In June 1989, Adam Hecht, the 23-year-old son of an Academy Award-winning film producer, vanished from his well-to-do life in Beverly Hills without a trace. Weeks later, his unlocked car was discovered on Camden Drive, with the keys in the ignition and his wallet seemingly untouched. With no evidence pointing toward a crime or suicide, Adam’s disappearance perplexes investigators to this day.

“He’s a missing person, and we don’t know why,” Beverly Hills Police Department Lt. Chris Coulter said.

Coulter became an investigator on the case in 2014, when after 25 years, the department received a peculiar tip that Adam was living in New Mexico and working as a college professor. Coulter and the department investigated the tip – even sending an officer to interview the man – but determined with certainty that it was a different person with the same name. Since then, Coulter has continued to pursue any leads, but evidence remains scarce. The case is one of only two unsolved missing persons in Beverly Hills.

“There’s just a bunch of theories at this point,” Coulter said.

Thirty-six years since Adam Hecht went missing, his story is a puzzling convergence of wealth, poverty, compassion, tragedy and perseverance. With no solid leads, the Hecht family is left with only a web of unknowable possibilities and intangible speculation. Theories attempting to explain what happened to Adam include homelessness, mysticism, a cult, a business deal gone wrong or even a sophisticated murder.

Adam Arthur Hecht was born on Aug. 6, 1965, to Martine Millner, a British model and actress, and Harold Hecht, a Hollywood renaissance man whose many titles included producer, dance director and talent agent. The elder Hecht experienced vast success during the golden age of the silver screen, founding an independent production company alongside Burt Lancaster and producing such acclaimed films as the 1955 Oscar winner for Best Picture  “Marty.” However, Martine and Harold separated in 1974, and Harold died of cancer in 1985 at the age of 78.

Adam grew up in Beverly Hills alongside his older brother, Harold Jr., and younger sister Rebecca. He also had three half siblings from his father’s first marriage whom  he did not see as often.

“He was a great brother, and was a very good person,” Harold Jr. said.

Harold Jr., who lives in West Hollywood and is now a television producer for sporting events, described the siblings’ upbringing as comfortable and privileged, like many families in Beverly Hills at the time. Although Harold Jr. attended UC Berkeley, Adam chose not to go to college after graduating Beverly Hills High School. Adam remained in his hometown, living in an apartment on Bedford Drive and teaching tennis to families in the area. In the summer of 1989, however, things began to change for Adam.

“He was a little disillusioned with life around the time he disappeared, trying to figure out what he exactly wanted to do with life after high school,” Harold Jr. said.

Adam seemed disenchanted with wealth and material belongings. He became interested in meditation and yoga, and perhaps most of all, helping the less fortunate. Adam began frequently donating to the homeless, often venturing to Downtown Los Angeles, where he would spend time with unhoused individuals.

It was during this time that Adam made an unlikely friend – a homeless man living on the streets of Beverly Hills named Tony. Known for having one eye and behaving erratically, Tony was believed to be mentally ill. Always one to extend a helping hand, Adam allowed Tony to live with him in his apartment.

In one instance, Adam brought Tony to his mother’s home in Beverly Hills for dinner, where Tony performed strange rituals including waving his hands over the food.

“Adam was very much wanting to talk about Tony and they seemed to have a good relationship,” Adam’s mother Martine said in a 1990 episode of “Unsolved Mysteries” that covered the disappearance. “Adam seemed to understand Tony. And I was led to believe that Tony was being very kind to Adam as far as helping him grow up as a person, mature. That’s what he said to me, ‘he’s helping me mature as a person.’”

Martine added that she noticed a strange burn scar on Adam’s hand, evidently a remnant of something Adam and Tony did together.

“I said ‘my God Adam, what happened to you?’ He said, ‘oh I was testing a test of endurance. Tony told me – we were experimenting to see how it would make me stronger,’” Martine said.

Harold Jr. explained that through their father’s Hollywood connections, the family was close friends with the hard-boiled host of “Unsolved Mysteries,” Robert Stack. The family hoped the popular television series might lead to a break in the case, and Stack agreed to help. After the episode aired, tips came flooding in of people reportedly seeing Adam. But every tip led to a dead end.

