Mark Himebaugh.Photo:Courtesy Himebaugh Family, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Courtesy Himebaugh Family, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Like other boys his age, 11-year-old Mark Himebaugh loved to explore the beach and the marsh near his house on the Jersey Shore.
So on Nov. 25, 1991, when a brush fire broke out in a marsh near his home in Del Haven, just steps from the beach, he told his mom he wanted to go check it out.
“He was a Curious George,” says his mother, Maureen Himebaugh.
Dressed in a navy blue sweatshirt, grey pants, and the hand-me-down LA Gear sneakers he got from his older brother, Matthew, Mark walked down his street, Sunray Rd. onto Delaware Ave., which ran parallel to Sunray Beach on the Delaware Bay.
Maureen never saw him again.
“I miss him and I love him,” says Maureen. “He was a good little boy.”
Still holding out hope for answers as to what happened to the quiet, thoughtful boy, Maureen and her family are sharing their story on tonight’s episode ofPeople Magazine Investigateson Investigation Discovery and streaming on Max. The episode, titled “Where Is Mark Himebaugh,” airs tonight, July 24, on ID at 9/8c. (An exclusive clip is shown below.)
The episode details the day Mark went missing and the search that ensued.
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Maureen Himebaugh.Mike Lloyd/Investigation Discovery
Mike Lloyd/Investigation Discovery
During the extensive search, which included canine units, an army of volunteers from the community and helicopters, a firefighter found one of Mark’s sneakers on the beach.
“I got excited, thinking, ‘He’s got to be out there, there’s his sneaker,'” Maureen recalls.
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But nothing came of it.
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“That was really hard for me because you don’t want anyone to hurt your child,” Maureen says.
Police also looked at Pennsylvania resident Thomas Butcavage, Jr., 57, who allegedly resembled a sketch of the man seen talking to Mark the day he vanished.
A male prostitute told police Butcavage showed him a video of a boy resembling Mark, which Maguire calls, “the worst case scenario possibly coming true,” says Mark’s cousin, Lauren Maguire.
Sentenced to 18 to 36 years in prison after being convicted of sexual assault against young boys, he has denied any involvement in Mark’s disappearance.
Police have said they have “nothing concrete” linking him to Mark’s disappearance.
But law enforcement hasn’t given up on finding out what happened to Mark.
Police and the FBI have begun using an artificial intelligence service to help crack the case. Law enforcement officers are hoping that AI can reexamine the evidence and find patterns that are not readily apparent.
Maureen is holding out hope that she will get the answers she has sought for the past 30 years.
“I’m still waiting and hoping, not so much dreaming, but hoping that I’ll get closure. That’s what I really want," she says.
People Magazine Investigates: Where Is Mark Himebaugh?airs on Investigation Discovery and streams on Max tonight at 9/8c.
source: people.com
