14-year-old tells police in Kentucky he's missing boy from Illinois


Police in suburban Cincinnati are trying to positively identify a 14-year-old boy who says he is Timmothy Pitzen, a boy who vanished from Illinois in 2011.
The teenager told police in Campbell County, Kentucky, that he escaped from a Red Roof Inn in Ohio where he had been staying with two men who kidnapped him seven years ago. The boy "kept running across a bridge" into Kentucky, the incident report states. He described the men as being white with "body-builder like physiques," driving a Ford SUV with Wisconsin plates.
Timmothy Pitzen was only 6 years old when he disappeared from Aurora, Illinois. Police found his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, dead in a hotel room, after she took her own life. A few days before she was found, Fry-Pitzen picked her son up from school after his father dropped him off, and they went to a Wisconsin water park and a zoo. In a note, she wrote that her son was fine but would never be found, and police believed she had left him with someone she knew.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Aurora Police Sgt. Bill Rowley said his department has received "thousands of tips" over the years about Timmothy, and they looked for him in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa; Rowley added that he sent two detectives to Cincinnati to see if this is the real Timmothy Pitzen. Timmothy's grandmother, Alana Anderson, told WISN-TV the family is afraid to "get our hopes up. We've had false reports and false hopes before." A DNA test has been conducted.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
October 13 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Donald Trump's consolation prize, government workers during shutdown, and more
-
Can Gaza momentum help end the war in Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles hints at ‘warming relations’ between Ukraine and US
-
The Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners being released
The Explainer Triumphant Donald Trump addresses the Israeli parliament as families on both sides of the Gaza war reunite with their loved ones
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Fire
speed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan church
Speed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school mass
Speed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murders
speed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bail
Speed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambush
Speed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrial
Speed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside home
speed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband