Mar 5, 2026
Black Student Goes MISSING After Being Violently Threatened with Knife
Black Student Goes MISSING After Being Violently Threatened with Knife
- 14 minutes
We have an indisputable
in-depth exclusive.
This is a hard story. Put it a full mask.
A black Rutgers student
has been missing for 100 days,
[00:00:15]
and the white male last seen with him had
threatened him with a knife months prior.
You're looking at 22 year old Mortimer
Mortimer Wortman, known as Morty.
[00:00:32]
Now, this is the 33 year old Adam Zaalouk,
the man who threatened him
with a knife this summer.
We do have the background.
I'm going to give you
as much information as we can.
The incident in July
that led to Adam facing criminal charges.
[00:00:51]
According to an affidavit
of probable cause, Adam allegedly
asked Wortman for a sexual favor.
When he refused this sexual favor, Adam
[00:01:08]
became irate and decided to threaten him.
Threaten him with a knife by advancing
toward him with the blade extended.
Adam then reportedly carved the word slut
[00:01:25]
slut into the young Mr. Wortman's car,
before ramming the back of the vehicle
two times, the affidavit states.
Mr. Wortman actually captured
the incident on video.
[00:01:44]
Indisputable does not have
that video as of yet.
We are working to obtain it.
So Adam then was charged
with third degree terroristic threats,
third and fourth degree weapons offenses,
[00:02:00]
and fourth degree criminal mischief,
Chief, according to online court records.
The nature of their relationship
is unclear.
Morty's brother Ivan Mark, said,
though he believes they may have met
[00:02:18]
on a dating app and started seeing
each other within the past year.
Adam was released without bail
in the police department's investigation,
have not declared him a suspect
in the mysterious disappearance
of this young Rutgers student.
[00:02:33]
Quote he was chasing my son
somewhere around town in Point Pleasant.
The public called. He got arrested.
Father Mortimer Wortman, the third,
told CBS News New York.
Well, there is no bail.
[00:02:50]
There was no bail. They let him out.
So Adam Zilliox hearing regarding
the knife threat was this Monday.
He got himself a plea deal.
So Adam actually pleaded guilty.
He will avoid jail time
as part of the deal, which the Ocean
[00:03:08]
County prosecutor says was offered because
Wortman isn't available to testify.
Now, this is ironic, isn't it?
Two other charges of weapons possession
and criminal mischief were dropped.
Adam agreed to pretrial intervention
and to attend an anger management program.
[00:03:25]
Now, because the individual who's
the victim is not able to be produced
for testimony to assist the prosecution
in executing the case.
Because of that, the individual that
admitted by way of a guilty plea
[00:03:45]
to assault will get a lighter penalty
because the individual is missing.
Now, once again, according to the latest
information, that person is not listed as
[00:04:02]
a person of interest in the disappearance.
Okay.
All right.
So months before his Disappearance.
Morty filed a protective order that was
not enforced because he was consistently
stalked by Adam, according to the report.
[00:04:20]
Waltman's family says that despite a no
contact order in the weeks leading up
to the disappearance,
Adam Adam's white SUV had been spotted
outside of the young Mr. Waltman's house.
[00:04:35]
Quote.
His dad says he did look out there
and saw that the car out there
and saw the car out there.
And then the car pulled off,
said Wortman's cousin, Omar Reyes.
There's another quote.
I know Adam did something.
[00:04:53]
Wortman would never just disappear.
He would never leave his family.
He's a mama's boy.
Adam had something to do with it,
said Wortman's friend, Trinity Cottrell.
He was telling me in the summer
that he was being stalked by Adam,
and there were numerous conversations
[00:05:10]
that Wortman expressed was expressed.
Excuse me? That he was in fear for that.
What happened leading up to
this disappearance, on November 21st.
So according to marks, Wortman
[00:05:29]
and Adam met up at regional day school
the night Wortman disappeared, the two
reportedly drove behind the school in
Adam's car and went into Collier's meal.
[00:05:46]
That's a wooded nature preserve
toward a fire pit.
Both individuals then allegedly
got into a heated argument before Wortman
ran off into the woods, Mark said,
relaying that Adam's version of the events
relaying Adam's version of the events,
[00:06:03]
Mark said Adam reported
Wortman missing around 12 p.m.
The following day.
Maudie's friend alleged
that Adam never checked Maudie's house
to see if he was there prior
to reporting him missing the next day.
[00:06:19]
According to him, his family
coordinated a local search effort.
His mother said, quote, my family members,
they took off the whole week
like we were out there every day
all the way to nighttime.
[00:06:36]
We were out there for over 12 hours
just searching and searching.
Mother Johanna Reyes said
in the three months since, Johanna has
continued to search for her son.
She is dedicated to looking for him,
rain or shine.
[00:06:54]
Quote. I've been out there.
I have ripped coats,
I have my pants have gotten ripped.
I lost my hat a million times, she said.
I've gotten stuck out there.
I'm still going out to search.
Do I believe he is there?
No. Is that all we got?
[00:07:12]
Yes.
Well, I continue to search what we have.
Yes, because that's all I have.
Johanna said,
they have not found a single trace of him.
In the woods. As you can imagine, a chance
[00:07:30]
in hell or a parent is a chance.
And so while she can say no,
I actually don't believe that it
is probable he's in these woods.
[00:07:46]
There's no other lead but the woods.
