The Right Shoe
The Right Shoe
Missing - the Tracy Byrd and Mark Himebaugh cases
Tracy Byrd and Mark Himebaugh - two separate children - both walked off and were never seen or heard from again. Both stories are equally chilling.
Tracy bird was 14 and possibly pregnant when she was last seen walking in the rain walking away from a Bucks County PA high school, her mother was found murdered 7 months later. Was the same person who murdered her mom the one who murdered Tracy?
Mark Himebaugh was only 11 when a marsh fire started outside of his house. He went to watch it, asked his mom who had to drop off a neighbor. By the time she returned home, mark was gone.
What happened to these two young kids who were not even starting out yet in their lives? Where did they go? It is doubtful that either ran away yet no evidence (outside of Mark's left shoe) has ever been found.
Good afternoon This is Debbie Q and you're listening to the right shoe I still don't know what to do about my intro so I don't know it's just gonna have to be my tape intro for a while I haven't let's see I don't want to go into everything I haven't upgraded everything the way I wanted to get after the holidays I really will get more into the technical side then my computer was acting out my son fix that the genius said he is he really is good with computers and this is Debbie q the right shoe is about all things strange and unusual, especially in reference to a death now these cases tonight there are about two missing children unfortunately because so much time has passed I hate to say this because for any reason that this could be true I wish it would be true. I wish that they were still alive and in the case of those you know there's few cases for a long time. Jamie do Gar I think her name was she was gone for like 18 years she came back alive if this were to happen oh my gosh, that would be fantastic. But I don't know I think that probably they're both gone. As a mother researching these cases they really the one is just a punch to the gut. Let's get in first the business side is always the right to his podcast. I am the sole creator producer. I run the whole show I am far from technically inclined so that is why when I get any updates it takes me forever to include them I still can't find a beginning bumper I don't know it's tough. I do like the original one and you know even with my right shoe that my daughter drew that was my daughter's right show I could never change that I did get it's called podcast name ah so podcast name here on Instagram they are really good if you want to get something really you know certain something drawn up for you because he really took what I said and did it exactly how I wanted it so that was awesome and even the price was insanely wonderful. Also as always the shout out to these are just my favorite podcasts - murder at bedtime with Lyndon it's so good he's he's coming out with some new ones this week. It's the week of December 7 also Grizzly underscore books as always, I mean I have a shout out to a couple others that really dont need my help. They're so excellent. They're comedy ones which I normally don't listen to. I am so true crime This one is I am a huge fan of the office they have one called office ladies said Angela and Pam from the office. I am so enamored right now I think after these kid researches I was so out of my mind I just needed comic relief and all week I've had nothing but this podcast on I and again I usually only listen to true crime but I couldn't even do that right now. Like oh, it was hard It really was it really was difficult. I'm not just saying that and please in the one case the Mark heimbach case there is something that is so it could be considered a trigger. It is so horrific I did have nightmares the last couple of days I'm not kidding so just be forewarned that there are things in this episode particularly with the mark eyeball case that are extremely disturbing I mean extremely please if you are triggered by especially things done to children please do not listen to the mark him behind behind ball I keep seeing him ball but it's pronounced time ball case because you know there's a special place in hell. Anybody who could do this to a child, honestly, if this is what this guy truly did, I hope he burns for eternity. Let's put it that way. So the right shoe is a podcast if you're listening on Apple please review because these reviews they help regardless. Thanks to all of the listeners because anybody who's listening and continues to listen, I You don't even know how much I appreciate it. And the feedbacks, everything. It's just been wonderful Instagram. I am shopaholicDeb44. At some point, I should change it to the right shoe. But right now it's shopaholicdeb44 and the response of that has been wonderful. In fact, tonight, I had three cases it was Tracy Byrd, Mark Himebaugh. And Jason Sweeney, all three were listener suggested but the one Jason Sweeney because he was his case was a bit different because he was found pretty much right away. He was never missing. He was