Chilling celeb disappearances – washed out to sea to vanished without a trace

While it might seem nearly impossible for a celebrity to vanish both from the public eye and from their personal lives, in tragic circumstances it has happened again and again.

Some well-known figures were catapulted further up the ladder of fame due to their disappearances, like D.B. Cooper and Amelia Earhart. But for others, like Manic Street Preachers star Richey Edwards, their fame only made it even more confusing that they were never found in the first place.

For Beethoven child star Joe Pichler, whose case remains unsolved to this day, he left friends devastated after vanishing seemingly into thin air. Other cases were eventually solved in even more tragic ways, with 24 actor Julian Sands sadly found dead six months after his disappearance.

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Daily Star takes a look into the unsettling disappearances of celebrities who remain gone to this day.

Joe Pichler

Beethoven child star Joe Pichler was just 18 years old when he vanished. The actor starred in everything from R.L. Stine’s The Nightmare Room to Varsity Blues, but in January 2006, he called his friend in the early hours, “inconsolable”.

Pichler promised he would call back in an hour and hung up – but he never got back in touch. Even more mysteriously, Joe’s car – a silver Toyota Corolla – was found four days later on January 9th, with a note inside.

The note contained a poem and a message that he wanted to be a better role model for his younger brother – also noting that he wanted his belongings to be passed on to his siblings. Police assumed Joe had sadly taken his own life, with his vehicle found close to the Port Washington Narrows in Bremerton – a large body of water that led cops to a verdict of suicide.

No body has ever been found, and his parents pointed out that Joe had left the door to his apartment unlocked and the lights on, which they classified as unusual. His brother Matthew theorised: “He left that note saying that he wanted to start over.”

Richey Edwards

Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards went missing back in 1995, leaving fans of the band devastated. He was last seen checking out of his London hotel to make a drive to Wales, and then crossing the Severn Bridge which connects the two countries.

But there, the trail goes cold. Richey, who was 27 at the time of his disappearance, is presumed by many to have sadly taken his own life after jumping off the bridge, and was declared legally dead in 2008. But no traces of his remains have ever been found, and sightings of the elusive star have been reported up and down the UK.

Some conspiracy theorists have even pointed to Richey staging his own disappearance, with 2019 book Withdrawn Traces: Searching for the Truth About Richey Manic claiming a pattern emerged that hinted at him planning to vanish. He had apparently been fascinated with disappearances in childhood, and found a new interest in artists living in exile.

On the day he disappeared, a box was left on his hotel bed with “items which referred to disappearance”. He is also thought to have handed his passport off to a woman called Vivian, who was in his room with him the night before he vanished.

Scott Smith

Rock star Scott Smith found fame as part of the band Loverboy, who recruited him as a bassist when he was still a student at the University of Manitoba. He worked on iconic tracks like Turn Me Loose and Lucky Ones – but years later, he would vanish.

In 2000, Loverboy were performing at a charity concert for Juvenile Diabetes Research in Vancouver. He decided, along with his fiancée and a close pal, to sail his boat all the way from Canada to Mexico. But as soon as they hit the waters off San Francisco, the waters became dangerously choppy.

Ben Ellis, the friend who accompanied Smith and his fiancée on the sailing trip, left Smith at the helm while he went downstairs for extra wet weather gear. But the boat was suddenly smashed by a wave 25-feet high, knocked on its side.

Smith was flung into the icy current, and despite searching, Ellis couldn’t find any trace of his friend. Coast Guard helicopters and search boats were called to the scene, searching more than 133 square miles for the star, but the height of the waves meant the search had to be called off.

The star’s remains have never been found, though he was eventually declared dead. At the time of year, the water would have measured just 13 degrees Celsius.

Glenn Miller

Despite his intense success as a musician in the 40s, Glenn Miller took the decision to entertain US troops during World War II. But in December 1944, the Moonlight Serenade star was heading to France from England when his plane vanished over the English Channel.

The US Army Major is believed to have boarded a UC-64A Norseman for his planned performance for Allied troops. The reigning theory is that the plane crashed over the water after the fuel intakes froze over.

Senior consultant to the Glenn Miller Archive Dennis Spragg posits: “The icing took three forms: engine icing, carburettor icing and induction ice. And that’s the kind of ice that forms on the fuel tanks and fuel lines, feeding fuel to the engine.”

The plane is believed to have disintegrated on impact, killing its passengers instantly. However, his remains were never found.

Jim Sullivan

Singer-songwriter Jim Sullivan had just checked into a motel in Santa Rosa on his way to Nashville in 1975, as though it was a perfectly normal day. He was later spotted purchasing a bottle of vodka. After that, he was spotted 26 miles away at a remote ranch.

But after that, things get blurry. His vehicle was found abandoned at the ranch, with Jim apparently seen walking away from it. It contained all his money, papers, clothes and his guitar. Jim, however, was never seen again.

Theories of him being abducted by aliens pervaded headlines, while others suggested he became lost while walking or was murdered. A decomposing body was later found several miles away, but was not positively identified as Sullivan.

Connie Converse

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Pioneering musician Connie Converse was making music throughout the 50s and 60s in New York City, but until a few of her early recordings were released in 2009, plenty of folks had never heard of her. The One By One hitmaker gave up on music in 1974 – and completely vanished.

Fans speculate Connie moved away to start a new life. For a decade before her disappearance she had worked in conflict resolution, working against police brutality. But in 1974 she wrote letters to friends and family, telling them not to look for her, and disappeared to start her new life.

One of her goodbye letters read: “To survive it all, I expect I must drift back down through the other half of the twentieth twentieth, which I already know pretty well, to the hundreth twentieth, which I have only heard about. I might survive there quite a few years – who knows? But you understand I have to do it with no benign umbrella.

“Human society fascinates me & awes me & fills me with grief & joy; I just can’t find my place to plug into it. So let me go, please; and please accept my thanks for those happy times… I am in everyone’s debt.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk