Investigators Renew Efforts to Help Find New Jersey Boy Missing for 24 Years

Officials are forming a new partnership as they continue searching for a New Jersey boy who disappeared in 1991.

The Cape May County Prosecutor's Office, the FBI and the Middle Township Police Department joined with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s “Project ALERT” program Monday in the investigation of the disappearance of Mark Himebaugh.

“We’re going to be conducting new interviews but we’re also going to be re-interviewing people,” said Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner.

The then-11-year-old was last seen leaving his family's Cape May County home to watch firefighters battle a marsh fire on Nov. 25, 1991. The only trace of him was a sneaker found on a Delaware Bay beach near his Middle Township home.

Himebaugh's mother, Maureen, has kept the same phone number in hopes her now adult son will call. She told NBC10 she was happy about the renewed effort to find her son.

“I feel good,” she said. “I’ve been waiting a long time for an answer and I want the good answer. But no matter what it’ll bring closure. They told me that they feel really good about this and that this is going to be our year. And I believe that.”

Starting Tuesday, authorities will have a command post at Cape May County Park South, the area where Himebaugh was last seen. The command post will remain there for the next few weeks.

“Someone has information and we ask no matter how small, that if you live in that area, simply stop by the command post,” Chief Leusner said.

More than a quarter century after she last saw him, Maureen still has hope her son will come back.

“I live in the same house,” she said. “My phone number is the same. I still believe in my heart that if Mark found his way home, I’m still here.”