pretty much it. What happened to him was absolutely tragic. But there is a lot more involved in his story. So I think I'm going to save him for another time on Instagram. I do have a shortened version of his story if you want to ever go shopaholicDeb44. On Instagram, the right shoe monikers all over the place, the Jason Sweeney story is on that. And that's another one that blew my mind. But I did not realize a when I did the might when I was putting this together. I thought I can't it just doesn't make sense because it didn't really fit with the other two stories. And then when I trade Tracy Byrd by herself, there is such little information about her that it was so short, I decided to add more kind ball. And his case is I could probably do by itself. But it's I kind of wanted to do it. And after I read it, I said I'm going to do this because his mother is still actively looking for him. She seems like the sweetest lady on the planet. You know, I went on to her, I went on to a social media page that she was on. And she wrote something to the effect that I've had heartbreak and tears in my life. I'm paraphrasing, but I pay it forward and life is still good. And the fact that you know, she, it's inspiring that she could go through what she's been through and still have such a positive outlook. Okay, I'm gonna do these cases and get through them as best I can. Because it's really difficult. I am having a lot of trouble with the mark. I'm Baldwin. Let's start with Tracy Byrd, Tracy Byrd. i. Now, there's a bit of confusion here, somebody who wrote to me that I knew for many years in the past, I haven't seen them in a while one of the sisters had wrote about Tracy Byrd. And she had said that she lived around the corner from us. And you know, I lived in Morrell Park when I was young. And I was like, what, like, I had never known that this happened to Tracy. And not only that, when I looked in this story, there was just a bit of confusion. But I'll get to that in a minute. The story that I found is truly nuts. I mean, I am really stunned about how much I guess it does happen a lot in every neighborhood. And just when you're little you don't I mean, I always thought that Tina severns, the one that I had done that my second podcast about Tina severns, who is my sister's friends, twin, and I thought that was the only person I've ever known that had this happen to you just don't realize that it doesn't matter where you live. This kind of stuff is pretty constant. It really is disappointing. I will say you want to think that he lived in utopia. You know, that's how I feel about when I was younger. We just had a really good neighborhood and back then the mom stayed home the dads worked for the most part. And it was just like, you know, like you think about when you think of there's a Norman Rockwell posters. It was very old school looking. I can't even think of it was just you went out. Your mom called you for dinner or you knew to come home before dark or or at I mean, I knew to be that that dinner table at 430 my dad kicking my ass and that's how it was. And then it late at bedtime. Same thing like we knew to be home at dark. It was like this little world this little bubble, this bubble I guess one thing really exists. I this there was a girl named Tracy Byrd and she now this is where I'm confused. Now she was supposed to live behind the around the corner from us and she went on we went to john Hancock Elementary School, which is actually like a very well regarded demonstration school. They called it it was an elementary school went one through five RS was one through five, six through eight and then nine through 12. So this was right up the street from us. Now Tracy Byrd was supposed to have went and been in the same class as my Friend. Now the picture and I will have pictures up, especially if I will have pictures up for both cases, missing person cases still. And even though it was quite a while ago, even closure for this family would be a relief or giving them some sense of peace. At this point Tracy Byrd was, I do remember that her face is so familiar. But yet when I was really researching this case, the confusing part was when she went missing. She was living in bensalem. But it did say that her mother was divorced. Her mother being Jean bird, she was living in bensalem. At this time, yeah, Jean Louise bird. She lived in bensalem. They all lived in Bensalem, the mom and the daughter and her son Frank, it said byrd had been separated from her husband, and she had a boyfriend named Paul Greenwald. Now the confusing part is that when I was researching it, there was a woman who's actively in this. Michelle Stein was Jean Byrd's friend. And she said she had known Jean Byrd, since they lived in the bensalem apartment complex in 1972. So that makes sense to me if they lived in that complex in 1972. How would Tracy unless Tracy lives with her father, possibly in the Philadelphia house, something else she was, I can't imagine my friend being wrong that Tracy Byrd lived around the corner from us knowing the