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

[Arkay]

I just joined Websleuths, and this thread is one of the reasons.

I knew Mitch and Bonnie. I went to high school with them, although I was more of an acquaintance than a friend. They ran in a different crowd than me, but we were all shocked when they disappeared the summer before senior year.

It's decades ago, but I remember we all thought they had run away to be together. I was 15 then and it seemed almost romantic. Even as teenagers, though, after a week or two we started to think something dreadful had happened, because while they may have wanted to disappear together, maybe shock everyone, ultimately they would have called home, at least.

Now I have a 15- year old granddaughter. The world is different with many ways to communicate. In those days it would have had to be a letter or a long-distance phone call, but we all felt that a week or two was enough time that they would at least have let their families know they were alive. They'd be in their 60s now, and it's impossible they would have grown up, become senior citizens, and still not check in to assuage their families' grief.

I have no clue what may have happened. We used to occasionally hitchhike locally, mostly just to see what it was like and to flirt with the boys. If my granddaughter did that now I'd have a heart attack. I'm sure they met with foul play, but have no idea how. I don't believe the drowning story.

I'm the only one from those school days who still lives in the neighborhood. I remember when the memorial tree was planted. I'm grateful to Websleuths for hosting these forums where no one is forgotten, no matter how long ago.

 

[dotr]

I just joined Websleuths, and this thread is one of the reasons.

I knew Mitch and Bonnie. I went to high school with them, although I was more of an acquaintance than a friend. They ran in a different crowd than me, but we were all shocked when they disappeared the summer before senior year.

It's decades ago, but I remember we all thought they had run away to be together. I was 15 then and it seemed almost romantic. Even as teenagers, though, after a week or two we started to think something dreadful had happened, because while they may have wanted to disappear together, maybe shock everyone, ultimately they would have called home, at least.

Now I have a 15- year old granddaughter. The world is different with many ways to communicate. In those days it would have had to be a letter or a long-distance phone call, but we all felt that a week or two was enough time that they would at least have let their families know they were alive. They'd be in their 60s now, and it's impossible they would have grown up, become senior citizens, and still not check in to assuage their families' grief.

I have no clue what may have happened. We used to occasionally hitchhike locally, mostly just to see what it was like and to flirt with the boys. If my granddaughter did that now I'd have a heart attack. I'm sure they met with foul play, but have no idea how. I don't believe the drowning story.

I'm the only one from those school days who still lives in the neighborhood. I remember when the memorial tree was planted. I'm grateful to Websleuths for hosting these forums where no one is forgotten, no matter how long ago.

Welcome to Ws Arkay, delighted that you joined us here and for sharing those memories!

 

[dotr]

{{metaTitle}}
Missing From: NARROWSBURG, New York

Date Missing: 07/27/1973

BONITA BICKWIT

DOB: 01/28/1958
Sex: Female
HGT: 4'10"
WGT: 90 lbs.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Race: White

Other Information: Bonita and a male companion, Mitchel Weiser, were en route to a music concert in Watkins Glen, New York. The photo is age progressed to 52 years old. They are missing due to unknown circumstances.
Investigating Agency: Sullivan County Sheriffs Office

Case Date: 05/27/2009

Case Number: 00-8198 AP

Missing From: NARROWSBURG, New York

Date Missing: 07/27/1973

MITCHEL FRED WEISER
{{metaTitle}}

DOB: 11/23/1956
Sex: Male
HGT: 5'07"
WGT: 140 lbs.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Race: White

Other Information: Mitchel and a female companion, Bonita Bickwit, also reported missing, were last seen en route to a music concert in Watkins Glen, NY. They are missing due to unknown circumstances. Photo is age progressed to 60 years.
Investigating Agency: Sullivan County Sheriffs Office

Case Date: 05/09/2012

Case Number: 98-7065-AP

 

[Arkay]

Welcome to Ws Arkay, delighted that you joined us here and for sharing those memories!

Thank you, dotr!

 

[Gardenkeep]

This case has haunted me for many years. I lived in WG, and was Bonnie's age when the Summer Jam of 73 took place. Our family owned a news shop down on the main street. That festival was overwhelming for us. The sheer numbers of people and vehicles abandoned was a nightmare. To pick Bonnie and Mitchel out from that crowd would sadly have been like the proverbial needle in a haystack. It was all hands on deck at our little shop, and there was a constant stream of people through. The village, as well as surrounding villages like Odessa, Montour Falls, Burdett, etc. were disaster areas.

