Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

I didn't see this posted anywhere so thought I would add.

Police still searching for missing Aurora boy
http://www.suntimes.com/news/5399469-417/police-still-searching-for-missing-aurora-boy.html
 ::snipping2::
Police in at least three states continued to search for Aurora kindergartner Timothy J. Pitzen on Sunday, a day after his mother was found dead in a Rockford motel room after slitting her wrists.

The 6-year-old boy who was last seen with his mother, Amy J. Fry-Pitzen, checking out of the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. Police said Fry-Pitzen left a note indicating that Timothy was fine and in the care of unnamed people.
 ::snipping2::

Facebook Page Info:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Help-Find-Timothy-Pitzen/203228266385811?sk=info (https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Help-Find-Timothy-Pitzen/203228266385811?sk=info) Edit/hyperlink.  MB

 ::snipping2::
 TIMOTHY J. PITZEN
Case Type: Endangered Missing
Missing Date: May 12, 2011
DOB: Oct 18, 2004
Age Now: 6
Sex: Male
Race: White
Height: 4'2" (127 cm)
Weight: 70 lbs (32 kg)
Missing State : Illinois
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Missing City: AURORA
Missing Country: United States
Case Number: NCMC1171960

Circumstances: Timothy is missing from Aurora, Illinois, but was last seen at a water park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. He was last known to be in the company of his mother who has since been found deceased in Rockford, Illinois. Timothy may go by the nickname Tim or Timmy.

CALL 1-800 THE LOST if you have information to help locate Timothy. You can remain anonymous  ::snipping2::

Fix name in subject title.  MB

(http://www.suntimes.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=HU$KveEo6In$qUEYG0tgLM$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYs9GRy3n73aSxVIOph5k24BWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg)

Fix name in subject title.  MB

Thanks Wildmala for starting this thread. I had asked Klaas a little bit ago to start one in the JSM thread...I will let her know that this one exists...

I live in the Rockford area as does Tolerance another poster here..
the mom killed herself in a Rockford hotel..not in the best section of town..it has been all over our news and news papers..
I hope this little child will be found..
Have not heard anything about a  volunteer search going on here..if there is one, I will probably go to help..

Fix name in subject title.  MB

Hi, Cookie  ::MonkeyAngel::
Praying for Timothy, as well.

Fix name in subject title.  MB

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-feds-join-missing-boy-search-may18,0,1220265.story
Video
FBI and US Marshals join search for missing Aurora boy
Timothy Pitzen was reported missing a week ago, his mother was found dead last Saturday
May 18, 2011

AURORA, Ill.—
Federal Authorities have joined the search for a missing 6-year-old boy from Aurora.

The FBI and U.S. Marshals are teaming up with the Aurora police department to find Timothy Pitzen.
 ::snipping2::
On Saturday, Amy Fry-Pitzen was found dead in a Rockford motel room . Her body was discovered by hotel workers. Police say the woman had committed suicide.

Amy Fry-Pitzen left behind a note saying Timothy was fine and in the care of unidentified people.

Anyone with information about this case should call Aurora Police at             630-256-5500      , or 911.

Fix name in subject title.  MB

http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=14671004

Focus in missing Aurora boy search shifts to Sterling area

Aurora police, the FBI and U.S. Marshals are focusing on the Sterling/Rock Falls area in the search for an Aurora boy that turned up missing after his mother was found dead in Rockford.
 ::snipping2::
Police say they are focusing on the Sterling/Rock Falls area after tracking the cell phone calls made on Friday. On Wednesday, investigators distributed flyers with Timothy's picture and physical description at rest stops, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses along the I-88 and I-39 corridors in the Sterling/Rock Falls area.

On Monday, police confirmed Timothy's child safety seat and Spider Man backpack are missing from the 2004 Ford Expedition SUV that was left at the Rockford Motel. Police are hopeful that means she did drop him off with a friend or acquaintance.
 ::snipping2::
Fix name in subject title. MB

she could have dropped his car seat and back pack anywhere..

