A teenager in Kentucky says he is the boy who went missing in 2011 after his mother was found dead in a motel room in Illinois, and the FBI is working with authorities in multiple states to confirm his identity.
Timmothy Pitzen of Aurora, Illinois, was last seen at a water park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, when was 6. He was last known to be in the company of his mother. She was found dead of what appeared to be a suicide in a motel room in Rockford, Illinois, in May 2011, according to a police report and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
If alive, Timmothy would now be 14.
The teenager claiming to be Timmothy identified himself to authorities in Campbell County, Kentucky, on Wednesday morning.
He told investigators he escaped two kidnappers who have held him captive for seven years, according to a Sharonville, Ohio, police report.
He said that he was staying at a Red Roof Inn with his abductors and that after he escaped, he ran across a bridge from Ohio to Kentucky, the police report states. He could not provide the exact location of the hotel, authorities said.
The Sharonville Police Department issued a statement on FacebookWednesday night clarifying it had yet to have any contact with the teenager. “We have no information indicating that the missing juvenile was ever in the city of Sharonville,” police said.
An FBI spokesman told NBC News that agents in Louisville and Cincinnati are coordinating with other police agencies in multiple states on a missing child investigation.
“There will be no further statement made on this matter until we have additional information,” the spokesman said.
