Rutgers Student Disappears After Taking Ride From Man Who Allegedly Threatened Him in the Past

“Wortman’s family told CBS News that the same driver threatened him with a knife over the summer.”

Posted by Mike LaChance Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 12:00pm 0 Comments

This story is nuts. Never get into a car with creepy people!

Rutgers University student vanishes after hitching ride with acquaintance who terrorized him: family

A Rutgers University student missing for over two weeks was last seen hitching a ride with an acquaintance who his family claimed was arrested for threatening him with a knife over the summer.

Mortimer “Morty” Wortman IV, a 22-year-old senior at Rutgers University, was last seen on surveillance footage in the Regional Day School parking lot in Jackson, NJ, on the evening of Nov. 21, where his car was later found, News 12 New Jersey reported.

In the footage, Wortman enters a vehicle and the pair drives off.

Wortman’s family told CBS News that the same driver threatened him with a knife over the summer.

“He was chasing my son somewhere around town in Point Pleasant. The public called, and he got arrested. There was no bail. They let him out,” his father, Mortimer Wortman III, told the outlet.

The family claimed that the same man was the one who reported Wortman missing on Nov. 22 and are pushing for police to re-interview him.

“I think my little brother is — he likes to see the best in people, and I’m sure he could have been coerced or persuaded to, you know, get in the vehicle,” Wortman’s brother, Ivan Marks, told the outlet.

News 12 New Jersey identified the man as Adam Zalouk, who had his hearing for the alleged knife-wielding case postponed at the Ocean County Courthouse on Monday.

Zalouk was supposed to face charges relating to a July incident where he allegedly threatened Wortman with a knife, rammed the rear of his car, and vandalized it, the outlet reported. The judge, though, postponed the hearing without explanation.