Mitchel Weiser Missing Person Case

Dec 12, 2008

Jul 18, 2023

Mitchel

Weiser

69

16

67 inches

140 lbs

White / Caucasian

Male

On July 27, 1973, 16-year-old Mitchel Weiser and his 15-year-old girlfriend, Bonita "Bonnie" Bickwit, were seen for the last time in Narrowsburg, New York. The teenage couple from Brooklyn planned to hitchhike approximately 75 miles to attend the Summer Jam rock festival in Watkins Glen, which was set to feature major acts like The Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead. Mitchel, an intelligent and gifted student with a passion for photography, had taken time off from his job as a photography assistant. He met Bonnie at Camp Wel-Met in Narrowsburg, where she was working for the summer. Unhappy with her job, Bonnie quit to join Mitchel on the trip to the concert. With about $25 between them, backpacks, sleeping bags, and a cardboard sign that read "Watkins Glen," they began their journey. The last confirmed sighting was by a truck driver who gave them a ride; it remains unknown if they ever reached their destination. Initially, authorities treated the case as a runaway situation, a theory supported by the discovery that the couple had secretly exchanged wedding rings earlier that summer. Both Mitchel and Bonnie attended John Dewey High School, an alternative school for gifted students, and came from stable, middle-class Jewish families. However, their families never believed they would run away, citing Mitchel's upcoming driver's test and their general close family ties. As days turned into weeks with no contact, their families grew increasingly desperate. They launched their own investigation, distributing thousands of missing person flyers and writing countless letters to police departments and newspapers across the country. Years later, Mitchel's father received a collect call from a person identifying herself as "Bonnie," but the caller hung up before the operator could connect them. Decades have passed, but the case remains unsolved, now considered the oldest missing teenagers case in the United States. The investigation was hampered from the beginning by what the families describe as a perfunctory effort by law enforcement. Crucial evidence, including the original case files and the teenagers' dental records, was lost early on, a fact that authorities later admitted was a significant mistake. In 2000, a witness came forward claiming he saw the couple drown in the Susquehanna River while hitching a ride back from the concert, but his story could not be fully verified. Despite the passage of time and the many obstacles, the families have never stopped searching for answers, keeping a phone listing in the Brooklyn directory for years in the hope that their children might one day call. The investigation has seen renewed interest and efforts in recent years, including new task forces and site excavations, but Mitchel and Bonnie's fate remains a painful mystery. The case is an overview of enduring hope and a family's relentless pursuit of truth in the face of an agonizingly long and unresolved disappearance.

Jul 27, 1973

Narrowsburg

New York

Sullivan County

25583

Sullivan County Sheriff's Office

Monticello

New York

Sullivan County

12701

Cyrus Barnes

Detective/Corporal

1

58 Old Route 17, New York

8457947100

County

Law Enforcement

FSS002876

Sullivan County Sheriff's Office

4005

Brown

Hazel

Hazel

09/02/2026