KELLER, TEXAS (KWES) - Friends of Zuzu Verk in her hometown of Keller have been following the case just as much as her friends in Alpine.
Zuzu's ex-boyfriend, who still lives in the area, says he is devastated by the recent developments in the case.
"I know all the things that make her, her. To know that someone was let in to know those things and something as horrible as this could have happened," said Mason Kelton.
Kelton met Zuzu in 2014 at a halloween party. He knew immediately, she was special.
"She was really bubbly. It was really funny. The party ended up getting busted and a bunch of us had ran through the backyard to jump a fence and my pants got stuck and they ripped. She helped me over the fence," said Kelton.
After talking for a few weeks, they became a couple, but eventually broke up. Zuzu transferred from the University of North Texas and moved to Alpine to study at Sul Ross State University.
The two lost touch, but Kelton says just days before she went missing the two talked and caught up. Then on October 12, he heard the news.
"I was worried that she had taken the wrong path, either gotten lost, fell, broke her leg, got attacked. The last thing that popped in my mind was that Robert had done it. The only thing in regards to Robert that she had mentioned were slippery and up and down," said Kelton.
In those almost four months, Kelton kept up with the case despite being 500 miles away. He says he's touched but not surprised about how many people are praying for Zuzu and her family.
"To be honest, I don't feel very much. This has taken a toll on all of us. I know that time heals all wounds. I'm going to continue to bring her will into my life and love people the way she did," said Kelton.
