PICKENS COUNTY, S.C. _ One night 20 years ago, Jason Knapp left his apartment near Clemson University to get dinner. He never came back.
Now, two decades after his mysterious disappearance, Knapp's parents have taken the steps to have him declared legally dead.
"I thought it was time to do it, because half his life was gone," Knapp's mother, Deborah Boogher, told the York Daily Record in his hometown of York, Pa.
Knapp, who was studying mechanical engineering at Clemson, was last seen the night of April 11, 1998, when he left his apartment to go eat, according to the Pickens County Sheriff's Office. He never returned home.
Knapp's pickup was found nine days later at Table Rock State Park in Pickens, according to WYFF. Since then, his case has been featured on "America's Most Wanted," and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children used age-progression photos to show how Knapp might look years later, the station reported.
Knapp was a member of the Army ROTC and had just pledged to the Pershing Rifles 4th Regiment, Company C-4, just days before his disappearance, according to his obituary. He enjoyed mountain biking, target shooting and spending time with his friends, and his goal was to work for NASCAR after graduation.
A memorial service is planned for April 14 in York. A second memorial service will be held April 21 at Military Heritage Plaza on the Clemson campus, and will include the Army ROTC and Pershing Rifles.
"After 20 years, it is still hard after losing your only child," Knapp's father, John Knapp, told Fox Carolina.
Boogher told the York Daily Record that she has been asked many times in the past 20 years what she thinks happened to her son.
"I tell everybody, 'I don't go there,'" she told the newspaper. "That's a dark place you don't want to go, because it'll just pull you down. My goal is to find Jason, and then I'll deal with whatever we find out happened to him."
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