So, the above post by another local is totally on spot. The rivers of any size that could offer that sort of danger like the Susquehanna, or Chemung are generally lazy and low in July. The only places I could even connect the drowning story to would be the glens in the area. The WG gorge is always running strongly. There is Havanna Glen as well. These are popular places to congregate and swim. They can be dangerous if you aren't familiar with them.

My gut doesn't believe the drowning story. I don't lean towards the running away story, either. I do believe the man who came forward with the drowning story perhaps knows more than he is saying. His story began to take conflicting turns, and refused a polygraph when pressed by the detectives. I just feel that he needs more vetting.

NBC did an investigative cover on this case back in 1998/1999. It was well done for the most part, and may be worth watching for anyone interested in this case. I believe it is played in entirety on youtube.

 

[Two for the road]

This case has haunted me for many years. I lived in WG, and was Bonnie's age when the Summer Jam of 73 took place. Our family owned a news shop down on the main street. That festival was overwhelming for us. The sheer numbers of people and vehicles abandoned was a nightmare. To pick Bonnie and Mitchel out from that crowd would sadly have been like the proverbial needle in a haystack. It was all hands on deck at our little shop, and there was a constant stream of people through. The village, as well as surrounding villages like Odessa, Montour Falls, Burdett, etc. were disaster areas.

So, the above post by another local is totally on spot. The rivers of any size that could offer that sort of danger like the Susquehanna, or Chemung are generally lazy and low in July. The only places I could even connect the drowning story to would be the glens in the area. The WG gorge is always running strongly. There is Havanna Glen as well. These are popular places to congregate and swim. They can be dangerous if you aren't familiar with them.

My gut doesn't believe the drowning story. I don't lean towards the running away story, either. I do believe the man who came forward with the drowning story perhaps knows more than he is saying. His story began to take conflicting turns, and refused a polygraph when pressed by the detectives. I just feel that he needs more vetting.

NBC did an investigative cover on this case back in 1998/1999. It was well done for the most part, and may be worth watching for anyone interested in this case. I believe it is played in entirety on youtube.

RBBM, while this is normally true, that weekend got a surprise downpour that could have caused flash flooding of these rivers. The Chemung in particular is dangerous in that it has very steep drop offs and an undercurrent. This could explain why no body has shown up, they went under, were pulled down by the under current, and got stuck against a rock ledge.

However, with that said, I do not believe the drowning story either. I don't think they ever made it to the concert, I think they met with foul play near Narrowsburg. It could be that they were accidentally hit and killed and the driver panicked and buried them.

 

[ekardh]

I think Allyn Smith was either a creep who made up the drowning story for attention or perhaps he was remembering a different couple. It's already been stated, but the rivers at that time would've been too dry for the couple to get swept away. Thing is, if Allyn Smith was hiding something, why come forward after 30 years? It's not like the authorities had any clue where Bonita and Mitchel were, let alone what happened to them. Seems a bit stupid to throw yourself into the limelight if you were the murderer.

Hitchhiking in the 70's evokes all kinds of horror stories. I don't think they voluntarily disappeared. More likely someone picked them up and took a liking to Bonita. They killed Mitchel to get to her, and then murdered her too. Perhaps one day they will be found accidentally but I can't imagine their killer(s) will be brought to justice after all this time. You never know.

 

[ekardh]

Looking back through the thread, someone made a good point that Allyn Smith's story might have been a confession of sorts. A tidied up version of what really happened. A way to give the family closure and clear his own conscience without incriminating himself. I still haven't ruled out that he was an attention-seeker or simply mixed-up. It was 30 years ago and he was stoned at the time. I believe he's in his 70s now. Not much time left if he does have more to tell.

What do people think about the collect call from "Bonnie" in 1986? Personally, I think it was either a sick prank or a well-intentioned person trying to give the family hope.

 

[dotr]

rbbm
Bonita Mara Bickwit – The Charley Project
Bonita Mara Bickwit

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Bonita, circa 1973; Age-progression to age 58 (circa 2016)

• Missing Since 07/27/1973
• Missing From Narrowsburg, New York
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 01/28/1958 (62)
• Age 15 years old
• Height and Weight 4'11, 90 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue jeans and a t-shirt.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Bonita's nickname is Bonnie. Some agencies reverse her first and middle names, as in "Mara Bonita Bickwit."