story, knowing that would happen, and yet it's just that timeline. That's a little screwed up. Let's start from the beginning here. Tracy Byrd was born on July 7 1968. She went missing on March 7 1983. She was only 14 years old. She was five foot 254 and weighed between 70 and 105 pounds. What happened was she had nail it to get like a little backstory she had gotten suspended from school for an unknown reason, but a reason that she wouldn't tell her mom about and her mom and her were very close. They they It was said that after the divorce, they were very tight. But I so I imagine that like if you get suspended for something like say fighting or saying something nasty or teacher, you can kind of buffer that and say, Well, I didn't do that she's kind of lying. But if you get suspended for something like cutting class, which she seemed to do kind of frequently from what I read, you can't really lie about that. It is what it is you either cut class or you didn't. She never told anyone that she was suspended for at her she like her family members did not know. So she was supposed to go to school one day she was 14. She was in bensalem High School. She asked some people to cut with her but nobody would cut with her. That was the last time she was seen was walking away in the rain from bensalem High School, March 7 1983, who drove her to school was Paul Greenwald, Frank, the son of Jean Byrd. Tracy's mother said that he came home in 30 minutes from dropping her off what happened after this? I don't know because as soon as I read this, I was even before knowing what happened afterward to the mother, which is coming next. I still immediately thought that Paul Greenwald did something her her mother's boyfriend. And the only reason I thought that is because seriously, if you read True Crime after true crime, and you really start getting into it, this is why police automatically just put this shot spotlight on family members, because nine times out of 10 it is somebody close to them frighteningly but true. It's just the way it goes. It's it happens. So that is disturbing, but I really thought Paul Greenwald did it. And he was jeans boyfriend, and it was all the people that knew Jean Byrd said she was always a very happy woman. They never known her to complain. In fact, her friend Michelle Stein's or she said she was dressed up in good spirits, was walking to her car and she was supposed to go out with them the next night and that's why they knew something happened because Jean never showed up. Gene bird was last seen at 4am October 7 in the parking lot of Brookside square apartments near Park Avenue. She was unemployed and separated from her husband and in visiting her son Frank, she was reported missing the next day by a friend Michelle Stein of bensalem. After Bert have failed to join Stein and other friends and a weekend of planned activities, it's not like her to do that. And this is from a very old newspaper, actually, October 21 1983 was when this actual article came out. I guess it wasn't a much shock when, several days later on October 18, Jean Byrd who in previous times her her boyfriend, Paul Greenwald, who apparently he was, he seems like he had a lot of issues. He held her at knifepoint, and they weren't like some sort of car chase in Trenton or to train and so he was a known instigator of problems. And then they found her body in Blackbird State Forest, New Castle County, Delaware, heavy duck tape on her face and mouth. The cause of death was a fixie ation so she died not being able to breathe. Which having asthma. I'll tell you right now that has gotten me the most excruciating death I'm sure no death is one at the hands of another but that is, so she died from him wrapping her and duct tape and throwing her body into the, into the forest. They did get Paul Greenwald to confess to this crime. He did say that he killed Jean Byrd and that he was going to plead to manslaughter The next day, although the district attorney said that he was going to charge him with a heavier crime and CV get them on that. But this was never to work, because Mr. Greenwald took an overdose of medication and died in the jail cell the night before he was going to be indicted. So I mean, that just shows the coward that he was all the way around. He never confessed to doing anything that Tracy but I'm just very suspicious even more now. Like maybe he did kill Tracy. You know, I was reading up on suicide, just in Wikipedia, like a brief research about it. And they said most people kill themselves in jail because they're afraid of retaliation by inmates, you know, other inmates their guilt over the crimes they've done or they just don't want to spend life in prison obviously, could have been that could have been all three or maybe he did feel guilty because he was the one who killed Tracy as well as the mother. He definitely killed Jean flashforward forward now bensalem It is so strange. This happened in 1983. Now they said to call with any porn information still to this day, you know, almost 43 almost 40 years ago 37 years. They