Matthew Scott Whisman was a 25-year-old Hispanic man who was last known to be in the Drumore area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on March 23, 2024. Early records described his location after that point as unknown, leaving his loved ones without a clear explanation for why he had suddenly disappeared. Matthew stood approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed about 150 pounds, and had brown hair and brown eyes.
He had connections to communities throughout southern Lancaster County as well as neighboring Maryland. As weeks passed without contact, the silence surrounding him became increasingly alarming, especially because there were no verified sightings, travel records, or communications showing that he had voluntarily left the area.
Matthew’s family did not immediately know what had happened to him. On July 2, 2024, after his mother had gone months without seeing or hearing from her son, his disappearance was reported to the Pennsylvania State Police. The Lancaster Criminal Investigation Unit began examining his movements and speaking with people who had been around him during the final days in which he was known to be alive. Authorities publicly described the circumstances as suspicious and asked anyone with information to contact the state police. What initially appeared to be a search for a missing young man soon developed into an investigation involving a January 2024 shooting in Rising Sun, Maryland, and Matthew’s cooperation with law enforcement concerning that incident.
Investigators eventually determined that Matthew had gone to a residence in the 1100 block of Lancaster Pike in East Drumore Township on April 3, 2024. According to prosecutors, Steven Scott Gaddis and two of Matthew’s relatives, Jeremy Absher and Alexander Whisman, discovered information indicating that Matthew had been assisting police with the Maryland shooting investigation. Authorities alleged that the three men confronted him inside the house, assaulted him and prevented him from leaving. Matthew was reportedly taken into a bathroom, beaten and forced to shower in what investigators believed was an attempt to remove evidence of the assault. He was then held in the basement before being forced into a vehicle.
Prosecutors said Matthew was driven away from the Lancaster Pike residence against his will and injected with a lethal amount of fentanyl. His body was then thrown from a bridge over Conowingo Creek in Cecil County, Maryland. The men allegedly left most of their telephones behind before traveling, an action authorities believed was intended to make their movements more difficult to trace. Matthew’s family remained unaware of his fate while investigators reconstructed the events through witness interviews, phone evidence and statements from people who had knowledge of what had occurred. One witness reportedly told police that something terrible had happened to Matthew and identified Gaddis, Absher and Alexander Whisman as the people responsible.
On August 8, 2024, a counselor near a Girl Scout camp in Cecil County discovered skeletal remains along the bank of Conowingo Creek, close to a hiking trail. The remains were later identified as Matthew’s, ending the uncertainty about whether he might still return home but confirming the devastating outcome his family had feared. The case was no longer an unresolved disappearance: official reports established that Matthew had been found deceased. The discovery connected the Lancaster County investigation to the Maryland location where authorities alleged his body had been discarded following the kidnapping.
In October 2024, Gaddis, Absher and Alexander Whisman were charged with multiple offenses in connection with Matthew’s death, including murder, kidnapping and intimidation of a witness. At the time the charges were announced, the three were already being held in correctional facilities or juvenile detention on unrelated matters. Investigators alleged that Matthew was killed because of his cooperation with law enforcement, transforming the case from a missing-person investigation into a prosecution centered on retaliation, abduction and murder.
Steven Gaddis later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit third-degree murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping and intimidation of a witness. In March 2026, he was sentenced to 43 to 100 years in state prison for his role in Matthew’s killing and for offenses connected to the earlier shooting investigation. During the sentencing proceedings, a statement from Matthew’s mother described the permanent absence his death had created within their family. The prosecutions of Jeremy Absher and Alexander Whisman remained pending when Gaddis was sentenced, meaning the legal process surrounding the other two accused men had not yet reached a final resolution.
Matthew Whisman’s case began with a young man vanishing from rural Lancaster County and a family enduring months without answers. It ultimately became the story of an alleged betrayal by people Matthew knew and trusted, a prolonged effort by investigators to uncover what occurred inside an East Drumore Township home, and the heartbreaking discovery of his remains miles away in Maryland. Although one defendant has admitted his role and received a lengthy prison sentence, the remaining prosecutions continue to form part of the pursuit of full accountability. Matthew’s disappearance is therefore resolved in the most tragic sense: he was located deceased, three men were charged in connection with his kidnapping and death, and the case stands as a painful reminder of the enduring harm left behind when a missing-person search ends not with a reunion, but with a family mourning a life that was taken.Last Seen: Mar 23, 2024