Details of Disappearance
Bonita was working as a mother's helper at Camp Wel-Met in Narrowsburg, New York when she vanished on July 27, 1973 with her boyfriend of over a year, Mitchel Weiser. Bonita and Mitchel planned to hitchhike to attend a concert festival featuring The Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead in Watkins Glen, New York. The concert is believed to have been the largest in history, with over 800,000 people showing up.

Mitchel met Bonita at Camp Wel-Met and they set off for the concert, which was 75 miles from Narrowsburg. It is believed that Mitchel and Bonita had approximately $25 between them. They carried backpacks, sleeping bags, and a cardboard sign that read "Watkins Glen." They were last seen hitchhiking along State Route 97. The truck driver who gave them a ride is the last confirmed person to have seen them. It's unclear whether they actually arrived in Watkins Glen. They have never been heard from again.

Authorities initially believed that the couple simply ran off together. Bonita and Mitchel had secretly exchanged wedding rings earlier in the summer of 1973. Both were intelligent teenagers who attended John Dewey High School, a Brooklyn alternative school for gifted, high-achieving students. Bonita lived in Borough Park with her family when she was not working at Camp Wel-Met; Mitchel lived in Midwood. Both Bonita and Mitchel are from stable, middle-class Jewish families.

Both Mitchel and Bonita's loved ones say the two seemed ill at ease before they left for the concert. Bonita sneaked away from Camp Wel-Met and went home one day the week before she vanished, and took $80 which she had been saving for a bicycle. Her family was not home at the time, but neighbors saw her.

Bonita was also having difficulties with the family she was working for. She asked them for the night off when Mitchel showed up on July 27, and quit in anger when they refused. She told her employers that she would come by after the concert to collect her clothes and paycheck. She was very worried about her father, who was ill and disabled; her friends at Camp Wel-Met said she cried at night when she talked about her father. Mitchel, meanwhile, was disappointed because he could not attend the college of his choice.

Despite this, however, their loved ones believe Bonita and Mitchel were just having normal adolescent problems and would have never run away from home. Bonita's best friend was in Europe the summer she vanished, but she exchanged letters with Bonita and says their communications were normal. Mitchel was looking forward to taking his drivers' test, which was scheduled for a few weeks after he disappeared.

Bonita and Mitchel's families and friends have never forgotten about the two. Mitchel's family has kept a phone listing in the Brooklyn telephone directory since 1973 in case either of the teens decide to contact them. Years following their disappearances, Mitchel's father accepted a collect call from someone identifying herself as "Bonnie." By the time the operator was able to connect them, the caller had hung up. She did not call back and has never been identified.

In 2000, a witness, Allyn Smith, claimed he saw both Bonita and Mitchel drown while they were on their way back from Watkins Glen. Smith, then 24, said he was also going to the Watkins Glen rock festival and hitched a ride on a Volkswagen bus and two teenagers, whom he identified as Bonita and Mitchel, were also on the bus. He did not know their names but had heard them talking about the girl's summer camp and recalled their clothing.

They all stopped to cool off in a nearby river when Bonita got into trouble in the water. Mitchel jumped in to save her and they were both swept away, still alive. The bus driver told Smith he would call the police at the nearest gas station, but authorities have no record of such a call being made.

Police call Smith "credible" but wonder why, as an athletic Navy veteran, he did not try to rescue the drowning teenagers. They are investigating his account, which has not been confirmed. The driver of the bus has not been found and Smith cannot remember the location of the river the teens allegedly drowned in. As a result, his story cannot be fully investigated.

Bonita and Mitchel remain missing and their cases are unsolved. Their families have criticized the police for what they call a perfunctory investigation. The original case files have apparently been lost. Included in the files were the only existing copies of Bonita's and Mitchel's dental records, which could have been used to identify their bodies. Authorities now admit that they made many mistakes in the investigation.

A new investigator has been assigned to the cases. The state attorney general got involved in the investigation in 2000. Bonita and Mitchel's families hope the additional assistance will help solve the case.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

It's maddening how many cases we read about on here with case files or evidence that disappeared.

 

[dotr]

Poster Earth, made an interesting suggestion regarding Mitch and Bonnie and the suspect (deceased) in the case of a missing NY woman.
He was known to bring young people to his home..
NY - NY - Barbara Aleksivich, 24, Village of Bath, 3 Oct 1973

Oct 27 2020
Bath Police reopen 1973 cold case disappearance of Barbara Jean Aleksivich; identify deceased suspect
''BATH, N.Y. (WETM) – The Village of Bath Police Department has reopened the missing persons’ case of 24-year-old Barbara Jean Aleksivich, who disappeared in 1973, and have named a new suspect.

