In the late morning of March 2, 1982, 46-year-old Kenneth Arthur Schweighart was seen walking away from the grounds of the New Lisbon State School, a facility for developmentally disabled individuals in New Lisbon, New Jersey. He had been a resident at the institution, which is now known as the New Lisbon Developmental Center, for about four years. His family resided in Garfield, New Jersey. On the day he vanished, he was reportedly last seen at 11:45 a.m. and was wearing a blue jacket, a green and blue checkered shirt, and blue pants. Kenneth, a white male with graying brown hair and described as having either blue or brown eyes, may have had a scar on his forehead. He was approximately 5'7' to 5'9' tall and weighed between 145 and 155 pounds. Kenneth is described as being mildly mentally disabled with an IQ of 58 and was considered to be gentle and not violent. He has not been seen or heard from since he left the campus.
The disappearance of Kenneth Schweighart is unsettlingly not an isolated incident at the New Lisbon facility. Seven years prior, in 1975, two other residents, Steven Anderson and David Williams, vanished from the same institution together and have also never been found. While there is no established connection between the cases, the circumstances have raised concerns. The institution, which was originally for males only, is now a coed facility. The cases of all three missing residents remain unsolved, leaving their families with unanswered questions.
Decades have passed since Kenneth Schweighart was last seen, and his case has grown cold. Despite the passage of time, the search for answers continues. The lack of information and media attention surrounding his disappearance, as well as the cases of Steven Anderson and David Williams, has been a source of frustration. The New Jersey State Human Services Police are the investigating agency for Kenneth's case. The overview of this case is one of a vulnerable adult who went missing from a state institution under circumstances that remain unclear. The fact that two other individuals disappeared from the same location years earlier adds a layer of complexity and concern to the ongoing investigation into what happened to Kenneth Schweighart.Last Seen: Mar 2, 1982
