NY NY - Mitchel Weiser, 16, & Bonita Bickwit, 15, Narrowsburg, 27 July 1973

[dotr]

50 years on, America’s oldest missing teens case might finally be cracked

In 1973 Mitchel Weiser and Bonnie Bickwit disappeared after heading to a concert but their case wasn’t acted upon – now it has been reopened

www.telegraph.co.uk

ByCharlotte Lytton13 October 2023


''Fifty years on, nobody knows whether they ever made it, with their disappearance having now secured the grim status of America’s oldest missing teens case in history.

For the first time in half a century, however, there has finally been cause for hope. In August, New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered state police to reopen the case following an in-depth report by Rolling Stone magazine that sparked new leads; New York Senator Chuck Schumer has also asked the FBI to investigate the gifted teens’ disappearance, for which no motive has ever been found.

The prospect of resolving the mystery that has played on his mind for the vast majority of his life is “amazing,” says Karten, now 66, hoping that this “huge step” might go the way of the Gilgo Beach murders – where in July, a suspected serial killer was arrested in reopened cases from a quarter of a century ago. Putting Mitchel and Bonnie’s case back on officers’ desks is not only a chance for resolution, but redemption: a chance to right some of the myriad wrongs that derailed the “botched” investigations of 50 years before.''

 

[dotr]

March 26 2024

The Tape Room - 1973 cold case resurfaces

A cold case from 1973, when Brooklyn teens Mitchel Weiser and Bonnie Bickwit vanished while hitchhiking to the Summer Jam concert at Watkins Glen is back in the headlines.

www.fox5ny.com

''A cold case from 1973, when Brooklyn teens Mitchel Weiser and Bonnie Bickwit vanished while hitchhiking to the Summer Jam concert at Watkins Glen is back in the headlines.
Posted 43 mins ago''

 

[dotr]

The Tape Room: 1973 NYC cold case involving missing teens resurfaces

In July 1973, Brooklyn natives Mitchel Weiser and Bonnie Bickwit vanished while hitchhiking to the Summer Jam concert at Watkins Glen.

www.aol.com

DAN BOWENS March 26, 2024
''Now, after all these years there is a new clue unvovered by journalist Eric Greenberg. It's a link to Robert Garrow, a convicted serial rapist and murderer active in upstate New York during the early 1970s.''

"There was a serial killer in upstate New York at that very time, Robert Garrow," Greenberg said. It turns out, Garrow, known for his brutal crimes specifically targetting young people, drove an orange Volkswagen, identical to the vehicle described by Smith.''

"He had killed a girl, raped a couple of other girls, and he was driving an orange Volkswagen, and no one ever put that together before. Now is a good time for the state police to actually look into this," Greenberg suggested, implying a possible connection between Garrow and the mysterious disappearance of the teenagers.''

 

[RedHaus]

View attachment 493115

The Tape Room: 1973 NYC cold case involving missing teens resurfaces

In July 1973, Brooklyn natives Mitchel Weiser and Bonnie Bickwit vanished while hitchhiking to the Summer Jam concert at Watkins Glen.

www.aol.com

DAN BOWENS March 26, 2024
''Now, after all these years there is a new clue unvovered by journalist Eric Greenberg. It's a link to Robert Garrow, a convicted serial rapist and murderer active in upstate New York during the early 1970s.''

"There was a serial killer in upstate New York at that very time, Robert Garrow," Greenberg said. It turns out, Garrow, known for his brutal crimes specifically targetting young people, drove an orange Volkswagen, identical to the vehicle described by Smith.''

"He had killed a girl, raped a couple of other girls, and he was driving an orange Volkswagen, and no one ever put that together before. Now is a good time for the state police to actually look into this," Greenberg suggested, implying a possible connection between Garrow and the mysterious disappearance of the teenagers.''

Excellent. Thanks for finding and posting this, @dotr. It takes me back to my 8/17/2023 post in this thread. Happy to see dots connect. I hope LE takes note!

 

[NJEverCurious]

@dotr Great find!

 

[willy wagtail]

What do you think?
Alcala unidentified photo.

 

[dotr]

What do you think?
Alcala unidentified photo.

Welcome to Ws @willy wagtail!
Found a link (required) for the intriguing pic you posted..

