to stay with his sister, he left her home at 5:38 p.m.

He left his belongings, including his prized Bible, in her spare bedroom.

Canning wasn't going to call and beg for him to come back. He was an adult who could make his own decisions.

After two hours, Bobby called Canning. She was furious.

"How long did it take you to notice that I left?" Bobby asked. Canning responded with, "Ha ha ha stupid, one minute, because I have a Ring camera. I saw you walk out the door."

Bobby said he went to see a friend on Market Street in Wilmington.

Canning felt disrespected and was annoyed that he left without a word. Bobby called her disrespectful back, and she hung up the phone.

"Nobody ever thought that would be the last time that. .. we would talk to each other or anything," said Canning.

An hour later, she messaged him.

"Just because I'm upset with you, doesn't mean that I don't want to have a relationship with you or I don't want you to be here or anything," Canning wrote. "I went out of my way for you the last several days, and I felt it was really rude that you just left without saying where you were going."

She told him she loved him, and she wasn't mad.

She never heard from him again.

A sister's search for her brother

Over the next few weeks, Canning's investigation began.

Canning called family to see if anyone had given him money. She contacted people who knew him to see if they had heard from Bobby. Nothing.

After a few weeks, Canning went to Delaware State Police to report Bobby as missing. The department told her she had to go through New Castle County Police.

In the beginning of May, New Castle County Police Department told her that he didn't fit the perimeters of what they determined as a missing adult.

After feeling hopeless, Canning went back to the Elkton Police Department. They took the case on May 3.

They put out a missing poster for Bobby, alongside a photo of Vari, calling her a person of interest. Vari said that she did speak to police, and was let go.

"Based on what was learned as our investigation progressed there was never any direct evidence to label anyone a suspect or person of interest," police said.

Canning couldn't wait for results from the police.

Over the next few months, Canning began to unravel everything about Bobby's life, turning over any evidence to Elkton Police along the way. She spoke to services who helped him, friends, people who knew him. She was determined to find her little brother, who she felt was in danger.

Canning would not stop until she had answers.

He left in a T-shirt in April, and didn't take his sweatshirt. Why would someone who is homeless leave their Nike sweatshirt, she wondered.

To spread awareness not only of Bobby's case, but missing person cases in general, Canning made a TikTok account. She has received thousands of likes and views, not only of those offering support, but of those relating to her story.

"I'm from [Maryland] and just hearing about this for the first time," said one commenter.

"I went to school with Bobby, so sad he was such a charismatic, popular teenager. I will pray for your family and his safe return," read another.

Through her account, Canning built a community of not only those wanting to find Bobby, but of families who were also struggling with missing relatives.

"I'm trying to just help people and get the word out there," said Canning. "They need to take reports, they need to make families feel supported, and not judged. And Delaware's doing a really bad job at that."

Barriers to find missing adults

Elkton Police's policy accepts all missing persons cases. New Castle County Police Department, however, accepts them on a case-by-case basis.

Shayna Richard, co-founder of the Light the Way Missing Persons Advocacy Project, said agencies with policies like New Castle County Police are concerning.

"She wanted to help him and she couldn't," said Richard. "And unfortunately, we know that the police department won't take any responsibility for that."

Richard said that, although protocols change by department, police should be taking all cases, and ensuring the safety of the individual.

"She did a great thing by going to another police department," said Richard. "And those officers who showed her empathy and compassion by taking the report, that just shows you that there are departments that are doing the right thing."

Due to broken contact over the years, Canning couldn't provide his mental health diagnosis at the time, which proved to be another barrier.

Donald Whitehead, the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group, has said he has heard cases like this before.

"There's definitely not the same level of awareness, the same level of action or compassion when it comes to someone who's experienced homelessness," said Whitehead. "It's just a pattern. We see that lack of compassion, lack of concern, their reluctance to act when it comes to people experiencing homelessness."

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A body found in Wilmington

In February, nine months after Bobby went missing, a construction crew made a discovery while demolishing a building in the heart of Wilmington.

The desolate, earth-toned building, was being emptied from the inside out. The walls and metal and steel all had to come out before the exterior came down. The building was once offices, according to Andrew Diffley, one of the main contractors.

