Tashman was last seen in Staten Island, New York on January 26, 2005. He had been visiting a friend and was last seen departing for home at 2:45 a.m. He never arrived and has never been heard from again. His cellular phone was left behind at home when he vanished.

Later that morning, Tashman's parents found a message he had written and left beneath a television remote control in his bedroom. It read: "Sorry about this. No wake, no funeral." His parents notified police immediately, but for unknown reasons authorities did not begin an official search for Tashman for six days.

Tashman's friends and family stated that they had not seen any indication that he was suicidal prior to his disappearance. He had broken up with his girlfriend shortly before his disappearance and was very upset about it, and she says he told her he had considered suicide before. Nonetheless, Tashman's loved ones do not believe he would have taken his own life. His parents stated that his disappearance was completely out of character and they do not know what could have caused him to leave; he had never even visited a friend's home before without parental permission.

Tashman was a junior at Port Richmond High School at the time of his disappearance. He resided part time with his parents on Brabant Street in the Mariners Harbor neighborhood of Staten Island, and part time in Bensonhurst with his adult sister, who was vacationing out of the country at the time of his disappearance. He is an avid skateboarder and investigators have searched for him at skateboard parks in Brooklyn, Greenwich Village, Staten Island and the East Village of Manhattan in New York City.

Some agencies classify Tashman as a runaway, but he is considered to be an endangered missing person due to his depression and the note he left. His disappearance remains unsolved.