Harold Jr. recalled last seeing Adam on a bench outside the Neiman Marcus store on Wilshire Boulevard. The brothers sat together and discussed the meaning of life, and Adam again expressed a sense of disillusionment as he tried to find his true purpose.

The two were close, and after not hearing from him for a few days, Harold Jr. began to worry. On June 10, 1989, he went to Adam’s apartment to try and find him. He noticed Adam’s car was not in the driveway. When he knocked on the door, he was met with Adam’s new roommate Tony, who did not let him in. Harold Jr. asked Tony where Adam could be.

“In his strange, strange way, he did not answer that question, or seem to really know,” Harold Jr. said.

After several attempts to get a hold of Adam, the Hecht family hired a private investigator, filed a missing person report and began the process to have Tony evicted from the apartment. Tony was evicted on July 9, and was interviewed by the Beverly Hills Police Department.

“There was nothing to confirm that he had anything to do with the missing person,” Lt. Coulter said.

Despite the unusual circumstances surrounding Tony, police found nothing suggesting he was involved in Adam’s disappearance. In fact, investigators found no evidence of a crime inside Adam’s apartment – or anywhere at all.

Approximately one month after Adam went missing, his car was discovered parked on Camden Drive, with several parking tickets on the windshield. The car was unlocked, and the keys were in the ignition. His wallet, containing credit cards and $600 in cash and checks, was left on the seat. Adam’s car was the last piece of evidence connected to him that would ever be found.

“In this case there was really no evidence that he was the victim of a crime,” Lt. Coulter said. “The apartment was fine. His car was fine – other than being parked unlocked in the business district – but no signs of a struggle. No blood, no evidence that any crime occurred there.”

If there was no crime, what happened to Adam? Coulter said that there’s also no evidence to suggest Adam took his own life. He didn’t leave a note expressing that he planned on ending his life, and no trace of a body was ever found.

Coulter explained that it’s exceptionally unlikely for someone to commit suicide and their body not be discovered after their death.

“Even people jumping off bridges, bodies usually still wash up on the shore at some point. That’s the unique thing – if that is the case, he’s just never turned up,” Coulter said.

Although the BHPD didn’t find a definite suicide note, Couter pointed out some peculiarities.

“There are some things that I can’t really get into that also make us believe that there is a potential that it could have been a … that he was in a –,” Coulter said before cutting himself off. “There were some documents found that – I wouldn’t classify them as a suicide note but I would also not say they weren’t. All that I can say is that it was a handwritten note that we attributed back to Adam.”

Investigators think it’s possible Adam may have left of his own volition.

“Maybe [he] moved to another country and assumed another identity and is living in another country – and living his best life hopefully,” Coulter speculated. “But there was nothing to lead us to believe that that would’ve been something that he wanted to do. That’s what was weird about it. His relationship with his family didn’t appear to be fractured or difficult.”

With seemingly no solid leads, Adam’s case remains open to this day.

“The case remains in a suspended status pending any new information,” Coulter said.

Harold Jr. said he believes the police exhausted every lead and did a commendable job in investigating his brother’s disappearance. In the decades since Adam’s abrupt disappearance, Harold Jr. has developed his own theories on what might have happened to his brother.

He believes Adam may have joined a cult, given his burgeoning interest in something beyond the material world. With Southern California’s history of eccentric new age religious movements – and more sinister groups like the Manson Family – it’s certainly a possibility.

“Maybe he got involved in a group that has locked him in a way with his brain that he can’t think straight,” Harold Jr. said.

Harold Jr. also believes it’s possible that Adam’s life was cut short in 1989. He recalls Adam associating with a man named Andy, who Harold Jr. described as a shady real estate agent. Harold Jr. said Adam even lived with Andy for a short time as a high school student, while Andy ran a tutoring business. Harold Jr. alleged that through an investment scheme, Andy defrauded their mother of more than $100,000. Perhaps Adam was going to confront Andy about the bad deal.

