It's hard to imagine a celebrity disappearing without a trace, but it happens.
Which stars have vanished?
How were they found?
We've got the unsettling details on these stories of famous people who mysteriously
disappeared.
Nick Stahl
In May 2012, TMZ confirmed that actor Nick Stahl had gone missing amid rumors that he'd
been seen hanging around Los Angeles' Skid Row.
Shortly after word got out that the troubled actor's whereabouts were unknown, Stahl made
contact with his friends, claiming he was planning to go to rehab.
TMZ confirmed that he did turn up at a rehabilitation center.
But sadly, Stahl went missing again that June after reportedly checking out of rehab against
his doctors' advice.
Making matters more heartbreaking, his wife, Rose Stahl, told the tabloid she would not
actively search for her husband again.
She said,
"I'm backing off.
He knows exactly where home is.
It's the loving thing to do for him, myself and our daughter."
Nick eventually reappeared and reconciled with his family in July.
Sources for TMZ claimed at the time that he had begun attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
But things took a turn for the worse in 2013.
In June of that year, the Terminator 3 star was reportedly placed on a 5150 psychiatric
hold for unknown reasons.
That same month, he was arrested by police who found him and three other people allegedly
using meth in a motel.
Ozzy Osbourne
Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy Osbourne allegedly went missing after tabloids claimed his marriage
to wife Sharon Osbourne was ending over his rumored infidelity…or, shall we say, one
of his many rumored infidelities.
The missing person's case didn't last long, though.
About three hours after Page Six published the headline "Ozzy Osbourne Is Missing" in
May 2016, the tabloid followed up with a report confirming he had turned up fine and well
in Los Angeles.
E! News managed to get in contact with the artist and confirmed he was staying with a
family member in the midst of his marital woes.
Sharon addressed the apparent downfall of her decades-long marriage on an episode of
The Talk.
"I'm 63 years of age, and I can't keep living like this."
Strangely enough, the pair were spotted looking pretty happy at a conference a few days later,
sparking rumors that their split may have been just a publicity stunt.
Governor Mark Sanford
In 2009, Mark Sanford, the then-governor of South Carolina, disappeared for about six
days after telling staffers he was going out on a hike of the Appalachian Trail for vacation.
The episode raised suspicions among journalists, who quickly found inconsistencies in the story.
Those inquiries were validated when Sanford was found not near the trail, but rather at
Atlanta's international airport, looking quote "tired and troubled" as he disembarked a flight
from Argentina.
As it turned out, he wasn't out hiking in the mountains at all, he had really been out
of the country, going to visit his mistress in South America.
"Gina Smith from The State caught him at the airport.
Sounds like we're going to have a lot of explaining to do today."
Sanford admitted to his secret liaison upon his return to the United States and begged
for forgiveness.
Unsurprisingly, his marriage fell apart, but Sanford and his mistress later got engaged.
But this second chance at romance would also be short-lived.
Sanford announced that their engagement was off in a Facebook post in September 2014,
and no one was more surprised to hear about the breakup than his then-fiancée, who said
she only learned about the breakup through the media.
It's a pretty brutal way to go out, but she's probably better off without him.
Randy Quaid
File this under "things we can't make up."
Academy Award-nominee Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi Quaid, fled to Canada in 2010 in
an attempt to seek asylum from a group they referred to as, quote, "Hollywood star whackers"
allegedly out to kill them.
"We believe there are to be a malignant tumor of star whackers in Hollywood."
Their escape to Canada followed a spree of illegal activities by the couple in the United
States that included using fake credit cards to pay for hotel bills and squatting in one
of their former homes.
The couple was granted permission to stay in Canada in 2011.
Evi managed to get Canadian citizenship because her father was born in Canada; Randy's request
was denied in 2013.
Randy was detained by Canadian immigration officials in October 2015 and was set to be
deported back to the United States later that month.
He and Evi were arrested while trying to sneak back into the States through Vermont.
Huh.
No wonder Cousin Eddie was such a wacko.
"Bet you could use a cool one, huh?"
"Now you're talking."
​Casey Kasem
In May 2014, a judge ordered that the whereabouts of legendary radio host Casey Kasem be disclosed
after Kasem's children claimed they could not find him.