And so she's continuing
to search for her son there.
The family, however, is not buying
the narrative that he got lost.
The family says Wortman loved the woods.
[00:08:02]
They don't believe he simply got lost,
especially with his car parked
just two miles away.
Quote.
Like he could have got lost in the night.
But I know by the next day
he would have found his way Somewhere.
Mark said, quote,
it is very mind boggling.
[00:08:19]
End quote.
And those close to him
don't believe he just ran away.
What is sudden disappearance is
out of character for the college senior,
who is close with his family
and involved on campus, an active student.
That's according to Mark's quote.
[00:08:34]
He was very invested in his family,
a really good kid, Mark said.
Never the runaway type.
He was just always such a bubbly,
positive person.
Marks said another quote absolutely, 100%.
We are all convinced that Adam
[00:08:52]
has something to do with it, marks added.
Quote. Our family wants an arrest.
We want him to be arrested.
And this is another day.
He is walking away free.
End quote, said Mark.
I want to reiterate the authorities
have not charged him and they have not
[00:09:11]
listed him as a person of interest
according to the information that we have.
All right, all right, there's more.
The prosecutor's office stated, quote,
details about more specific investigative
efforts cannot be released at this time.
This investigation is active and ongoing.
End quote.
[00:09:28]
No suspects or persons of interest
have been named.
And more.
This disappearance, despite the pain
she feels not knowing where her son is.
Johanna is being patient.
Quote I know it's an
ongoing investigation.
She said, quote,
and I have to trust, trust the process.
[00:09:45]
I want to show you some of the areas.
Let's put it up.
This is in Jackson Township.
The area that Morty disappeared
is known for its,
Confederate flags and the overwhelming
support for Donald Trump to help convey
the essence of this town are going
[00:10:00]
to show you photos of a house boasting
Confederate flags that displayed what
appears to be a KKK Halloween display.
This was back in 2021, in that
same neighborhood, when a local news
outlet posted about Boyd's disappearance,
locals made a joke of it.
[00:10:16]
You can see them joking there, Ryan says.
Of course someone may have harmed him.
Just take a look at him.
Mike says based on that photo,
I'm afraid for the people he's harming.
And Diana says, well, well,
that damn nappy hair and bull earring.
[00:10:33]
Yeah, he don't hang with normal peeps.
Okay. The kind of person Morty is.
So Morty's disappearance
has left a huge hole in the home.
Quote. He's been.
[00:10:49]
And also since he was little.
She said, always polite, kind,
very talkative, gentle, giant.
Not a mean bone in him.
She said he gave me hugs, kisses.
I love you every day.
At the time of his disappearance,
Morty was a senior at Rutgers University
[00:11:09]
studying to be a landscape architect
and commuting from home.
Quote.
That was his passion.
Like he loved plants, Johanna said.
Morty's hometown, with the help of the
center for Missing Persons, is offering
[00:11:27]
a $10,000 reward for anyone who might
have information about the disappearance.
That information is there.
Also, at indisputable,
we want to help the family.
If you would like to donate to Morty's
family to help them as they continue
to search and hire a private investigator,
they're almost at their goal of $40,000.
[00:11:44]
Sometimes when a case like this happens
and I've been, a catalyst to help families
hire a private investigator,
or when the body is found, a
private autopsy, it costs a lot of money.
Private investigators cost money.
Autopsies cost money.
[00:12:02]
Getting to the bottom of things
cost money.
Everything costs money
if you do it privately.
And when you don't have the kind of
support locally required to solve a case
or to find a missing person, you have to
rely on volunteers and private resources.
[00:12:19]
So if you can do the very best you can
to support this family.
Alright, we'll continue
to bring you updates as they come.
Dear brother thoughts?
Well, first I want to echo
what you just said.
I encourage anybody who heard this story
and found it to be harrowing like I did.
[00:12:34]
It's a heinous situation.
I can't imagine being in that family's
place, you know, make action out of your
feelings and, and and donate to this
family going through this terrible moment.
You know, as you were going
over the details, it felt like
[00:12:49]
so many miscarriages of justice
stacked right on top of one another.
And I, you know, work in family law here.
And oftentimes we have a situation
where a person has a protective order
against another person
and it is not prosecuted effectively.
[00:13:06]
So complaint after complaint
after complaint are made and,
nothing adequately is done.
And all of a sudden some
the unthinkable happens and everybody's
looking around like, oh gosh,
what could have done to prevent this?
And I understand the movement toward this.
[00:13:23]
And I think there was some allegations
that the gentleman who had the protective
order against him, had been released
on a previous charge with a cashless bail.
And I understand the movement toward that.
I remember in 2020.
What what what the what the, protests
were about and all those sort of things.
[00:13:42]
But I think we've overcorrected
in some instances.
I think, you know, now we've we've gone
to the point of where we
were harshly punishing, people
based on their socioeconomic status.
And so now we're not punishing people,
actual criminals.
And now we've got actual criminals
running the streets and badgering people
[00:13:59]
and, you know, get arrested and released
and arrested, released, arrested,
released till they finally do something
like that, to amounts to a murder or,
involved in a disappearance, whatever
the situation may be here, but this town
will be in my thoughts and prayers.
I wish we had some common sense
criminal justice reform
[00:14:15]
that doesn't perpetually victimize people.
Yeah, very well said.
We will keep you updated
as the story develops.
Hopefully there's more information soon.
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