they still they will not give out any information. They'll take information. I did call and they they want it's still an active case which blew my mind. Now what happened was there was a body that was found of six month pregnant unknown female found it was called publicker industries it was some kind of distillery on State Road in Bucks County. They really thought it was Tracy this whole time. And they the cops kept saying it's not pull Greenwald. It's this bensalem County man and we want him to quote get stomach cancer, worrying about the day that we have enough evidence to charge him with this crime. For whatever reason they had stuff on this guy that they thought it would he was the killer of Tracy but years went by and though they finally they did do a DNA test and it just came back recently it was not Tracy. So she's still her body has never been found. I will point out a missing poster of Tracy Byrd and the number that you can call if you have any information about Tracy Byrd, again, it was happen in 1983. March 7, she was five five she had pierced ears blue eyes, she was a tiny thing. She said she was pregnant, whether or not she was nobody knows, she was never found. And they really didn't have anything except a picture of her to for when she went to the dentist. They but now with familial DNA and especially they have the mother's DNA and mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to child. Now they can do the mitochondrial DNA matches so they would especially having the mother's DNA Be able to figure out if it was Tracy. But so far nothing. So her case is open. And I did. I still think it was that Paul Greenwald. That is my honest opinion. I just can't imagine who else it would be? Well, it's just a little strange that in one family, the mother's dead, the daughter was missing, the guy kills himself in jail. Who else could it be? It's just very odd. So that was the first case I there's really nothing else I can say about it, because that is all the information. I read newspapers. You know, Facebook is actually really good with the Charlie project. They are they very much are heavily into researching missing children. And they have like the age progression photos. They asked for a $3 donation because, you know, it keeps them going. That gave me the most information that even the newspapers, I think the police were so intent on this one guy that they really wouldn't put even now they just will not put out any information. So I don't know, I guess they still want itself. So any information, go to the ratio, podcast calm. That was Tracy Byrd. The next case, the Mark himebaugh case was brought to me by my friend Anthony. He had told it to me before and then, you know, a couple days ago, he had brought it up again and I I ran and I did look that up right away this case, because I think what Tracy Byrd I am not sure the family member is still looking for her. But with the more time ball case, his mother is still actively looking for him. And she seems like the sweetest woman in the world. There is a couple videos on YouTube, Maureen himebaugh if you want to look up her name, and more Chi ball that really go much more deeply into the story than I can. It's really recommended just if anyone really has any information. I would be really amazing to give this woman the closure that she needs. She still lives in the same house. She lives in del haven. If you look at a map you'll see like Wildwood New Jersey and Cape May and right across there's del haven. It's down the shore it's Cape May. And Middleton Township, New Jersey Mark himebaugh was born March 23 1980. He was 11 years old. He's white male red hair, blue eyes. And at the time he was four foot, six inches and weight 85 pounds missing from Del haven New Jersey. He they have an age progression photo which I will put on the right shoe podcast calm and if you have any information, please call 1-800-843-5678 that's one 800. he would be 40 years old now. He was last seen at 4pm they did find his left shoe 75 yards from his home. No other trace has been found but he was last seen wearing a blue sweatshirt, a gray jacket, grey pants and sneakers. And again they did find his left show he has freckles. Now the reason they found his left show which is really horrifying, this story is search chilling. There is a I will try to I have to get the link to this because you have to hear the investigator tell the story. I will put the link on the right shoe calm I have to and the investigator when they were searching for Mark and this truly chilled me to the bone. They did an extensive search she said the amount of people that came out was truly amazing and you know you know I'm sure it really bad part. While you're in the worst point of your life and was horrific. I don't even know how you get through it. part of your life that there was people looking at what this one guy said the way that the pattern something bad had happened. They knew what had happened was there was a marsh fire. I looked up morsch fire and it said it's usually set by well this