The order was made as Kasem's daughter, Kerri, was named Kasem's temporary conservator, a
big win for Kasem's children in their long and painful battle with Kasem's wife, Jean.
Kasem's children, knowing him to be in declining health, expressed fears that he had been taken
out of the country in anticipation of the court's ruling on his conservatorship.
A missing person's report was filed with Santa Monica cops, and Kasem was reported to be
found in the state of Washington shortly afterwards.
He died about a month later at the age of 82.
The drama between Kasem's children and his widow continued after his death and culminated
with his remains being buried in Norway six months later.
Richard Stanley
A lot of wacky things happened on the set of the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau.
On the top of that list is what happened after director Richard Stanley was fired just three
days into production.
After being let go, Stanley was supposed to be escorted onto a flight to Los Angeles from
the remote set in Australia, but when his plane arrived in LAX, Stanley was not on board.
Some of the film's extras discovered him about a month later, living in the jungle around
the film shoot.
He was reportedly making use of a nearby fruit plantation, surviving off of gathered yams
and coconuts, as well as his own personal weed stash.
Stanley actually teamed up with the extras to concoct a way to get back onto the set
by dressing up as a mutant dog and blending in with the background actors.
Stanley did so because he was worried about his friends left behind on set who had only
agreed to film the movie because he was directing it.
He later said he had no regrets about his period of survivalist surveillance.
He told The Telegraph,
"I did find it reassuring and psychologically helpful in the long term.
It made me realise the situation was even more shambolic without me."
Fair enough.
but couldn't he have just waited for the VHS?
​Andrew Koenig
The parents of Growing Pains star Andrew Koenig reported their son missing on February 14,
2010, after he failed to board a flight from Vancouver, Canada to Los Angeles.
His body was later discovered by friends in a Vancouver-area park.
Koenig reportedly committed suicide.
Koenig's father, Star Trek actor Walter Koenig, addressed his son's death at a press conference,
stating that he and his wife had received a despondent note from Koenig that had been
written about a week before his body was discovered, and that he had stopped taking medication
for depression.
In the wake of the tragedy, Andrew's parents spoke openly to those contemplating suicide.
"If you can learn anything from this, it's that there are people out there who really
care."
Margot Kidder
Superman star Margot Kidder was found hiding out in the bushes of a suburban California
home by police after she had been missing for four days in April 1996.
She was found unkempt and paranoid with bruises and scratches on her body, and had reportedly
cut her hair with a razor blade.
The actress was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
Kidder later revealed that she suffered from manic depression and was working hard to better
manage her disease.
She said in a 1996 interview with People,
"I'm not saying it's all over.
I'm saying this is the pattern of my life…I just have to accept the fact that this is
me, or I ain't gonna make it."
Kidder ultimately passed away from suicide in May 2018 at age 69.
Kurt Cobain
The final days of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain have been described as a chaotic crisis.
After years of using heroin, Cobain entered a Los Angeles-based rehab center in April
1994.
He reportedly told the staff he was stepping out for a smoke, but his widow, Courtney Love,
said he jumped over the fence of the facility and went missing.
Cobain's mom, Wendy O'Connor, filed a missing person's report on April 4, 1994, saying she
was afraid for her son's safety and telling police he might be suicidal.
It was later discovered that Cobain had caught a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle, where
he reportedly spent days aimlessly wandering around.
Sometime on or before April 5, he headed up to a greenhouse built above his garage, wrote
a one-page note, and took his own life with a shotgun at the age of 27.
Patrick McDermott
The disappearance of Patrick McDermott, the once-boyfriend of singer-actress Olivia Newton-John,
has captivated the press since he went missing during a fishing trip in 2005.
He was initially presumed to be dead, but the real story is a little bit more complicated,
and scandalous.
It seems that McDermott may have actually disappeared on purpose, faking his death to
escape debts and other obligations.
He has reportedly been spotted numerous times throughout the years, including in 2006 when
the owners of a café told a private investigator hired by Extra that McDermott visited their
place of business with a mystery blonde.
It was alleged in March 2016 that McDermott was not only still alive and well, but living
in the remote village of Sayulita, Mexico with his German girlfriend.
"I saw his face around town a few times, it's such a small town."
"He's been on this boat more than once, I believe."
