Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Case Updates with Photos

Mark Joseph Himebaugh












Mark, date, approximate 1991; Age-progression to age 40 (date, approximate 2020); Sketch of young girl; Sketch of man
Date Missing 11/25/1991
Missing From
Del Haven, New Jersey
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 05/23/1980 (42)
Age 11 years old
Height and Weight 4'6, 85 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue U.S.N. sweatshirt, a gray jacket with a red, blue and gray plaid lining and four outer pockets with velcro, gray Docker pants and red and white L.A. Gear sneakers.
Medical Conditions Mark's left foot was healing from a fracture at the time of his disappearance. He was also taking the antidepressant Prozac for behaviorial problems. Mark is classified as emotionally disturbed and he may have obsessive-compulsive disorder. He frequently had tantrums and angry outbursts as a result of his conditions, but his behavior had been improving prior to his disappearance with the help of medication and talk therapy.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Red hair, blue eyes. Mark patches of freckles across his body and some small brown marks on his abdomen. His nickname is Curious George. He had the habit of biting his fingernails around the time he disappeared. He is right-handed.
Details of Disappearance Mark was last seen at approximately 4:00 p.m. near his family's home on Sunray Road in rural Del Haven, New Jersey on November 25, 1991. His mother allowed him to observe firefighters extinguishing a small brush fire a quarter of a mile from their house. Mark's mother left the residence to run an errand that would have normally taken five minutes, but she became delayed and as a result, she did not get home until 40 minutes had passed. Mark had disappeared by the time she returned home; his mother assumed he was with neighborhood children at the time. Mark has not been heard from again. He was reported missing at 5:00 p.m. that evening. The afternoon of his disappearance, traffic was rerouted past his house. There are unconfirmed witness reports that Mark was seen at a local park entrance with an unidentified child around 3:40 p.m. the day he vanished. The identity of the girl has never been determined. She was about nine or ten years old in 1991 and had dishwater-blonde hair. She was about four feet tall, weighed approximately 70 to 75 pounds and was wearing a three-quarter length dark blue ski parka with a hunter-orange stripe on the back. Authorities believe the girl could have important information about Mark's disappearance. A sketch of the girl is posted with this summary. Mark was possibly sighted with two other males on the day of his disappearance. One is described as between 30 and 35 years old, about 5'8 - 5'9 tall and 150 pounds. He had dark reddish-brown hair in a ponytail, and a generally scruffy, unkempt appearance. A sketch of this man is posted with this summary. There is no sketch or description for the other man. Investigators did locate Mark's left shoe, a hand-me-down L.A. Gear sneaker, at Sunray Beach approximately 75 yards from the family's home later in the day of his disappearance. His footprints were also seen above the tide line, but these were the only solid clues ever found. Mark lived with his mother and older brother at the time he disappeared, and was a sixth-grader at Cape May County Alternative Middle School. Thomas Butcavage Jr. was named as a person of interest in Mark's disappearance in 1993. He resembles the sketch of the man Mark may have been seen with. In 1993, a male prostitute approached the police and said Butcavage, one of his regular clients, had shown him a video of himself having sex with a young boy who resembled Mark. The boy was handcuffed, gagged and appeared frightened. The prostitute said he asked Butcavage if the boy was Mark Himebaugh, and Butcavage said he was. He also said he'd deliberately planted Mark's sneaker on the beach to confuse the investigation. Butcavage has never been charged in Mark's , but he has been imprisoned multiple times for drug offenses and for sex with underage males. In 2015, authorities asked anyone who knew Butcavage in the late 1980s and early 1990s to contact them. Investigators believe Mark was abducted by a stranger. His is unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Middle Township Police Department
609-465-8700
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Child Protection Education of America
Mark Himebaugh: Missing Child
Operation Lookout
NewsLibrary
The Press of Atlantic City
The Doe Network
CBS 3
Unsolved in the News
NamUs
Facebook Page for Mark Himebaugh
Missing children: 'Nothing as devastating' as not knowing

Missing Person Photos

A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe. By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Case Updates with Photos