OH OH - Scott Allen Hilbert, 18, Cincinnati, 13 Mar 1988

[MadMcGoo]

Scott Allen Hilbert

Hilbert, circa 1988

Missing Since: March 13, 1988
Missing From: Cincinnati, Ohio (some sources indicate Milford, Ohio)
Classification: Endangered Missing
Sex: Male
Race: White
Date of Birth: March 21, 1969
Age: 18 years old
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 150 pounds
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Green

Details of Disappearance
Hilbert was last seen in Cincinnati, Ohio on March 13, 1988. He was on spring break from college at Morehead State University in Kentucky, where he was studying for a bachelor of music degree in percussion. He left a note on the refrigerator for his parents, saying he was going to spend a few days with friends at the Ohio State University campus in Columbus. This was a ninety-minute drive from his home.

Hilbert never arrived at Ohio State and has never been heard from again. His family reported him missing on March 21, when he didn't return home in time to start classes again at the end of spring break. He had been driving the family car, a black 1984 Ford Tempo with the Ohio license plate number 807 JPF.

On April 1, the car was found on a dead-end road in the desert, northeast of Littlefield, Arizona, in the Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness Area near the Utah border. This is 1,700 miles from Hilbert's home, but the car's odometer showed it had been driven 3,800 miles since his disappearance; over 2,000 miles could not be accounted for.

Someone had tried to push the car off a cliff, but it got caught on a tree. The front and rear license plates had been removed and were never found. One of Hilbert's fingerprints was on the passenger side of the car; other fingerprints in the car could not be identified. Inside the vehicle was a book of matches from a Denver, Colorado restaurant and pages from a Long Beach, California phone book.

Some of Hilbert's belongings, including his Morehead State University dormitory key, a lug wrench, a bottle of shampoo, and a kitchen knife from his home, were scattered in the vicinity of the vehicle, but there was no sign of him and the suitcase of clothes he'd packed to take to Columbus was never located. He is considered to be missing under suspicious circumstances. His case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency: Union Township Police Department 513-752-1230

Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Available
DNA: Available
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/tel:513-752-1230
Source Information

• NamUs MP7926
• The Doe Network 4375DMOH
• Scott Allen Hilbert – The Charley Project
  
• The Cincinnati Enquirer
• Ohio Attorney General's Office
• The Daily Spectrum
• The Coshocton Tribune
• The Zanesville Times Recorder
• Mysterious student disappearance from 1988
• [URL="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/cold-case-spotlight/where-was-scott-hilbert-when-someone-pushed-his-car-cliff-n390281"]Where was Scott When Someone Pushed His Car Off a Cliff?
  [/URL]

 

[MadMcGoo]

35 Unidentified Person Exclusions
UP1924 - 06/08/1990 Maricopa, AZ
UP7207 - 04/05/1988 Pima, AZ
UP763 - 12/16/2003 Hennepin, MN
UP4754 - 05/18/1997 Butler, OH
UP4771 - 07/19/1989 Marion, OH
UP7739 - 10/27/1988 Hamilton, OH
UP12854 - 05/23/2014 Cuyahoga, OH

(The others are from Virginia)

 

[chaddylex]

So I submitted a possible match to NamUs back in May. I never heard a word. I even put a read receipt on the email and it was never read. I saw that Scott's NamUs profile was modified last week, so I sent an email to the Ohio Crimestoppers this morning. This is what I said:

Good Morning!


I submitted this possible match back in May to NamUs with no response. The Detectives listed on Scott's NamUs profile are retired, so this is why I am submitting this to you.
I wondering if you could tell me if Scott Hilbert The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) has been compared to The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)


Scott isn’t on the UP’s rule out list. I see Scott went missing from Cincinatti OH in March of 1988. His car was found in Arizona at the Utah boarder in April 1988. This UP was found in Missouri. I know it could be far fetched, but whatever happened to Scott, him or his kidnapper could have driven thru Missouri to get to Arizona.


I hope you can have this looked into.

 

[MadMcGoo]

So I submitted a possible match to NamUs back in May. I never heard a word. I even put a read receipt on the email and it was never read. I saw that Scott's NamUs profile was modified last week, so I sent an email to the Ohio Crimestoppers this morning. This is what I said:

Good Morning!


I submitted this possible match back in May to NamUs with no response. The Detectives listed on Scott's NamUs profile are retired, so this is why I am submitting this to you.
I wondering if you could tell me if Scott Hilbert The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) has been compared to The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)


Scott isn’t on the UP’s rule out list. I see Scott went missing from Cincinatti OH in March of 1988. His car was found in Arizona at the Utah boarder in April 1988. This UP was found in Missouri. I know it could be far fetched, but whatever happened to Scott, him or his kidnapper could have driven thru Missouri to get to Arizona.


I hope you can have this looked into.

Thanks for sending in the possible match. Hopefully you get a response! This case is so mysterious.

 

[chaddylex]

Thanks! I am too! Scott's disappearance was featured on a Podcast (I forget which one, I listen to many) and that is what got me interested in his case.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Scott...it's now been 33 years.

 

[Diavola]

First thing that comes to mind is car jacking. I wonder if him getting reported missing made the perpetrator get rid of the car.
How publicized was his disappearance?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Wow, what a sad case. I hope his parents had good support back when this happened.

I can't help but wonder what kind of forensics was done on the car at the time besides fingerprints; is there any possible DNA available for a suspect?