Thankfully, Newton-John hasn't been sitting around waiting for his return.
She moved on and married her current husband, John Easterling, in 2008.
​Michael Cavallari
Michael Cavallari, the brother of reality TV star Kristin Cavallari, was
reported missing after his car was found abandoned on a Utah highway on November 27, 2015.
About two weeks after he went missing, Michael's body was located three miles away from his
vehicle.
An autopsy report released in February 2016 confirmed that Michael had died in the cold
from hypothermia.
Kristin wrote on Instagram in December 2015,
"My heart is in a million pieces.
Mikey, I could always count on you to make me laugh.
You had such a good heart and you will be forever missed.
I'm at a loss for words but I know u are in a better place and finally at peace.
I love u so much RIP."
After he went missing, it was reported that Michael had been arrested on November 23,
2015, for allegedly standing outside of a woman's apartment with a shotgun following
an argument.
He'd previously been arrested for petty theft and DUI.
Sinead O'Connor
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor was reported missing twice in 2016.
The first incident occurred in May after O'Connor reportedly went for a bike ride in a Chicago
suburb and didn't return.
The "Nothing Compares 2 U" star was classified as missing and potentially suicidal by police
before she was found safe at a hotel and transferred to a hospital.
A little over a month later, Chicago police went searching for O'Connor again after Ireland
authorities called to say she had threatened to jump off a bridge in the Chicago area.
Shortly after the reports were published, O'Connor, who had openly battled mental-health
issues for years, took to Facebook to deny rumors that she was suicidal.
Jesse Camp
Jesse Camp made headlines when his twin sister Marisha Camp filed a missing person's report
on July 19, 2018.
Police told Entertainment Tonight that Camp's family had lost contact with him earlier that
month.
It was said at the time that Camp, best known for winning MTV's Wanna Be a VJ contest in
1998, was suffering from depression and possibly struggling with a drug addiction.
Marisha sprung into action by pleading on her Instagram Story:
"If anyone has seen or heard from my brother Jesse since Saturday, please, please, please
reach out to me or ask him to call home!!!"
He was finally confirmed safe by police four days after he was reported missing.
So, what happened?
Well, we're still not sure.
The eccentric rocker took to his Instagram in an attempt to explain his disappearance,
writing in part,
"One lesson I definitely learned from all of this is that it is not smart to sit underneath
a coconut tree if you are not wearing a helmet !!! I don't know how long I had been out for
before I was awoken by a bearded elf named Gandolf Garcia…or Officer Garcia as he insisted
upon being addressed as."
Obviously, that's not exactly what happened, but he doesn't have to explain himself if
he doesn't want to.
The most important thing is that he turned up okay.
Fan Bingbing
Fan Bingbing, one of China's highest-paid stars, was catapulted into the Western limelight
when she starred in 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past.
But in July 2018, the media was reporting she had suddenly disappeared, leaving American
producers in the dark as to her whereabouts.
Rumors began to swirl that the actress was facing charges of tax evasion in her home
country, and it was revealed by the Chinese government that the actress had been placed
in secret detention.
She was eventually released after she agreed to pay nearly $130 million in back taxes and
fines.
Upon her reemergence, she issued an apology on her Weibo social media account
which read, in part,
"I am deeply ashamed and guilty about what I have done.
My sincere apologies to you."
Richard Simmons
There was once a time when the public couldn't escape Richard Simmons, especially during
the fitness craze of the 1980s.
He was everywhere, from television shows to the covers of magazines.
But fans became increasingly worried about the fitness guru when his public appearances
came to a screeching halt in February 2014, when Simmons apparently abandoned his fitness
studio and withdrew from public life.
For three years, he simply vanished, spurring theories that he was dead, in hiding, or even
being kept prisoner.
It wasn't until March 2017 that the rumors prompted police to conduct a welfare check
at Simmons' home, after which they spoke to People to affirm that Simmons was fine, happy,
and right where he wanted to be.
But still, doubts persisted, and the real reasons behind the fitness guru's sudden departure
from the spotlight remain a subject of fascination to this day.
J-Kwon
Jerrell C. Jones, better known as J-Kwon, made a name for himself by rapping about everybody
in the club gettin' tipsy.