I am worried for this little boy..
if she had dropped him with friends, they would have come forward by now wouldn't they?
this poor kid...God bless him...
Fix name in subject title.  MB

Hi Tolerance...
how are ya? miss you... ::MonkeyKiss::

circle of prayer for Timothy...

Fix name in subject title.  MB

Cookie I think I have to agree with you but go one step further...as much as I wish he was alive I don't believe he is.  I believe someone would've come forward if they had the child unless left with very bad people.  I pray he's okay and maybe he's far enough away that the people that have him don't know the situation with the Mom.  That is our best hope.  I guess I'm jaded by the way things are now.  I've lost a little bit of my hope.  I'm checking on all our kids and the missing here at SM and day by day the postings are getting fewer and fewer with no news of them.  What is happening?  
Fix name in subject title.  MB

cookie, the car seat has been found!


http://dailyherald.com/article/20110521/news/705219915/
Fix name in subject title. MB

Article updated: 5/21/2011 2:39 PM
Missing Aurora boy’s car seat found
By Marie Wilson


Police still have not found missing Aurora boy Timmothy Pitzen, but they did locate one of his belongings they originally thought went missing from his mother’s car May 13 — the last time the boy was heard from.

Authorities said Saturday they confirmed 6-year-old Timmothy’s car seat has been with his maternal grandmother since before May 11, when his mother checked him out of Greenman Elementary School, beginning a trip that started with stops at a few resorts in Illinois and Wisconsin and ended with Amy Fry-Pitzen dead and Timmothy nowhere to be found.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://dailyherald.com/article/20110521/news/705219915/#ixzz1N27N4Odc

thank you for the info..

so, this is worse than we might have thought..he never had his car seat..unless she bought him a new one which I doubt. She was then transporting this child all over the place without a safety seat.Course if she did something to him, the last thing she would be worried about is if he was in a safety seat.
things don't look good...sadly

I know exactly what you are saying melisb..
I was starting at the top of the list here of threads of missing or dead children/people the other day and it was a bit overwhelming when I stopped to think about it..And this is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak..lots are missing that we haven't even read or heard about or have "dropped " off the news because of a newer case that came up..Sad isn't it
Fix subject title.  MB

Timothy Pitzen: Father of missing Aurora boy gives candid interview

http://www.examiner.com/missing-persons-in-national/timothy-pitzen-father-of-missing-aurora-boy-give-candid-interview
Fix name in subject title. MB

http://www.wgntv.com/wgntv-pitzen-fry-funeral-may21,0,301287.story

Funeral for missing boy's mom Saturday
As authorities decide whether to resume their search for Timothy Pitzen, friends and family prepare to say their final farewells to his mother

J. Zellermayer
WGN News
May 21, 2011

Funeral services will take place Saturday for the mother of a missing Aurora boy.

 ::snipping2::

Timothy Pitzen, 6, was last heard from May 13 during a cellphone call with a relative, authorities said.

After tracing the phone call to an area near Sterling, Rock Falls and Dixon off Interstate Highway 88, law enforcement officers distributed fliers throughout the region asking for help finding the boy.

 ::snipping2::

His mom's funeral is set for 10 o'clock Saturday morning in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sugar Grove
Fix name in subject title. MB

With picture gallery

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/5488382-417/family-mourns-mother-in-closed-service.html

Family mourns mother in closed service
By Jenette Sturges jsturges@stmedianetwork.com May 21, 2011 10:18PM

It was a silent, somber scene.

Around 10 a.m. rain drizzled down intermittently outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Sugar Grove on Saturday as mourners filed in to the funeral of Amy Fry-Pitzen, who took her life one week ago in a Rockford motel room and left behind her 6-year-old son, Timmothy.

