‘People Magazine Investigates: Where is Mark Himebaugh?’ on Investigation Discovery seeks to solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Mark Himebaugh, then 11 years old, from Del Haven, New Jersey, in late November 1991. Interviews with Mark’s family and the detectives who worked on the case for the next three decades are included in the programme. What caused Mark to vanish, and is he still missing? Let’s investigate.
What Happened To Mark Himebaugh?
Jody and Maureen Himebaugh welcomed Mark into the world on May 23, 1980 at Del Haven in Middle Township, New Jersey. Maureen described her 1976 move to Del Haven and the 1978 birth of her older son, Matthew. According to Mark’s aunt Kristen Hamann, “Mark, with his bright red hair and freckles, was so sweet.” He appreciated nature, loved animals, and enjoyed making things, Maureen continued. The Delaware Bay was the love of his life. The boy developed a close relationship with his mother as he grew older, and his generosity to others showed out.
When Mark started going to school, things started to shift, and the teachers started to complain about how he became agitated when things did not go his way. Mark was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which led to frequent and violent outbursts, as his cousin Lauren Maguire explained. His family described how Mark would become upset over seemingly insignificant things, such as throwing the controller away after he failed in a video game. While Maureen allegedly showed patience with her younger son under these circumstances, she said Jody did not.
“I don’t think Jody understood Mark or felt there was something wrong with Mark,” she said. He was unable to handle it. Maureen described how Jody was constantly changing jobs, which left the family struggling financially. While Jody supposedly spent more time with his hobbies, including his boat and pop-up truck camper, she was forced to work as a waitress and do housecleaning in order to pay the expenses and raise her boys. The couple ultimately divorced in March 1991, and the episode noted that the Himebaughs experienced hardship as a result.
On November 25, 1991, Mark, who was 11 years old, was looking forward to Thanksgiving in three days and his mother’s birthday the following weekend. It was a typical day, Maureen said, with Mark attending school and coming home to watch TV on the couch. Around the same moment, she remembered seeing smoke pouring from the neighbouring bushes. David Zeiss, a retired chief of the Green Creek Fire Company, recalled how a brush fire started in a marsh next to the Himebaugh home in Del Haven, only a few steps from the beach.
He remembers arriving at the site to find thick smoke coming from the direction of Sunray Beach, with locals gathered around. Mark, an 11-year-old adventurer, was more eager than anyone to see the firefighters battle to put out the brush fire. He was a Curious George, Maureen recalled. He immediately sprang up and asked if he may go see it. Mark’s mother agreed even though he had fractured his left foot on the monkey bar about six weeks prior and had just gotten his walking boot taken off.
Mark ran out towards Sunray Beach, which was visible from their home, Maureen remembered, before taking off his ‘excellent trainers’ and donning his second-hand shoes. Mark crossed Sunray Road, his street, onto Delaware Avenue, which ran next to Sunray Beach on the Delaware Bay. He was wearing a grey pair of trousers, a navy blue sweater and the hand-me-down LA Gear trainers he had borrowed from his elder brother, Matthew. Maureen was supposed to drive a neighbour to pick up her car from a repair shop at about that time when she knocked on the door.
Is Mark Himebaugh Dead or Alive?
The programme stated that Maureen was expected to return after saying farewell to Mark in less than 15 minutes. She arrived late, though, as a result of the roadblocks that the fire department had set up to divert traffic due to the fire. Her son was nowhere to be found when she got back, so she filed a missing person report about 5:00 pm. According to reports, Mark was last spotted by a park guard at 4:00 pm. With the aid of an army of community volunteers, canine teams, and aircraft, the authorities launched a thorough search.
On the evening of November 25, one of the firefighters discovered his right trainer in the sandy brush a short distance from the Himebaugh residence. In her memory, Maureen said, ‘I became excited, thinking, ‘He’s got to be out there, there’s his trainer.” The authorities eventually came to the conclusion that Mark was kidnapped by someone among the people assembled to witness the fire, but the shoe offered no further proof. Due in part to Jody Himebaugh creating suspicions by allegedly leaving to go to work while others searched for his son, the police first suspected him.
Rich McHale, a retired Middle Township detective, disregarded him as a suspect because he had a firm alibi. The police received dozens of information from witnesses who claimed to have seen the youngster conversing with two “persons of interest” in a small white or grey car around 3:30 pm, while others said they had seen her with a young girl his age. Despite the New Jersey state police disseminating a composite sketch of the male passenger who was purportedly observed interacting with Mark, neither of the potential suspects has been named yet.
On the basis of his similarity to a composite sketch, the police were able to identify one suspect, a child sex offender who had previously been convicted. Thomas Butcavage, a criminal from Pennsylvania, was found guilty of sexually assaulting young boys and was given a sentence of 18 to 36 years in jail. When he reported to the authorities that Thomas had given him a video of a youngster who looked like Mark, a male sex worker connected Thomas to Mark. Although Thomas has consistently denied being involved in Mark’s disappearance, there is no concrete proof linking him to the crime.
If anyone has information connecting him to the disappearance, the Middle Township police are still pleading with them to come forward. The authorities announced in May 2023 that they were collaborating with Tabtu Corp and its service provider Terawe to employ Vollee Artificial Intelligence to sift through the information and uncover patterns that would not be immediately obvious to the human eye. Additionally, a reward fund offers $30,000 for Mark’s safe return and $10,000 for reliable information. “I’m still waiting and hoping,” said Maureen, “but not so much dreaming as hoping to get closure.”