When was the last time they checked the fingerprints found against appropriate databases?

Anything a cold-case team could still work with?

It does sound like he just met up with the wrong person(s).

 

[azrt66]

Some print articles on the case.

2015 news coverage featuring interview with Scott's father:

 

[chaddylex]

Some print articles on the case.

View attachment 358560

View attachment 358561


2015 news coverage featuring interview with Scott's father:

I submitted a possible match back in 2020 and never heard a word back. What a sad case, and it breaks my heart for his parents not knowing what happened to their son.

 

[Deleted member 287549]

Just heard about this SAH Missing Persons case recently. Very sad. I agree it seems like his disappearance may be connected to a hitchhiker, and/or a car-jacking. However, with no proof/info. of any sort regarding this - it'll never be clear what really happened here.

I do remember hitchhiking was a lot more prevalent in the '80's. And, people were sometimes more likely to pick up hitchhikers during that era due to possibly being more trusting, etc.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

From 2024:

Union Township police ask for help solving 36-year-old cold case

Scott Hilbert disappeared in 1988.

www.fox19.com

15 detectives have worked the case over the years and more than 70 persons of interest have been cleared.

“We are leaning toward foul play, based on the vehicle was located down a ravine in the middle of the desert..."

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Scott Hilbert​

Hilbert was last seen in Cincinnati on March 13, 1988. The 19-year-old was on spring break from Morehead State University in Kentucky and left a note on the refrigerator for his parents, saying he was going to visit his friends for a few days at Ohio State University in Columbus.

Hilbert never arrived. His family reported him missing on March 21, when he did not return home in time to start his college classes again at the end of spring break, according to The Charley Project.

On April 1, the family car he was driving, a black 1984 Ford Tempo, was found in the Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness in Arizona near the Utah border – about 1,700 miles from his home. An unknown individual had attempted to push the car off a cliff, but the car got caught on a tree, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Some of Scott’s belongings, including a suitcase he packed for Columbus, were found scattered in the vicinity of the vehicle.

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/central-ohio-news/national-missing-persons-day-10-ohio-disappearances-that-remain-unsolved/

 

[DD Byrd]

I'm getting the impression he left of his own accord, at least initially. How long he lived after that is anyone's guess, but IMO there are eyebrow-raisers, possibly skewed by reporting and/or non-verbatim quotes but in order of "hmm...":

1) If he's on break and living at home, was there not an opportunity to tell one/both parents he was headed to OSU? Pre-cell phone it makes sense to leave a note, esp if they were a family that were often out and about and it was a game-time decision. But.
2) Being gone a "few days" is not a week, esp before returning to his own school. If this was "unlike him," why weren't the parents prompted to locate him sooner? Maybe they contacted friends at OSU first, or it's semantics. But.
3) Can't fault a grieving parent, but "we have to bring this thing to a conclusion" and closing the reward after 5 months seems...soon? Even with today's tech and a MP's info beamed across the world instantly-ish, I think it'd be up longer.
4) I'm generalizing, is an 18 yr guy in 1988 concerned with bringing shampoo? Let alone for a few day trip when his friends have it? That says to me not only was he not headed to OSU, but potentially didn't know where/when his next shower would be.
5) He's got a knife with him. I'd say a Swiss Army or multi-tool makes sense for prepped people, but no, this was from his kitchen. Red flags everywhere. It tells me it taken for this trip, unless he had a habit of eating apples with a paring knife in the car. Need more details on it, was it a 12" chef for protection? Or extra hmm, to be used for a planned act on his part?

Mileage-wise, I think the car went from Cincy to SoCal, possibly even Mexico (hello Spring Break or other more dangerous shenanigans), and back to AZ. I'd imagine the Long Beach phonebook pages were shown to friends/family to see if names rang any bells. A drummer would head to Los Angeles, and by the 80s, he likely wasn't headed to LB for the surfing. Barring some interest in the port, maybe he was just meeting someone in LB. Meanwhile, the car was found relatively soon after it went missing, in a drier climate no less; so it would've been a good candidate for weed seeds etc. in the wheel wells to track where it had been. Maybe not have been a priority then, but certainly soil samples might help.

He could've removed the plates himself, but I think if someone else stole/carjacked him it was of necessity to go somewhere or get away from somewhere, not to boost a Ford Tempo. Just saying. I hope they checked for prints around the tag frame. His might be there anyway, but were they fresh? I'm undecided on the significance of his dorm key being in the car. Was it there because he made a stop there, or did he have it in the whole time he was home so he wouldn't misplace it? That might just speak to his habits.

All to say, I sense more behind the scenes, perhaps just that he may have been unhappy or wanted to get away. Not really enough to go on, but my take is his father was heartbroken yet maybe not completely blind-sided. At least by the leaving part...

 

[Pennysmom1]

other fingerprints in the car could not be identified. Inside the vehicle was a book of matches from a Denver, Colorado restaurant and pages from a Long Beach, California phone book

I feel like these are major clues. Hopefully the investigators run those prints every so often to see if there is match. I hope they also visited the Denver restaurant the matchbook was from. It would be interesting to know what pages were ripped out from the Long Beach phone book; were they yellow pages with businesses, or white pages of people's phone numbers/addresses? I would be curious to know if there were any college students or friends of Scott from California, who might have wanted to go back to CA during spring break. Or students who were originally from CA. Just some thoughts.