 ::snipping2::
Fix name in subject title. MB

Klaas or Mods, if you see this post, please correct the spelling of the boy's name to Timmothy.  Thanks. Done.  MB


With video

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/pitzen-search-122397084.html

Search for Boy Continues as Mother Laid to Rest
Saturday, May 21, 2011 | Updated 8:02 PM CDT

 ::snipping2::

Despite a massive search that's ensnared federal authorities and taken investigators from Aurora to Dixon to Rock Falls, the 6-year-old is nowhere to be found.

In a statement released Saturday, authorities said they were wrong about a detail they'd originally found encouraging.  Missing from the mother's vehicle was the boy's carseat.  Investigators had thought that meant it was with the boy and with a friend or relative.

It was discovered Friday that the carseat is with the boy's maternal grandmother, with whom he'd spent time a week prior.

Saturday's statement also corrected the spelling of the missing boy's first name to Timmothy.

 ::snipping2::

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/pitzen-search-122397084.html#ixzz1N6oYwqHL

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8145006

Aurora police release new photo of missing boy
Updated at 10:06 AM today

May 22, 2011 (AURORA, Ill.) (WLS) -- A new photo of missing 6-year-old Aurora boy Timmothy Pitzen as authorities announced a new development in the case.

 ::snipping2::

Authorities discovered Timmothy Pitzen's car seat was not in his mother's car. Initially that lead them to believe his mother may have left the car seat with whomever she left her son. However, Aurora police announced this weekend that the boy's grandmother had taken the car seat a week earlier.

 ::snipping2::
Fix name in subject line.  MB

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewChildDetail&caseNum=1171960&orgPrefix=NCMC&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US

says Timothy

I saw that.  But I wonder if they haven't updated.  :smt102

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/pitzen-search-122397084.html#ixzz1N6oYwqHL
 ::snipping2::
In a statement released Saturday, authorities said they were wrong about a detail they'd originally found encouraging.  Missing from the mother's vehicle was the boy's carseat.  Investigators had thought that meant it was with the boy and with a friend or relative.

It was discovered Friday that the carseat is with the boy's maternal grandmother, with whom he'd spent time a week prior.

Saturday's statement also corrected the spelling of the missing boy's first name to Timmothy.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/pitzen-search-122397084.html#ixzz1NE31auzC

http://legacy.suburbanchicagonews.com/obituaries/stng-beaconnews/obituary.aspx?n=Amy-Fry-Pitzen&pid=151134519
Amy Fry-Pitzen
Fry-Pitzen, Amy Joan Marie 43, passed away Saturday, May 14, 2011 in Rockford. She was born May 3, 1968 to Lee and Alana (Anderson) Fry. Amy grew up in Libertyville and graduated from Libertyville High School and Iowa State University. She was united in marriage to James Pitzen and together had a son, Timmothy James.
 ::snipping2::

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-cops-press-on-in-missing-boy-case-despite-setback-20110523,0,5668071.story

Cops press on in missing boy case despite setback
Tribune reporter
5:53 p.m. CDT, May 23, 2011

The realization that 6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen’s car booster seat was at his grandmother’s home -- and not with the persons in whom his mother said she had trusted his care -- was a setback in the investigation to find the missing boy, authorities said today.

But police continue to follow leads in the case and may conduct another search for the boy later this week.

 ::snipping2::

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/5542325-418/im-not-going-to-give-up-hope.html

“I’m not going to give up hope’
By Matt Hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com May 24, 2011 06:46PM

AURORA — In the backyard, Jim Pitzen has started an impressive tree house. He’s a handy guy and the project is bold. When finished, it will have an 8-foot by 12-foot main room, plus a porch, the perfect perch for a 6-year-old boy to look out on his backyard kingdom.

 ::snipping2::

After driving his wife to work early May 11, Jim Pitzen dropped the couple’s only son at Greenman Elementary School. Both his son and wife’s goodbyes that day had been utterly normal: love you and a see you later. Amy seemed normal, Jim said. The couple had met in Ames, Iowa, at a going away party. They moved their 1-year-old son into a two-story home on the West Side of Aurora in 2006.

