Authorities reject teen’s claim that he is missing Illinois boy Timmothy Pitzen
Authorities have rejected a teenager’s claim that he is an Illinois boy who disappeared in 2011 at age 6.
An Ohio police report said on Wednesday that officers in Kentucky found a 14-year-old boy who said his name was Timmothy Pitzen. He said that he had just escaped from two kidnappers who had been holding him for seven years and run across the border into Kentucky.
A missing boy by the same name disappeared when he was just 6 years old on May 11, 2011.
Timmothy Pitzen is the only child currently missing from Aurora, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Surveillance video captured the boy with his mom, Amy Fry-Pitzen, in Wisconsin Dells. Investigators said she picked him up from school in Illinois and took him to the zoo and to the Dells. She was later found dead in a hotel room in Rockford, Illinois.
Authorities said she killed herself and left a note saying Timmothy Pitzen was safe and being cared for by someone who loved him — but he would never be found.
Police have said in the past there was no evidence Fry-Pitzen harmed the boy — and they believed he was still alive. Timmothy Pitzen would be 14 years old now.
On Thursday, the FBI said DNA testing ruled out the teenager as being Timmothy Pitzen. Police say the story of teenager found wandering streets in Newport, Kentucky, on Wednesday didn’t check out.
Authorities didn’t immediately release the teenager’s true identity or other information.
Police and the boy’s family say there have been other false sightings over the years.