Joe Pichler was one of the young promises of Hollywood in the '90s. At only nine years old, he began acting in sporadic roles in successful series such as Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman or In the House , although it did not take long for the industry to bet more heavily on him.
After moving to Los Angeles from Bremerton, Washington, he became part of successful franchises such as Beethoven , the famous dog saga about the adventures of that Saint Bernard wrapped up in a family. Specifically, he became one of its protagonists in the third installment , in a role that he would also repeat in the fourth film and that helped him work on other animal productions of the decade such as My Friend Shiloh: A New Adventure .
He moved comfortably in this family cinema for all audiences with titles such as Good Ghosts, Bad Ghosts , starring Christopher Lloyd; or Children on Their Birthdays , where she met Sheryl Lee, one of the stars of Twin Peaks . However, at the insistence of her family, she chose to put acting aside and return to her hometown to focus on her studies.
In early 2006, when he was just 19 years old, Pichler disappeared without a trace . According to the media or the missing persons search platform Charlie Project, he was last seen on January 5, while he was with his friends. The next day, his car, a silver Toyota Corolla, was found at a road intersection, but with no sign of the young actor.
A tragedy that never had an answer
According to AFP (via NBC News), in the vehicle he left a note in which he wrote that he wanted to be "a stronger brother" and asked that his belongings go to a younger brother. Despite the signs of suicide, the police did not rule out any scenario , so an investigation was launched and extensive search work was carried out with water rescue teams, tracking dogs and with the help of family and volunteers. But they never found his whereabouts.
His mother, Kathy Pichler, felt that the investigative work was not done correctly . “They have not taken the fingerprints of the car. They examined him. They were in her apartment for about three minutes. "They haven't done anything." In another intervention for Kitsap Sun (via News on 6), spoke about the emotional situation in which Pichler found himself at that time, marked by his return to his hometown, family pressures, and his intention to return to Hollywood.
"I just wanted him to have some normality in his life," said his mother about her decision to bring him back so he could focus on his studies. " He's a good kid and he took it well, but he wasn't very happy about it . We always kept him grounded. He's always been a normal kid with a job that a teenager normally wouldn't have."
18 years after the event, the case of Joe Pichler remains unsolved. No trace was found, his body never appeared, the search tasks ceased little by little and it was finally assumed that he was dead. Over the years, the suicide thesis is the one that gained the most strength. According to police deductions, he was able to jump from a bridge located in the area of his disappearance and be dragged by the water currents , however, the dogs never detected his scent in that area.
His mother, as she made clear in another intervention with the newspaper Seattle Post Intelligence, also fled from this theory and, based on the writing left by the actor in his car, pointed out that “there was no goodbye in his words,” although there was no feasible evidence to draw obvious conclusions. Finally, what could have been a promising career in Hollywood ended with a tragic mystery for which no one found an answer.
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