 ::snipping2::

Police have said that Amy had a history of mental health struggles, including one previous suicide attempt. Neither Jim nor Amy had any criminal history.

Jim Pitzen declined to comment at all on his wife’s mental health. On Tuesday at his home, he stressed she was a good mom who had a good relationship with her son.

 ::snipping2::

Police and the family have gone through months worth of credit card receipts, e-mails, iPass records and cell phone calls. Detectives are combing through three of Amy’s computers for any clues. Last week, they conducted a massive search in the Sterling-Rock Falls area, where Amy call made those last family calls before she shut her phone off.

Investigators found nothing useful. As with any investigation, the calls have tapered off although they’re still coming in.

 ::snipping2::

“I would literally love to see my son again at home, where he belongs,” Jim Pitzen said Tuesday.

It’s easy for Jim to find hope because he knows his son. He’s friendly and would approach strangers. Timmothy knows his address, his phone number and his name. At home, he’s a daredevil. Bold. Unafraid.

And so when Timmothy figures out the vacation has gone on too long, or the strangers who have the boy make a mistake, Timmothy will come home. Then Jim won’t mind the media swarming his house. Take all the pictures you want of that family reunion.

 ::snipping2::

Last known video of Timothy and his mother checking out of the resort.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/25/timmothy-fry-pitzen-still_n_867159.html

Not sure if this was posted or not, it was on my local news here in OH:

http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-missing-boy-update,0,4240424.story

Missing Boy's Uncle Says Mother Had Ohio Ties
By Dave Nethers
4:47 p.m. EDT, May 23, 2011


HELP FIND TIMMOTHY PITZEN ON FACEBOOK:
http://www.facebook.com/help.find.timothy

With video

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/timmothy-pitzen-amy-fry-rockford-aurora-missing-boy-new-video-kalahari-wisconsin-dells-20110526

Aurora Police Release New Video of Missing Boy Timmothy Pitzen at Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells
Updated: Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 4:40 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 3:51 PM CDT

Sun-Times Media Wire

Aurora - Aurora police say they are "increasingly concerned" about the welfare of 6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen, missing for about two weeks since his mother committed suicide in a Rockford hotel room on May 14.

On Wednesday Aurora Police released security video showing the boy and his mother checking out of a Wisconsin Dells resort, as well as additional details in the timeline for the period the two were missing.

 ::snipping2::

Detectives have learned that Amy visited a Family Dollar store in Winnebago about 7:25 p.m. on May 13, where she bought a pen, paper and envelopes. She was then spotted at a food store about 8 p.m. and checked into the Rockford Inn at 11:15 p.m. Timmothy was apparently not with his mother Friday night.

Her body was discovered May 14. She had committed suicide and left a note saying Timmothy was in the care of persons she did not identify.

Police have narrowed cell phone triangulations from the calls Fry-Pitzen placed on May 13 to a tower just northwest of Sterling near Route 40. Plans are under way to search that area, the release said.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-timmothy-pitzen-0529-20110529,0,6213211.story

Leader of missing-children center urges hope
Search for Aurora boy to resume after holiday

By Vikki Ortiz Healy, Tribune reporter
May 29, 2011

With the next organized search for a 6-year-old Aurora boy not planned until after the holiday weekend, officials from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are encouraging the public to stay vigilant.

"There are a lot of people out there that think that if you don't find the child in 24 hours, or in two weeks, that you won't find the child. That's just not true," said Ernie Allen, president of the center, which has been working closely with local, state and federal investigators to find Timmothy Pitzen.

