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. 

The Missing
Betty Fran Smith
Case #: 91-013139
County: Mercer

Betty Fran Smith was last seen on October 1, 1991 in West Windsor, New Jersey. People usually called her by her middle name, Fran. She was married to a man named John David Smith III at the time of her disappearance. Her maiden name was Gladdon. They met in Niceville, Florida in 1990 and got married later the same year. In January of 1991, John filed for divorce from Betty, however, the couple reconciled and then decided to move to New Jersey in May. According to Betty’s family, John seemed mild-mannered prior to her disappearance, but they later learned he was abusing Betty. (Picture of John down below)
Betty called her daughter at 8:30am, on October 4, 1991 from their residence in West Windsor Township. Betty gave no indication that anything was amiss and did not mention any travel plans. She recently had surgery to fix a broken hip, which would make traveling difficult. Betty has never been heard from again. John told Betty’s family he believed she went on some sort of impromptu trip. Her relatives did not believe him and began to investigate her disappearance themselves. They learned that John had previously been married to a woman named Janice Hartman Smith from 1970 to 1974, while he told Betty’s family that their marriage was his first. As it turns out, the first wife, Janice, vanished from Ohio in 1974, which was just a few days after the finalization of her and John’s divorce. John reported Janice missing two days later, Janice’s case remained unsolved until 2000. (Picture of Janice below)
John had not been charged in connection with either of his wives’ disappearances in the 1990’s and he moved to California after Betty vanished. In 1998, he married for a third time.
Janice’s remains were located in an Indiana roadside ditch in 1980, 6 years after she was last seen, but she remained unidentified until 2000. John, who by then had already moved to California, was charged with aggravated murder in Janice’s case in the fall of 2000. His new wife supported him at first, but eventually filed for divorce and got a restraining order shortly before his arrest. She learned about John’s abusive background and the disappearances of his first two wives. John was finally found guilty of Janice’s murder in 2001, sentenced to 15 years to life and is currently incarcerated in Ohio.
Foul play is suspected in Betty’s disappearance due to who is involved. John isn’t charged with anything in her case, but he was found liable for her wrongful death in a civil suit in 2002 and was ordered to pay $1 million to her family. Betty has never been located. It is unlikely that her family will be able to collect it.
The FBI is attempting to identify two women pictured in photos found in John’s collection at the time of his 2000 arrest. Investigators would like to figure out the women’s whereabouts, given John’s history. (Pictures below)
If you have any information about any of the people in this case, please contact the West Windsor Township Police Department at 609-799-1212.

Picture of John:
Photo of John’s first wife Janice:
Pictures of two unidentified women found in John’s photo collection: