Family pain as DNA tests confirm teenager is not missing Timmothy
THE family of a boy who vanished eight years ago were devastated last night after a DNA test proved a teen claiming to be him was a hoaxer.
The 14-year-old had said he was Timmothy Pitzen, who disappeared aged six after his mum took him out of school for a road trip and then committed suicide, leaving a note saying: “You’ll never find him.”
Relatives had been preparing to welcome the 14-year-old into their arms and grandmother Alana Anderson said: “We never stopped looking for him, thinking about him and we love him, and we’ll do everything to get him back to a good life.”
But their hopes were cruelly dashed as officials said: “DNA results have been returned indicating the person in question is not Timmothy Pitzen.” The teen, described as “skinny” and “agitated”, had
MESSAGE Grandma Alana flagged down a motorist and begged for help fleeing two “bodybuilder-type” men who held him at a motel in Ohio.
Crekasafra Night said the boy stopped her in Newport, Kentucky, saying: “Can you help me? I want to get home.” Ms Night asked what had happened and the lad said he had “been kidnapped and traded through all these people”.
The boy said he had seen his chance to escape and ran over a bridge linking Cincinnati to Kentucky, then kept on jogging for three hours straight.
On the morning of May 11, 2011, Timmothy’s dad Jim had dropped him at Greenman Elementary School in Aurora, Illinois. His mum Amy then arrived to collect him, giving a false story about a family emergency.
Jim had known their marriage was troubled but never imagined she would snatch their son. She took him on a road trip with stops at a zoo and a water park – the last place Timmothy was seen.
Three days later, Amy’s body was found in a hotel room in Rockford, Illinois, with a note that said Timmothy was with people who love him.