 ::snipping2::

The next search will focus on an area around a cell phone tower near the small northwest Illinois town of Sterling, the last place to get a cell phone signal from Fry-Pitzen, Aurora police said.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.facebook.com/help.find.timothy

Facebook page for Timothy

http://www.wisn.com/news/28087598/detail.html

Search For Missing Ill. Boy Suspended Until Later This Week
POSTED: 6:02 pm CDT May 31, 2011

The search for a missing 6-year-old boy last seen in Wisconsin has been suspended until later this week.

Police originally planned to comb an area around Sterling, Ill., Tuesday for Timmothy Pitzen, but authorities delayed the search because they didn't have enough manpower.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.wisn.com/news/28087598/detail.html#ixzz1Nz4FSuGU

View Gallery of photos of Amy’s 2004 Ford Expedition and toys similar to the ones she bought for her son.


http://www.suntimes.com/5715658-417/police-hope-dirt-grass-on-suv-lead-to-missing-boy-clues.html

Police hope dirt, grass on SUV lead to missing boy clues
By Matt hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com Jun 1, 2011 07:18PM

AURORA — Police are hoping that bits of grass and mud discovered underneath an SUV will help them narrow the search for a missing 6-year-old Aurora boy.

Timmothy Pitzen has been missing since his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, checked him out of Greenman Elementary School May 11, then killed herself in a Rockford motel three days later. Amy left a note saying the boy was safe, but family and friends have not been able to find him.

On Wednesday, police released photos of Amy’s 2004 Ford Expedition and toys similar to the ones she bought for her son.

Police say when the SUV was found in the Rockford motel parking lot, it was dirty. Police found grass, dirt and weeds underneath the truck during an initial search and have since towed the SUV back to Aurora, where it is being examined a second time.

Police said the dirt and grass samples will be analyzed by geologists and other specialists to determine if they are unique to certain areas.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110603/news/706039845/

Article updated: 6/3/2011 3:44 PM
Search for missing Aurora boy complicated by communication problems
By Marie Wilson
 
Aurora police say they faced communication obstacles that may have complicated their recent search for a missing 6-year-old boy near Sterling, Rock Falls and Dixon.

The hunt for Timmothy Pitzen was hindered not by glitches with Aurora’s 7-month-old Harris OpenSky radio system, but because channels designed to allow multiple agencies to communicate weren’t available, Lt. Nick Coronado said Friday.

Coronado said law enforcement agencies almost always face communication challenges when operating outside their normal jurisdictions, as Aurora police were doing during the May 19 search for the boy who went missing May 13.

In this case, the search didn’t uncover any evidence of the missing boy and so no obvious harm was done. But that didn’t make dealing with the complications any easier or less frustrating.

The search brought 70 people from 10 law enforcement agencies to an area about 75 miles west of Aurora — far outside usual radio range, Ted Beck, the city’s chief technology officer, said.

Although organizers devised ways for each search group to communicate through a mobile command post, the fix didn’t solve the lack of direct radio communication between Aurora officers and staff from other departments.

“We certainly would have appreciated being able to communicate with all of the other agencies that were not the Aurora Police Department,” Beck said.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110603/news/706039845/#ixzz1OKSvdMyy

6/2/11

Aurora police are processing Amy Fry-Pitzen’s SUV for a second time, hoping evidence in the vehicle may lead to information about her 6-year-old son Timmothy, who has been missing since May 13.

When authorities found the 2004 Ford Expedition, it was "visibly dirty" with plants that appeared similar to tall grass or weeds underneath, according to Aurora police. Police are taking samples for analysis by geologists and other experts.

If the plants or dirt are unique to certain areas near Dixon, Rock Falls or Sterling — the last general location it can be proved Fry-Pitzen and Timmothy were together — police say they will target those areas. No additional searches are planned, pending test results.

snip
Several items Fry-Pitzen bought for Timmothy before his disappearance also have not been found. Police are asking land owners near Sterling and visitors to the area to look out for the belongings including a cellphone, an I-PASS device, a Spider-Man backpack, a tube of kids Crest toothpaste, a clear plastic craft case, a blue Hot Wheels starter set, an aquatic rig toy truck and pretend gold coins decorated with animals.

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:1430374831&start=19

Probably not related, 330 miles away, but not impossible.......


Boy Found Dead In Hamilton Woods
Homicide Detectives Investigate Case As "Unspecified Death"

6.4.11

HAMILTON, Ohio -- Hamilton police said the body of a boy has been found in the woods at the dead end of Gordon Smith Boulevard on Saturday morning.

Homicide detectives said the boy has been identified, but they are not releasing his name due to his age.
snipped

http://www.wlwt.com/r/28132590/detail.html

It's not Timmothy, but sadly it's a young man gone too soon.
Update:
 http://www.wlwt.com/r/28132590/detail.html
Coroner: No Foul Play Involved In Teen's Death
Updated June 6, 2011

 ::snipping2::
HAMILTON, Ohio -- The death of a teenage boy found over the weekend in Hamilton was not a result of foul play, the coroner's office said Monday.

Hamilton police said the teen's body was found in the woods at the dead end of Gordon Smith Boulevard on Saturday morning.

Homicide detectives said Monday afternoon that the 14-year-old boy was identified as Patrick Fugate.

Detectives said they were investigating the case as an unspecified death, and they did not specify whether the boy died as a result of suicide, natural causes or an accident.
 ::snipping2::

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/5890673-417/one-month-later-search-continues-for-timmothy-pitzen.html

One month later, search continues for Timmothy Pitzen
By Matt Hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com June 11, 2011 5:25PM
Updated: June 11, 2011 9:32PM

Sometime between late May 13 and early May 14, Amy Fry-Pitzen — cut and bloodied — tried to get out of the bathtub.

She was in Room 108 of the Rockford Motel, where rooms are tidy but sparse: two beds with maroon spreads, a night stand, a dresser and an old TV. Amy had added little to the surroundings. Besides a bottle of water, a flier from the Wisconsin Dells and a bottle of children’s cough syrup, there was the five-sentence suicide note. Amy had double-locked the door and secured the chain.

At some point, she cut her arms lengthwise, letting the blood spill into the bathtub. In her last moments, she took one or two steps toward the sink and collapsed.

“All that was left was the final beats of her heart,” the motel’s manager said.

After two attempts to wake up whoever was in Room 108 about 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, a maid unlocked the door. Even with the chain still on, she could see Amy’s body. When Rockford police identified her, it tripped an alert: Reported missing with her 6-year-old son out of Aurora. The boy was not in the room. Police found no sign he had been there.

 ::snipping2::
 

I wonder if there was any abuse suspected or reported.

I am NOT accusing this father, especially under such circumstances.  I am only trying to determine a reason for this mother to hand over her child to someone other than family.

Alas, even that idea is far fetched. 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/06/14/case-of-missing-timmothy-pitzen-turns-cold/
Case Of Missing Timmothy Pitzen Turns Cold
June 14, 2011
(http://cbschicago.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pitzen-latest.jpg?w=400)
Police on Saturday released this image of Timmothy Pitzen, which is considered the most recent picture of the missing Aurora boy.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-timmothy-pitzen-0619-20110618,0,6278746.story

Missing boy's grandmother shaken, hopeful
Police want to conduct another search but wonder, 'where do we start?
By Ted Gregory, Tribune reporter
3:16 a.m. CDT, June 18, 2011

Alana Anderson refuses to wipe away the small handprint left on a window at her northwest suburban home — a reminder of her 6-year-old grandson, who has been missing for more than a month.

"I cry a lot," said Anderson, who lives with constant reminders of the boy — the sight of children's clothing in department stores, the garden where he helped her plant beans. "It's like it's somebody else's life, not mine."

 ::snipping2::

Police are considering another search — dozens of law enforcement officers conducted one May 19 in a rural area about 100 miles west of Chicago — but they've been unable to pinpoint a place, Ferrelli said.