But before long, the nightlife-loving artist disappeared from the music charts and the
public eye.
His friend and manager Dorian Washington told VIBE in early March 2010,
"I had called him two weeks back because we had a promo tour.
I emailed him, called him, text[ed] him, Twitter'd him…kept on calling.
Last time I actually saw him was in August [2009]."
His label issued a statement in March 2010, asking fans to help locate the rapper.
They even set up a special, since-suspended Twitter account, @whereisjkwon, to raise more
awareness regarding his disappearance.
The following day, Washington revealed that the rapper has been located, stating that
he was okay and apologetic over sparking such concern.
As J-Kwon's manager put it,
"He was taking some time to himself as he sometimes does, not realizing that people
would start to worry after a while."
J-Kwon's self-titled album was released that same month, leading many to assume his disappearance
was nothing more than a publicity stunt.
Scott Hutchison
Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison often used music as an outlet to deal with his darker
thoughts.
Though his battle with depression was well known, fans were still puzzled when Hutchison
sent out a series of cryptic tweets in May 2018.
One read,
"Be so good to everyone you love.
It's not a given.
I'm so annoyed that it's not.
I didn't live by that standard and it kills me.
Please, hug your loved ones."
In a second and final tweet, he wrote,
"I'm away now.
Thanks."
The next day, his bandmates announced in a tweet that Hutchison had gone missing, writing
of the frontman that,
"He may be in a fragile state and may not be making the best decisions for himself right
now."
The singer was last seen leaving a hotel in South Queensferry, Scotland.
His body was found a day later on May 10, 2018, after which his family released a statement
commending him for being so open about mental health struggles during his life.
Dave Chappelle
The early 2000s brought us the sensational sketch comedy program Chappelle's Show.
Co-created by Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, the program was a game changer of a sketch
program, tackling issues of race in America with both wisdom and irreverence.
By the end of Season 2, fans were fiending for more sketches featuring the show's popular
characters, which is partially why Chappelle made the decision to essentially self-destruct
the show.
Chappelle and his program were enormously popular, allowing him to negotiate a new deal
with Comedy Central for an outstanding eight-figure sum.
But during the production of the third season, Chappelle soured on the show, fearful that
audiences were no longer laughing with its racial satire, but taking it all at face value
instead.
Suddenly, Chappelle went missing in action.
No, he wasn't on a drug binge or purifying himself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.
He was in South Africa, getting away from it all.
During a later interview with David Letterman, Chappelle poked fun at his disappearance from
the spotlight.
"Technically, I never quit.
I'm seven years late for work."
After years of living in semi-retirement in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Chappelle returned to
the spotlight with new comedy specials with Netflix, more than making up for the Chappelle's
Show money he walked away from years before.
Jason Mewes
Jason Mewes came up as one of the world's most unlikely actors, catapulted to fame on
the back of his character Jay, as in, Jay and Silent Bob.
But Mewes' fortunes reversed as his relationship with drugs turned from a source of comedy
to a seriously concerning addiction, specifically to opiates.
While the late 90s and early 2000s were in some way the height of Mewes' career, filmmaker
Kevin Smith, the Silent Bob to Mewes' Jay, later described the era as the lowest point
in Mewes' life.
Smith recalled Mewes being intoxicated on set, stealing from friends, and facing legal
consequences for heroin possession.
When he failed to turn up for a promotional appearance for a project he was working on,
producers reported him missing, leading to a short-lived rumor that the comic actor had
actually died.
After a warrant was issued for his arrest in his home state of New Jersey, Mewes effectively
paused his acting career to make an effort at recovery, which fortunately took.
"I think I just got so strung out that I, like, fell off and, like, disappeared.
It wasn't necessarily that I stepped away on purpose, it's just that I had no reason
to be in the area of Hollywood."
On top of returning to acting and making his directorial debut, Mewes spent years traveling
the country, and recording a podcast with Smith, Jay and Silent Bob Get Old, which helped
him and the series' many listeners through the process of recovery.
"The podcast was, like, non-stop reminder, and then over time it was awesome.
People were coming up to me, being like, 'Hey, I've been listening to the podcast for the
last year.
And now I have a year and a month sober.
Every day I thought about using, I would listen to another episode, another episode, and it's
helped me stay on track.'"
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).