'Dating Game Killer' Dies Yet Police Still Seek ID's of Women Photographs - American Security Today

July 10, 2021 – In Breaking News – CNN A convicted serial killer known as the “Dating Game Killer” died early Saturday morning at a hospital near Corcoran State Prison in central California, prison officials said. Rodney James Alcala, 77, had been on the state’s death row since being condemned...

americansecuritytoday.com

Almost 3/4 down page of pics, on the right.

Photos found in Rodney Alcala storage locker

Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy is asking for the public's help in identifying the women, young men, and children in over a hundred photos seized from a Seattle storage locker rented by Rodney Alcala. If you know who these people are, contact Huntington Beach police detective Patrick Ellis...

www.flickr.com

 

[NJEverCurious]

"A driver in an orange Volkswagen bus with Pennsylvania license plates picked up the three hitchhikers, Smith told investigators. It was hot, he said, and the group stopped to cool off in the Susquehanna River, a 450-mile body known to sometimes have treacherous currents.

Smith claimed he stood about 100 feet from the river’s edge as the teens went in. He suddenly heard the girl scream and saw her flailing in the water. The boy jumped in to save her, he claimed, but both were quickly swept around a bend in the river and, Smith claimed, accidentally drowned."

(Emphasis above is mine.)

Source: Rolling Stone (Two Teens Hitchhiked to a Concert. 50 Years Later, They Haven't Come Home)

I went looking for information on Robert Garrow, who is the serial killer mentioned in the posts above, and I found this Rolling Stone article linked on the website created by families of the missing couple. I realize that Garrow could have had Pennsylvania plates or could have been using stolen plates, but I think it's worth pointing out that he committed most of his crimes (as far as we know) in NYS and probably lived there.

Also, there has been a lot of talk about the Delaware River, but the RS article mentions the Susquehanna, which is not near Narrowsburg.

 

[dotr]

'Jun 21, 2023 #truecrimecommunity #newyork #missing
If you have any information about Mitch or Bonnie or any photographs from the 1973 Watkins Glen Summer Jam, please contact the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department at 845-807-0732.'

881 people signed and won this petition

Create a Task Force to Solve the Oldest Missing Teens Cold Case- Mitchel and Bonnie

www.change.org

August 6, 2023 rbbm more 'actions' at link, just included 3 of them.

''Actions to be taken by a joint task force includes:
2) Adding the multiple websites and podcasts focused on missing persons that would allow thousands of self-proclaimed “web sleuths” to use their informal methods to connect dots and perhaps uncover things the authorities might have missed.

* Put out a public service request for the mysterious driver of an orange VW micro bus with Pennsylvania license plates to come forward and shed more light on Smith's narrative. Perhaps a reward would help.

6) A mysterious photo that one Sullivan County detective thought was Bonnie should be analyzed using cutting-edge technology.

7) Publicize the camera Mitchel had, which may still be in someone’s possession, and lead to new information ''

 

[NJEverCurious]

More victims?​

Like police investigators and many others close to the case, Tracy believes Garrow was responsible for many more rapes and murders than he was ever charged with — that he used his days off from a Syracuse bakery job to travel and find victims to attack, and get away with it.

New book recounts 1973 Garrow murder spree in Adirondacks and summer of fear

ADIRONDACKS – People old enough to remember can vividly recall the “summer of terror” the Adirondack Park experienced nearly 48 years… Read more »

www.dailygazette.com

The excerpt above is from a Daily Gazette article about Jim Tracy's book, Sworn to Silence: The Truth Behind Robert Garrow and the Missing Bodies Case. "The case" referred to in this excerpt is one of Garrow's confirmed victims, NOT Bonnie /Mitchell.

As a follow-up to other posts on this thread that mention Robert Garrow as a possibility for the driver of the orange VW bus, kept wondering how or why he might have found his way all the way down to the Narrowsburg area. Garrow's known crimes were committed closer to Syracuse, but if he was using his days off to travel and commit crimes, maybe the 3-hour drive wouldn't have been a big deal to him.

 

[deadfoot13]

(Emphasis above is mine.)

