The Missing Mark Himebaugh

Mark Himebaugh
Case #: 91-17695
County: Cape May

On November 25, 1991, 11 year old Mark Himebaugh lived with his mother and older brother in Del Haven, NJ and was a 6th grader at Cape May County Alternative Middle School. He was last seen walking towards a playground in the County Park, nearby to his home. The last person to see him was a park guard, claiming it was about 4:00 that afternoon. Mark was wearing a blue U.S.N sweatshirt, a gray jacket with a red blue and gray plaid lining and four outer pockets with velcro, a pair of gray docker pants and red and white sneakers. Mark’s mother Maureen told her son she was dropping off a neighbor to pick up their car at a repair shop in Middle Township. He did not want to go along because a fire had broken out in town and he wanted to watch what was happening a quarter mile away. By the time Maureen had finished her errand around 40 minutes later, her son was gone. At the time, Maureen assumed Mark was with neighborhood children, however he was never heard from again. His mother reported him missing at about 5:00 PM that evening after she still could not locate her son. Of note, the afternoon of his disappearance, traffic was rerouted past their house.

Mark’s left foot was healing from a fracture at the time of his disappearance. He was also taking the antidepressant medication Prozac for his behavioral problems. Mark is classified as emotionally disturbed and he may have OCD. 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 his meds and therapy. He had a habit of biting his fingernails and is right handed. He is a caucasain male, with blue eyes and red hair with freckles across his body. He was 4’6, 85 lbs.

There are unconfirmed reports from witnesses stating that Mark was seen at the entrance of a local park with an unidentified young girl at about 3:40 P.M. on the day Mark vanished. Her identity is still unknown. She was about 9 or 10 years old in 1991 with dishwater blonde colored hair. She was about 4 ft tall and 70 to 75 lbs. Wearing a dark blue ski parka that had a hunter orange stripe on the back. Police believe this girl has information about Mark’s disappearance, below is a sketch of what she looked like.

Two other men were also reported to have been seen with Mark on the day of his disappearance. One man was said to be 30 to 35 years old, ‘5’8 – ‘5’9 and about 150 lbs. He had dark reddish brown hair in a ponytail and had a scruffy, unkempt appearance. Below is a sketch. There is no available description of the other male.

Investigators did locate Mark’s left shoe, a hand-me-down L.A Gear sneaker at Sunray Beach approx. 75 yards from the family 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.

In 1993, A man named Thomas Butcavage Jr. was named as a person of interest in Mark’s disappearance. He resembled the sketch of the man Mark may have been seen with. A male prostitute named Daniel Coll approached the police and said that Butcavage was one of his regular clients and 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 asked Butcavage if the boy was Mark Himebaugh and Butcavage said it was. He also said he deliberately planted Mark’s sneaker on the beach to confuse the investigation.

Butcavage has not been charged in Mark’s case but he has been imprisoned multiple times for drug offences and for sex with underage males. In 2015, authorities asked anyone who knew Butcavage in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s to please come forward.

Mark is believed to have been abducted by a stranger. The case is still unsolved. Mark’s mother has kept unopened gifts for Mark and still uses the same phone number in case her son might one day be found alive.

Sources:

https://api.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/762514/1
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/1892?nav

https://echoespath.com/mark-himebaugh/

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2019/10/09/mark-himebaugh-mother-whose-son-went-missing-28-years-ago-has-message-of-support-for-mother-of-missing-dulce-maria-alavez/