The oldest missing-teens case in the U.S. is still being investigated, according to July 2026 reports by Rolling Stone. 15-year-old Bonnie Bickwit and her 16-year-old boyfriend, Mitchel Weiser, disappeared on their way to Summer Jam at Watkins Glen on July 27, 1973.
According to the initial investigation, the teen couple was hitchhiking to the historic outdoor concert, which featured The Grateful Dead, The Band, and The Allman Brothers Band. They disappeared on either July 27 or 28, somewhere in upstate New York.
In 2023, Rolling Stone ran an investigative piece to mark the 50th anniversary of the disappearance. Bonnie and Mitchel’s families have never stopped looking for them, even when the initial investigation wrote them off as “romantic runaways”.
“A task force is exactly what we need to solve what happened to my brother Mitchel and his girlfriend Bonnie,” Susan Weiser Liebegott, Mitchel’s sister, said at the time. She’s been keeping the search going all these decades. As of June 2026, Bonnie and Mitchel’s families are finally getting that task force.
Murder, Accidental Drowning, or Runaways: 53 Years of Theories About Concert Disappearance
The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and the New York State Police conducted an excavation of an abandoned power company site in June 2026. According to reports from Rolling Stone, police are also following up on a new tip. However, details of the renewed investigation are being kept confidential at the moment.
There have been several tips and theories floated over the years. In 2000, an MSNBC Missing Persons report went to the summer camp in upstate New York where Bonnie worked. A psychic named Maurice Schickler accompanied the TV crew, and he declared that the teens were murdered and buried on the grounds nearby.
Months later, a man named Allyn Smith saw the report. He remembered being in a VW bus with the teens while hitchhiking back from Watkins Glen. According to Smith, he saw Bonnie and Mitchel accidentally drown in the Susquehanna River during a pit stop. He and the driver felt there was nothing they could do, as the river’s strong current had dragged the couple away. Smith believed the driver would call the police once they parted ways in Pennsylvania, so he never followed up.
Details of Renewed Investigation Kept Secret, but Families Hope for Answers
The excavation took place on June 19, in Wayne, NY. Police turned over an undeveloped field owned by New York State Power & Gas in the rural Finger Lakes town. Notably, the field is located a mere 17 miles from the Watkins Glen International Racetrack, where Summer Jam 1973 was held.
Summer Jam is still considered the biggest concert of all time. 600,000 people attended, but out of all of them, only Bonnie and Mitchel never returned home.
The 2023 Rolling Stone report allegedly spurred New York Governor Kathy Hochul into action. Governor Hochul called for the New York State Police to assist the Sullivan County Sheriff in renewing the investigation. But nothing happened at first, and the Bickwit and Weiser families publicly called out law enforcement for dropping the ball.
As for the results of the June excavation, ground-penetrating radar showed two anomalies in the ground. But ultimately nothing was found.
“Despite an extensive search of the area, the operation yielded negative results,” according to a statement from the state police.
Another avenue of investigation has been proposed by Stuart Karten, Mitchel’s best friend, who started a website for the case. According to Karten, investigators have never looked into anonymous death certificates from 1973. He proposed looking into death records for John and Jane Does in New York and Pennsylvania.
Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
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