“I don’t know for sure, but I think he could have done Adam harm, and he might have. I just don’t have any evidence to that but I just know that he started out very helpful with the family and turned out to be really unhelpful and that was not just with my mom but with my brother Adam,” Harold Jr. said.

Or perhaps Adam simply gave up his comfortable life in Beverly Hills, becoming homeless, like his friend Tony, out of his own free will.

“The truth of it is that it is a mystery,” Harold Jr. said.

Although Adam vanished with seemingly no trace, another character in the story of Adam’s disappearance has lingered, even returning to Beverly Hills.

Lt. Coulter said in the 36 years since Adam went missing, Tony has routinely been spotted throughout the city.

“He disappeared for a little bit but I think that was because the city found some alternative living for him. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him, but he’s around for sure,” Coulter said.

In February 2024, Harold Jr. ran into Tony outside of Nate ‘n Al’s Deli on North Beverly Drive. He attempted to ask Tony about what happened to Adam, or if he remembered anything from his time living with him. Harold Jr. even captured the strange interaction on video.

To put simply, Tony’s responses are perplexing. At times, he’s incoherent – stammering about “The Beverly Hillbillies” or referring to himself as the “owner” of Beverly Hills. However, at others, he seems to vaguely recall living with Adam, answering Harold Jr.’s questions with mysterious ambiguities.

“What’s happening with Adam, where is he?” Harold Jr. asked in the video.

“You know where he’s at,” Tony said, arms crossed and smiling.

“You’ve never seen him?” Harold Jr. asked.

“What do you mean never seen him?” Tony said with a grin. “If we’re talking about him, he’s gotta be somewhere, right? Tell the truth.”

As intriguing as some of Tony’s answers are, Harold Jr. said he doesn’t believe Tony was involved with Adam’s disappearance.

Lt. Coulter said he has also seen Tony in Beverly Hills several times, and has tried to talk to him about the case.

“When you ask him about him it’s clear that he knows who he is,” Coulter said. However, he added that he doesn’t believe Tony has helpful information on the disappearance that could lead to the case being solved.

Harold Jr. agreed.

“I think he’s just an opportunistic person who’s got some screws loose … but also just a survivor,” Harold Jr. said. “He’s still in the Beverly Hills area 30 years later, looking very similar and just surviving.”

Tony’s perseverance and survival for 36 years while living on the streets begs the question, has Adam survived? Harold Jr. thinks it’s possible his brother may still be out there somewhere – Adam would have turned 60 years old in 2025. But Harold Jr. also believes Adam may have died. He weighs the two possibilities at approximately 50-50, he said.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with in my life, and it’s tremendously sad,” Harold Jr. said.

He said the disappearance had a particularly heartbreaking impact on their mother Martine, who is 89 and still lives in Beverly Hills.

“I think for my mom, the fact that there’s no closure is probably the biggest thing, because you just don’t know what happened,” Harold Jr. said. “It’s just so sad.”

In addition to the 1990 episode of “Unsolved Mysteries,” the case has recently become the focus of several missing persons blogs and true crime podcasts. Internet sleuths and independent investigators like Heather Graupmann, the creator of the Lostnfound podcast, have tried their hand at attempting to put the puzzle pieces together. But still, the case remains a mystery.

Harold Jr. said that while a breakthrough in the case would be miraculous, the family doesn’t expect to find many more answers after all these years.

“We’re not holding our breath, we’ve kind of moved on in a certain sense, but around holidays and around birthdays it’s very difficult and remains that way,” Harold Jr. said. “It probably always will be.”

One day after our conversation, Harold Jr. received a note in the mail from the Beverly Hills Police Department.

“At this time, we need to verify that you have no additional new information pertaining to this report which may assist us with this continuing investigation,” the note read.

Lt. Coulter said the letter is a standard notice sent to family members of a missing person regularly to confirm that the person is still missing, and said it did not signify any new leads or developments.

However, Harold Jr. said it was the first time he had ever received such a notice.

If you have information that may help locate Adam Hecht, contact the Beverly Hills Police Department’s Detective Bureau at (310)285-2158 or the 24-hour Watch Commander at (310)285-2125.