Clues About Missing NJ Boy Surface 24 Years Later

Maureen Himebaugh has kept the same phone number for 24 years in the hopes that her now adult missing son might remember it and try to contact her. Mark Himebaugh was last seen at the age of 11 in 1991 leaving his family's house in Middle Township, NJ, reports the Star Ledger, and now local and federal authorities are reviving the case with the release of a new tip and photos as they appeal for new information. Until now, the only trace of the boy was a shoe found on a beach in Delaware.

It was an anonymous phone call in 2010 that initially renewed investigators' interest in the high-profile case. A man who called himself "the son of the witness" breathlessly said in a 3:45am call from a Philadelphia pay phone to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that "Gilbert Patrick Marie" may have been involved in the boy's disappearance, reports NBC 10 Philadelphia. Middle Township Police then received a similar call that night, and "the caller's voice sounded sincere," Middle Township Detective Allan McClure says, but they've yet to track down anyone by that name. Himebaugh's mother, meanwhile, says she agrees with investigators that "this is going to be our year." (One mother has distributed 1.25 million fliers in the hunt for her missing daughter.)