Timmothy Pitzen: Teen Says He Is Missing Illinois Boy

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AURORA, IL — Nearly eight years after 6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen vanished and his mother was found dead in a Rockford motel room, Aurora police and the FBI are reportedly investigating a possible break in the case. The FBI confirmed to the Chicago Tribune that it is working with police agencies, including the Aurora Police Department, to determine if a boy found Wednesday in Kentucky is Pitzen, and authorities say the investigation has since led them to Cincinnati.

Aurora police have now sent two detectives to Ohio as part of the investigation, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“We still have no confirmation of the identity of the person located, but hope to have something later this afternoon or early this evening,” Aurora police said Thursday morning. “Our primary focus here is in assisting the FBI in their investigation, and provide information from our missing person case involving Timmothy Pitzen, should this prove to be him. Unless or until his identity is confirmed, we have no official statement at this time.”

A teenage boy reportedly told police he is Timmothy Pitzen and that he escaped his captors in Ohio and ran across a bridge into Kentucky, according to Cincinnati.com.

Six-year-old Timmothy was last seen on May 13, 2011, with his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, on surveillance camera footage at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells.

Amy Fry-Pitzen was later found dead in a Rockford hotel room after having apparently taken her own life. Fry-Pitzen left behind a suicide note saying Timmothy was safe with someone who would take care of him, adding, “You will never find him.”

Where Is Timmothy Pitzen? Aurora Boy Vanished 6 Years Ago

Timmothy has been missing ever since — but police in Newport, Kentucky, said a 14-year-old boy found wandering Wednesday told officers he been kidnapped years ago and that his name is Timmothy Pitzen, according to CBS affiliate WKRC-TV. Police were reportedly called because the boy looked out of place.

Timmothy Pitzen would be 14 years old now.

Aurora police spokesman Sgt. Bill Rowley told the Chicago Tribune that the department receives thousands of tips on the Pitzen case each day.

“We have no idea if this is Timmothy Pitzen,” Rowley said. “We don’t know if it’s a hoax. Obviously, everyone’s hopeful, but we have to be super judicious.”

An FBI spokesman in Louisville, Kentucky, said the agency is working with Cincinnati and Newport police, the Hamilton County, Ohio, sheriff’s office and Aurora police. Sharonville, Ohio, police said they were sent to a local Red Roof Inn Tuesday morning to look for possible abduction suspects but did not find anyone, according to the Tribune.

Prior to her suicide, Fry-Pitzen pulled Timmothy out of class at Greenman Elementary School on Aurora’s West Side on the morning of May 11, 2011. Police at the time said the mother and son spent an afternoon at the Brookfield Zoo before checking into Key Lime Cove in Gurnee, then headed to the Kalahari Resort — the last place Timmothy was seen.

In 2011, police said Amy Fry-Pitzen and husband Jim Pitzen were married and living together but “there were signs of marital strife” and her departure wasn’t unusual, according to the Rockford Register Star.

Based on Fry-Pitzen’s cell phone records, police believe she and Timmothy were in the Sterling area between noon and 1:30 p.m. on Friday, May 13, two days after Timmothy was pulled out of school. The mother made several phone calls to friends and relatives indicating that she and Timmothy were OK, and a relative was able to speak to the boy on the phone at around 1:30 p.m., according to police.

Fry-Pitzen was seen alone around 8 p.m. on May 13 at a grocery store in Winnebago, and Timmothy wasn’t with her when she checked into the Rockford Inn around 11:30 p.m. that night, the Register Star reported.

Fry-Pitzen’s body was found at around 12:30 p.m. the next day, dead of an apparent suicide with slashes to her wrists and neck. Her vehicle, a 2004 Ford Expedition, was in the motel parking lot.

This is not the first time police have received a tip from someone who believed they had spotted Timmothy alive.

Since 2011, leads on the boy’s whereabouts have turned up little. But in 2014, on the same day an age-progressed photo of Timmothy was released, a Winnebago County woman claimed to have seen him at a garage sale, according to NBC Chicago. That lead didn’t pan out, nor did a 2015 tip that a child living in Orlando, Florida, looked just like little Timmothy.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

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