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Soon after Tony moved in, Adam brought his new roommate to his mother, Martine’s, house for dinner. She said she was surprised that her son would give shelter to a street person:

“I thought, ‘My goodness, that’s strange.’ But knowing Adam, the way he is, I really understood it. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s so nice that he wants to help him.’ When I saw Tony and how he talked, and, my God, the smell, it was unbelievable. And, wow, it was scary. It was really scary.”

During the meal, Tony began to wave his hands over his food as if he were blessing it. Still, Martine thought her son and Tony had a good relationship:

“Adam was very, very much wanting to talk about Tony. Adam seemed to understand Tony, and I was led to believe that Tony was really being very kind to Adam as far as helping him grow up as a person and mature. That’s what he said to me, ‘He’s helping me mature as a person.’”

Rebecca Hecht is Adam’s sister:

“At the beginning, Adam was an elite, preppy businessman. He drove a great car and taught tennis. And then he met Tony, and it just all changed. And he became a mystical person, and I just didn’t know him anymore.”

A man in a black coat knocks on a door.

Adam was not in his apartment

With Tony by his side, Adam began to visit a homeless area of Los Angeles and often stayed out on the streets at night. Harold said he wasn’t surprised:

“I know that when Adam sets his mind to something, he really goes whole-heartedly into any type of project. His involvement with street people increased when he met Tony and he started to understand their problems.”

Tony and Adam also shared in strange mystical rites invented by Tony. In one of these rituals, Adam burned his hand severely. According to Adam’s mother, Martine:

“All I know is I saw it, and I said, ‘My God, Adam. What happened to you?’ He said, ‘Oh, I was doing a test of endurance.’”

And then, on June 10, 1989, Harold realized he hadn’t heard from his brother for several days. Concerned, he went to Adam’s apartment. He said that when he arrived, Tony answered the door:

“My brother was not there. His car was not there. And I tried to get in. I said, ‘Where’s Adam? Where’s he gone?’ And in his strange way he didn’t answer the question or seem to really know.”

Adam’s mother said she also went to his apartment and encountered Tony a few days later:

“As I’m walking back down the corridor, he’s following me and he says, ‘Give us a kiss.’ He starts to put his arms around me and it was the most scary thing.”

The family contacted the Beverly Hills Police to file a missing person report and arranged to have Tony evicted. On July 9th, Tony was evicted from the apartment. He made no effort to avoid the police. Local detectives interviewed him and came to the conclusion that he had nothing to do with Adam’s disappearance.

One month later, Adam’s car was found abandoned on a Beverly Hills side street. There were several parking tickets on the windshield. Inside, the keys were still in the ignition. Police also found Adam’s wallet, credit cards, and hundreds of dollars in cash and checks. There were no other clues. Lieutenant Robert Curtis of the Beverly Hills Police Department:

“We wish we knew specifically what happened to Adam Hecht. Apparently, he in the past occasionally had gone away for a few days at a time but always had returned. And whether he did this time and just decided not to return, we don’t know.”

Adam’s brother Harold doesn’t believe he would do that:

“He had a very solid business. He was very active with a number of different people on a number of different levels. For him just to disappear does not fit his character.”