November 25, 1991. Middle Township, New Jersey. 11-year old Mark Himebaugh leaves his residence in order to watch firefighters extinguishing a brush fire, but he never returns home. A search turns up Mark’s left shoe on a nearby beach and while eyewitnesses place Mark in the company of multiple unidentified individuals on the afternoon he went missing, he cannot be found. Over one year later, a witness tells police that a sex offender named Thomas Butcavage screened a video of himself sexually assaulting Mark before confessing to his murder, but the alleged videotape is never found and no evidence links him to Mark’s disappearance. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore one of the more disturbing missing children’s cases we’ve covered. Special thanks to listener Juile Heiland for narrating the opening of this episode.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Middle Township Police Department at (609) 465-8700.

Additional Reading:

“Where is Mark? The Abduction of Mark Himebaugh” by Richard McHale

https://www.whereismark.com

https://wpgtalkradio.com/thanksgiving-marks-30-years-since-mark-himebaugh-disappeared-in-middle-twp-nj/

https://charleyproject.org/case/mark-joseph-himebaugh

https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/30-years-later-search-continues-for-middle-townships-mark-himebaugh/article_0a56e10c-4d3f-11ec-8f3d-eb5001524269.html

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2021/05/21/cbs3-mysteries-where-is-mark-himebaugh/

https://truecrimedaily.com/2021/11/19/where-is-mark-himebaugh-new-jersey-boy-vanishes-anniversary-looms-tcdpod/

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/convicted-sex-offender-person-of-interest-mark-himebaugh-thomas-butcavage-video-sex-abuse/60570/

https://people.com/crime/mark-himebaugh-cops-hope-tip-call-could-help-find-missing-boy/

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“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Westin Park Central Hotel in Dallas, Texas on August 27-28, 2022. To purchase tickets, please visit https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com/

“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on  GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True  Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.