one particular online says fires get rid of the older dead plant life and the ash fertilizes the soils. The plants that come back tend to hold the Marsh place and resist the erosion. That's problem you know causes issues. So this Marsh fire had been started but I think it got out of control. Everyone in the town was kind of running to see it and you know there's beach areas where they had lived there was like beachy areas and that kind of ground where you can see footprints especially like did you ever run in wet sand that seemed to be What's surrounded this little area that they lived in when they were searching for Mark, one of the investigators said that the way they could see the pattern of the shoes and the feet was that actually, the kid was running. And he was probably running away from somebody so fast that his shoe fell off. That's why they found his left shoe, they could see the pattern, no shoe shoe, no shoe shoe. So this kid was running. And that scared the hell out of me. And I kept thinking, this poor kid running from someone. And and I believe that to be true, because they said they knew when they saw that, that it was not good. And plus they couldn't find the kid. So what had happened. It was a very normal day. Mrs. himebaugh, said that her son was watching TV and nothing was going on. But then this march wire started, and everyone wanted to go see and she called him her little curious, George, it just breaks. It's just Oh, so he she calls him a little Curious George and he ran out. So you know, we wanted to see the Marsh fire, but a neighbor across the street. As for Mrs. Hi boss hell, and getting her to a body shop to get her car. Now Mrs. himebaugh got very upset when she was telling this story, because she said, what normally took five minutes, you know, it was a little five minute run to the body shop ended up taking a half hour due to the they had to divert the traffic. So there was that they had a there was a roadblock. So all the traffic was diverted. And that's why it took her so long. She kept you know, I'm sure you go through that in your head a billion times if if I didn't have to, you know, if that if it wasn't for the Roadblock, if it wasn't for the fact that they're more spire, he would have still been watching TV, guys say, you know, you just want to hug the woman and say, stuff always comes up like it's not your fault. And it's not anybody's fault. It just that part just happened whose fault it is, is, you know, whatever happened after they there was a lot of witnesses that had seen mark, and they saw him with a little girl with blond hair, who was never identified, they do have a picture, I will try to get all these pictures on when you write that down. But because the traffic had been diverted, it is possible that it was just, you know, somebody that maybe their neighbors didn't know, you know, because the traffic was diverted, maybe somebody maybe the cars had stopped and somebody was like, Oh, you know, a little girl and also wanted to watch the march fire. Remember, even in 1991 it was still to the point where kids kind of ran into what they had to until your mom called you in. And this seemed like a very nice community. Everyone saw each other and they all knew like they had seen him at the brush fire. But all of a sudden he was gone. The little girl with the blonde hair, they never identified her. So what happened is they you know, after they found the footprints and all this stuff, they did the event they really did an extensive search. They said it was just, you know, very extensive. Now Mrs. himebaugh said that she will not move outside of that house. Because To this day, she's afraid that that's the only house he knows I did. I had nightmares the last four nights and I this should not happen. I hate the fact that this happened. A mother should never lose her child. It really sucks. And what came next is why it is very upsetting to even think about but what Okay, what my friend Anthony was talking about his dad had went on this grand jury, because one of the persons of interest of all the names, but the guy's name is Thomas, but cabbage. And he seems a total scumbag. I mean, I have to be born. He He's a pedophile, and he is in jail in 2017. He was sentenced to 37 years 36 or 37 years for, you know, child pornography, doing things to children, you know, all pedophile situations, and he is in jail. So I hope, you know, whoever's in there. It just gets to him. Nothing would please me more. But there was a guy out. So it also because there was a rash of missing children around this time, the same time that Mark was missing. They had like they were wondering if Thomas was a serial killer. So they actually had a grand jury at Anthony's dad was a part of this grand jury. They went, and now I was asking homicide, I said, Why do they have grand juries? Look, what's the difference? And all that guy I didn't understand. He said, Now grand juries are different than regular juries. They're still regular people that get called, but it's usually a well, first of