Source: Rolling Stone (Two Teens Hitchhiked to a Concert. 50 Years Later, They Haven't Come Home)

I went looking for information on Robert Garrow, who is the serial killer mentioned in the posts above, and I found this Rolling Stone article linked on the website created by families of the missing couple. I realize that Garrow could have had Pennsylvania plates or could have been using stolen plates, but I think it's worth pointing out that he committed most of his crimes (as far as we know) in NYS and probably lived there.

Also, there has been a lot of talk about the Delaware River, but the RS article mentions the Susquehanna, which is not near Narrowsburg.

BBM

NYS Route 17 follows the northern shore of the Susquehanna for a long stretch (you first cross it in Windsor if you're traveling westbound on 17), and there are many places to access the river (parks, etc. that were there back then.) My thought is that it's likely they traveled along 17 from probably Hancock to at least Owego (or as far as Horseheads) before taking secondary roads to get to Watkins Glen. The reverse would be true if they were indeed picked up on the way back home because they couldn't get into the festival.

There are also a lot of secondary roads that follow the Susquehanna on the southern side of the river, and since it's right on the border with PA, it could certainly line up with the driver turning off to head into PA. A lot of the area is still pretty rural today with secluded fishing access spots, so that rings true true to me as well.

Is it possible that both kids got pulled in by the current and drowned? Definitely. The Susquehanna isn't really a river for swimming, at least not the stretch from Windsor to Horseheads. It's a good-sized river and I'm not particularly comfortable on it even in a small motorboat, although there are a few sections that can be good for kayaking in the summer when the water is lower. I've lived near the river all of my life (for the past 30 years it's been a block away) and followed it daily on my commute -- even sections that look calm can have trees and debris underwater that a swimmer could get snagged on.

I don't know anymore what I believe happened. It has me very confused.

MOO.

 

[NJEverCurious]

BBM

NYS Route 17 follows the northern shore of the Susquehanna for a long stretch (you first cross it in Windsor if you're traveling westbound on 17), and there are many places to access the river (parks, etc. that were there back then.) My thought is that it's likely they traveled along 17 from probably Hancock to at least Owego (or as far as Horseheads) before taking secondary roads to get to Watkins Glen. The reverse would be true if they were indeed picked up on the way back home because they couldn't get into the festival.

There are also a lot of secondary roads that follow the Susquehanna on the southern side of the river, and since it's right on the border with PA, it could certainly line up with the driver turning off to head into PA. A lot of the area is still pretty rural today with secluded fishing access spots, so that rings true true to me as well.

Is it possible that both kids got pulled in by the current and drowned? Definitely. The Susquehanna isn't really a river for swimming, at least not the stretch from Windsor to Horseheads. It's a good-sized river and I'm not particularly comfortable on it even in a small motorboat, although there are a few sections that can be good for kayaking in the summer when the water is lower. I've lived near the river all of my life (for the past 30 years it's been a block away) and followed it daily on my commute -- even sections that look calm can have trees and debris underwater that a swimmer could get snagged on.

I don't know anymore what I believe happened. It has me very confused.

MOO.

My point about the the Rolling Stone's mention of the Susquehanna River was really just that there seems to be some confusion(?) about which river they allegedly may have drowned in. Thanks for sharing the info!

 

[Arkay]

What do you think?
Alcala unidentified photo.

I went to school with Mitch and Bonnie 50 years ago. I remember that they were not back for senior year.

Personally I don’t think that this girl resembles Bonnie’s facial features, but I appreciate that people still care.

 

[ifindedout]

(Emphasis above is mine.)

Source: Rolling Stone (Two Teens Hitchhiked to a Concert. 50 Years Later, They Haven't Come Home)

I went looking for information on Robert Garrow, who is the serial killer mentioned in the posts above, and I found this Rolling Stone article linked on the website created by families of the missing couple. I realize that Garrow could have had Pennsylvania plates or could have been using stolen plates, but I think it's worth pointing out that he committed most of his crimes (as far as we know) in NYS and probably lived there.

Also, there has been a lot of talk about the Delaware River, but the RS article mentions the Susquehanna, which is not near Narrowsburg.

BTW Pennsylvania required only one license plate back in the 1970s, as they have ever since.

 

[NJEverCurious]

BTW Pennsylvania required only one license plate back in the 1970s, as they have ever since.

Thanks! I was wondering about that!