Construction crews, covered in grey dust, worked from the top floors down. When they reached the fifth floor, they were met with an awful smell. Dead flies scattered the floor.

Tony Snow, the crew manager for S & A Construction, said it's not unusual to find dead animals in abandoned buildings.

However, what they found on Feb. 16 was nothing like they'd seen before.

"I looked behind the wall that they demolished, and the first thing I see is a skull," said Snow, who thought it was an animal at first underneath the rubble. "After looking a little closer, I'm saying, 'Well wait, it doesn't have a snout or anything.'"

The skull was round like a human. A vertebrae sat beside it. Snow called the owner and the contractor, and they shut it down.

Snow estimated that the space between the walls was about 12 inches wide.

The only way to enter the space was through the ceiling, where a wire mesh was bent down, he said. The wall isn't normal drywall, but instead was wire metal mesh and board.

"If you got back there and thought you were just going to just punch a hole through the drywall, you're sadly mistaken," said Snow. "That was never going to happen."

Wilmington police forensic investigators arrived and removed the remains.

According to Snow, the owner got a call in April last year that the building alarm went off. He said they went floor by floor, and couldn't find anyone.

On March 7, Canning was notified of the body found in the Wilmington building. Clothes on the body matched what Bobby was last seen wearing. Canning knew the Banana Republic clothes were her husband's hand-me-downs given to her brother the night he came to her house. The shoes found were Bobby's size.

A DNA test was needed to confirm the identity. Canning gave police Bobby's toothbrush.

"There were no immediate signs of foul play based on the preliminary investigation," police said.

Eight days later, on March 15, the body was confirmed to be Bobby's.

He was found on Delaware Avenue. He was in Wilmington the whole time, just as he told his sister on their last call.

Bobby's family wants answers, reform

The family had hoped for a different outcome.

Now, Canning has more questions than ever, determined to find answers to what happened to her brother.

The family has been leaning on each other for support, reminiscing. They gathered around Canning's living room on March 12, at the home where Bobby was last seen, saying they wished they could've seen each other under different circumstances.

Photos of Bobby were scattered on the dining room table. Bobby's cousin, Tracy Chongling, and Bobby's nephew and Canning's son, Colin Keith arranged them.

Photos of Bobby in frames sat on a table in the living room, next to a fresh bouquet. They managed to joke and laugh with each other, remembering Bobby for the type of person he was.

"He just radiated a certain energy about him, and people latched onto that," said Chongling. "He was always good for an adventure, just something new."

They remembered how he could light up a room.

Jacquelin Nichols, Bobby's cousin, said, "He always tried to find a positive, which a lot of people personality-wise lack that trait."

Upstairs, in the bedroom that was once his nephew's, the items Bobby left behind remained on the bed.

Now, not only do the family want answers for Bobby's disappearance, but reform in Delaware, and nationwide.

"What people fail to realize is there's an entire demographic of people that are out there that are somebody's children, are moms and dads, their uncles, their cousins, and unfortunately, they're not given a second look," said Chongling, Bobby's cousin. "They're not deemed to fit a mold of what society thinks should be treated fairly, and that's the complete opposite of how it should be."

Chongling said that Bobby is by far not the only one. Many are written off due to things like addiction and homelessness.

"Why are their stories not as important as someone else's?" asked Chongling, a room full of Bobby's family nodding in agreement.

Bobby's family wants to remain a voice for him and others who may be struggling.

An autopsy was done on Bobby's remains, and Wilmington's Division of Forensic Sciences continues to investigate his cause of death, which police said is undetermined at this time. Wilmington Police said no evidence of foul play has been located, but the investigation continues.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Detective John O’Connor at (302) 576-3619.

The family will continue their search for answers.

"I have these guys behind me ... families that don't have people to keep pushing them and their stories just get lost," said Canning. "Those people are just lost forever. And that's terrible."

Amethyst Martinez is an intern-reporter for Delaware Online and the News Journal. She can be reached on X at @martinezamethys or via email at aamartinez@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Glasgow alum turns to family for help, then vanishes. What happened?