all, it's not to determine a verdict. It's determined if they're going to indict somebody with something with a charge in this instance, they said it and usually prosecutors do as they get more of a yes answer. When they bring something to a grand jury, rather than a judge. I think it's a little easier for them to get the green light for a specific case. And they wanted to get this guy Tom is bud cabbage. They wanted to get him. And he said that they there just wasn't enough evidence. So they said no, because they didn't have enough info, you know, there really wasn't anything concrete that they could say he was the serial killer. He did do things. But they especially in the instance of Mark, they have this, they only have the word of this one guy and I do not know why this guy would make this up because this is horrific. Okay, this guy, Daniel Cole had been a prostitute years ago, and Thomas buck cabbage was a repeat customer one day, for some reason it was on Valentine's Day of 1993. He said that Thomas buck habit showed him a video that haunts him for the rest of his life. He said that there was a young boy shackled, handcuffed, and ball gagged being assaulted by Mr. Bob cabbage. And he said the fear in that kid's eyes. He was scared to death. And he said is that the kid that's missing that more time bowl? He said, Well, yeah. And he said, Well, what happened? What happened? What did you do after that? And he said, Well, I did what I did with the five or six other kids, I got rid of them so casually. And and this guy, Daniel Cole swears to this. I, I can't imagine why Daniel Cole would make that up. But yet, in jail when he was arrested in 2017, he said he had nothing to do with Mark Hybels disappearance. So you know, who knows? It sounds like it could be him. But I don't know, maybe. I don't know. It sucks. It really does make me insane. They never found them. She's still out there. She's still, you know, actively looking for them. With that case, I, if I would definitely go to bat and say look, I mean, if you see anything, remember, there is a phone number. It's 1-800-the-lost. And they did how they do age progressions, and they actually get like your DNA, the DNA of your family, and they don't just back in the day, they didn't have computers, stuff like this. And they would just age progress it by making the photo older. Now they really take in your DNA, and they'll ask you, you know, they is finally for certain things. And they really put a lot into these age progression photos. So it really does kind of look like the person should look as they age. So I'm hoping that one day, Mrs. eyeball gets closure for this case. Those are the two cases. I I got through them. I I did that. Especially the mark eyeball case. I did the Tracy Berg case because I was fat. I mean, as a case itself, it is fascinating. It's a shame. I don't know, I don't hear as much of their family. But I'm sure there's family members out there that would like to hear what happened. And with the more kind of wall case, again, she is actively still looking for some sort of peace to resolve that. What happened to her son, there's the cases and again, thank you for every all your support. If there's any cases you want just theRightShoePodcast.com or shopaholicdeb44. There's a lot of cases I as somebody already asked me to do the Diane Schuler case. Diane Schuler was in the 2009 taconic State Parkway crash. It was A very famous case, and it's been done a lot, but it is absolutely a case that makes you wonder. So I just might do that case, because I do know a lot about it. It is Christmas time. Not that that's a Happy Christmas story, but just to so that I can, you know, relax a little during Christmas without stopping the right shoe. I feel like that I know enough about the case where I could literally, I have a distinct opinion on what happened. I really do. So I would actually like to get through that case, I might I might do that case. And that's next unless something else comes up. I did want to do the Philip Kramer case. Taylor Kramer, Philip Taylor Kramer. He was from iron butterfly. And that case is fascinating. So there's a lot of cases rolling around. I can maybe I'll do the Diane Schuler case because it was requested for any request shopaholicDeb44 or theRightShoepodcast.com please get in touch with me. Let me know. Any questions. And as always, I'm still going to do for one more month I did not forget anybody who requested to be put in originally was going to be a contest because I was going to just give away one book the poetry book to Carolynn Kingyens. Before The Big Bang akes a sound. it's a poetry a b ok of poetry. It is so good. Th re was people that that really w re interested so I she sent me several books, so I think'm just gonna give them to peo le who once wants them since I h ve them. Send me a little dm sh paholicDeb44 before the big ba g makes a sound. Excellent fi e star reviews. I mean, it real y is a great poetry book. Just l t me know and I'll just anyo e out. Debbie Q and you' e listening to the right sho