According to Bath Police, they received a tip from a cold case investigator in Missoula County, Montana regarding a DNA match with Richard W. Davis, who previously lived in Bath in the 1960s and 70s and died approximately eight years ago.

The Missoula County investigators allege that Davis is connected to the kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of five-year-old Siobhan McGuinness in February 1974.''

 

[deadfoot13]

Poster Earth, made an interesting suggestion regarding Mitch and Bonnie and the suspect (deceased) in the case of a missing NY woman.
He was known to bring young people to his home..
NY - NY - Barbara Aleksivich, 24, Village of Bath, 3 Oct 1973

Oct 27 2020
Bath Police reopen 1973 cold case disappearance of Barbara Jean Aleksivich; identify deceased suspect
''BATH, N.Y. (WETM) – The Village of Bath Police Department has reopened the missing persons’ case of 24-year-old Barbara Jean Aleksivich, who disappeared in 1973, and have named a new suspect.

According to Bath Police, they received a tip from a cold case investigator in Missoula County, Montana regarding a DNA match with Richard W. Davis, who previously lived in Bath in the 1960s and 70s and died approximately eight years ago.

The Missoula County investigators allege that Davis is connected to the kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of five-year-old Siobhan McGuinness in February 1974.''

Very interesting. This wouldn't be too far of a stretch at all if the kids had made it to the concert and were disappeared on the way home. I was hiking in the Watkins Glen area in September (even passed the racetrack/concert venue on the way to our destination) and afterward we took the scenic route, winding up in Bath after maybe 30 minutes of driving -- at the time it surprised me as I didn't realize it was so close.

 

[ekardh]

I wouldn't be too sure that they made it to the concert in the first place, but either way I think they got picked up by someone and met with foul play.

The idea they eloped and started a new life together is rather quixotic, imo.

 

[Two for the road]

I wouldn't be too sure that they made it to the concert in the first place, but either way I think they got picked up by someone and met with foul play.

The idea they eloped and started a new life together is rather quixotic, imo.

I tend to agree. IMO I don't think they ever made it to Watkins Glen. I think they either met foul play at the camp, or shortly after they left. It is just intriguing that two people went missing and not a single trace of their whereabouts have ever been found.

 

[NJEverCurious]

I tend to agree. IMO I don't think they ever made it to Watkins Glen. I think they either met foul play at the camp, or shortly after they left. It is just intriguing that two people went missing and not a single trace of their whereabouts have ever been found.

I really think they've been found and haven't been identified. There's no biological evidence or dental records or anything to make a comparison, apparently...

 

[Caring4Many]

Just listened to this podcast so I had to come look for the thread....I was hoping the leads they discussed had come up with more since.

EPISODE 41: MITCHEL WEISER AND BONNIE BICKWIT — The Vanished Podcast

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I really think they've been found and haven't been identified. There's no biological evidence or dental records or anything to make a comparison, apparently...

Are you sure there is no DNA on file from a parent or sibling of either of them? (Just curious. If not, that's really too bad. Many would like to see this case solved.)

 

[wary]

Are you sure there is no DNA on file from a parent or sibling of either of them? (Just curious. If not, that's really too bad. Many would like to see this case solved.)

And nowadays, if they’d been found, genetic genealogy would have a good chance of tracing back to them anyway. All it’d take is finding a second cousin who remembered the disappearance.

 

[Laughing]

And nowadays, if they’d been found, genetic genealogy would have a good chance of tracing back to them anyway. All it’d take is finding a second cousin who remembered the disappearance.

And, in my experience as a genealogist, theirs would be distinctive DNA. Relatives may not have submitted samples to any of the services, but their samples would likely indicate their Jewish heritage, significantly narrowing the pool of missing persons who could be a match.

jmho ymmv lrr

 

[CCJD]

Are you sure there is no DNA on file from a parent or sibling of either of them? (Just curious. If not, that's really too bad. Many would like to see this case solved.)

According to DN, there is DNA for Mitch.
The Doe Network: Case File 2DMNY

And there's this:
Mitch’s sister, Susan Leibegott, related 27 years of frustration about being misled by police, and of not knowing that so many others were sharing her pain.

"I’m all choked up," she said, as the B train rumbled by on the elevated line that overlooks the school.

She said she recently recovered her brother’s missing baby teeth, which could be used now for DNA or identification purposes.
BBM
Missing Teens’ Classmates Issue Plea