Beethoven child actor Joe Pichler disappeared in 2006 with case still unsolved

When people disappear without a trace, you don’t expect it to be someone who was once in the public eye.

An example of this would be child actor, Joe Pichler, who starred in two Beethoven movies and vanished at the age of 18.

Having started his career at the age of four beginning his acting roles in TV commercials at six, Pichler was on the path to fame after growing his portfolio.

After landing bigger roles as he grew older, which included an appearance in Touched by an Angel and Varsity Blues, things were looking great for the child actor.

He was suddenly hit with popularity in 2000, when he was cast in Beethoven’s third instalment and went on to reprise his role a year later for Beethoven’s fourth.

But things would take a strange turn after New Year in 2006, as the 18-year-old disappeared into thin air.

The circumstances surrounding his departure would be mysterious as well, after he called his friend at 4am on 5 January.

Universal Pictures

According to the friend in question, the child star was intoxicated and ‘inconsolable’ during their call together.

But it didn’t seem as though anything would happen to him, as Pichler went on to tell the friend that he would call an hour later before hanging up.

Except, he never did, and this was the last time he was ever heard from.

It was only a couple days later on 9 January that his silver Toyota Corolla was found with a note inside containing poetry and an apology for not being a better role model to his young brother.

He also went on to express his want for his siblings to have his belongings.

Unfortunately, his car was parked close to a body of water called Port Washington Narrows in his hometown of Bremerton in Washington, which led to investigators to believe that he had taken his own life after his family reported him missing on the January 16.

But his family disagreed.

It was only days after his disappearance, that his sister, Shawna Pichler, told the Kitsap Sun: “He's probably too embarrassed to come home.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

"In the worst-case scenario, if anything, it's foul play. But not suicide."

His brother Matthew added: "He left that note saying that he wanted to start over.”

His mum then went on to speak with the Seattle Post-Intelligence and claimed that a detective told her: "I don't know how to say this to you without sounding really bad, but basically I think your son's dead, and it could take months for him to show up in the water."

Though a Bremerton detective disputed this claim and instead said he told Kathy Pichler that ‘state rules require that the department obtain dental records of any missing persons who haven't been found after 40 days’.

Kathy went on to say that despite the note found inside his car, ‘there was no goodbye.’

But there has yet to be any closure of what happened to Pichler.

Anyone with any information should get in touch with the Bremerton Police Department.