Circumstances of Disappearance
Rouse was last seen at a party at a residence on the Swamp Road, a nearly dead straight two-lane road that leads from Waycross to the Okefenokee Swamp, in the early morning of May 11, 1991.

A witness had said that he saw Rouse as late as 3.00, sleeping in his Thunderbird and that he woke him up. When he and some friends left the party, some headlights followed their car along the Swamp Road and all the way into Waycross until they turned onto a side street and headed home.
Later that day, a Georgia trooper found Rouse's light blue Ford Thunderbird parked halfway behind the entrance sign at Okefenokee Swamp Park, a spot easily seen from U.S. 1 and a CSX railroad. The car was left idling with its radio playing and a window rolled down. It had run out of gas and the battery was low. A pack of cigarettes and a lighter was on the passenger seat. Also in the car were a carton of cigarettes and one full bottle of beer remaining from the six-pack Rouse bought the night before.

At the time of the original investigation, there was no hard evidence of foul play. Sometime later, an inmate cleanup crew found a .22-caliber pistol in the area, but investigators could not link it to Rouse or his disappearance. Rouse had worked in South Carolina for several months up until a few weeks before he vanished and in all that time he never waited more than two weeks before contacting his mother. Rouse was facing a drunken driving charge at the time he disappeared.