"When you look at the expanse of area where he and Amy were last reported, the biggest challenge is where do we start?" he said.

That frustration is why authorities hope the public remains vigilant, Ferrelli said.

Finding missing items belonging to the boy, including a Spiderman backpack, a Wild Republic "Aquatic Rig" truck and a blue Hot Wheels starter set, might give investigators a more manageable area to search, he said.

Authorities also have sent soil samples and weeds found under Amy Fry-Pitzen's SUV to be analyzed in hopes of determining where she may have driven.

 ::snipping2::

http://mystateline.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=261757
Video
Missing Boy Investigation Takes Toll on Investigators
June 29, 2011

My hope is that this purchase might be evidence that she didn't do any harm to him...why buy him toothpaste unless she knew he would need it...  I hope.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110805/news/708059737/

Mother: ‘You will never find’ Aurora boy
Article updated: 8/5/2011 5:52 PM

 ::snipping2::

Timmothy Pitzen last was seen May 13 — one day before his mother Amy Fry-Pitzen was found dead with a box cutter under her body. Winnebago County authorities said Friday that Fry-Pitzen left a note that reads: “Tim was somewhere safe with people who love him and will take care of him. You will never find him.”

A coroner’s jury on Friday ruled Fry-Pitzen’s death a suicide, caused by loss of blood from sharp force trauma, Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said. The 43-year-old woman had a large cut to the right side of her neck and cuts to her left forearm, Fiduccia said.

While Fry-Pitzen had a high level of an antihistamine in her system when she died, there were no signs of alcohol or illegal drug use, according to the coroner.

 ::snipping2::

Previous efforts including searches near Dixon, Rock Falls, Rockford and Sterling; an investigation of files on Fry-Pitzen’s computers; and an analysis of plant material on her vehicle have been unsuccessful in finding the boy.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110805/news/708059737/#ixzz1UIfmXB2S

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-police-disclose-new-details-in-case-of-missing-aurora-boy-6-20110811,0,4021359.story

Police disclose new details in case of missing Aurora boy, 6
Staff report
10:19 a.m. CDT, August 11, 2011

Three months after a 6-year-old Aurora boy disappeared, police have released new information about the case, including the discovery of a "concerning amount" of the child's blood in the backseat of his mother's SUV.

But police cautioned that they don't know how long the blood had been there, and that it could have come from a nosebleed he suffered in the last year or so.

Timmothy Pitzen hasn't been seen since his mother pulled him out of school and took him to the Wisconsin Dells. The mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, was later found dead from a suicide in a Rockford motel room. No trace of the boy has been found.

Hoping to spur interest in the case, police disclosed today that a large amount of the boy's blood was found in the backseat of the Ford SUV driven by the boy's mother when she disappeared with him on May 11.

 ::snipping2::

I never believed this child was alive.  I think she took him to heaven with her and didn't she mention in the note that we would never find him?  Oh, I hope she drugged him.  It's sad that most of my words here tonight on all the cases aren't happy words because we found our missing...it's a never ending sad situation!  One child after another, young women, Mother's, etc., I could go on all night.  What is happening?

Melisb, I had the same feeling that he was not alive--after they found the mother.  I think--they had a wonderful time together during the trip to Wisconsin; she bought him toys and new clothes (for his burial  :cry: ); she drove to an area that she had visited in February and March of this year; she gave him an overdose of cough syrup; she "left" him in a safe place with other people (near a cemetery); she wrote that "You will never find him"; she left a note of "hope" that he was alive and living with some people; she committed suicide not too far away from her home; and she was given a proper Christian funeral.  End of a sad story.

http://www.whbf.com/story/15254555/new-leads-in-missing-il-boy
New leads in case of missing IL boy
By:  Marissa Pendergrass
mpendergrass@cbs4qc.com

New clues in the disappearance of an Illinois boy.  Family members said they now have new hope.  Detectives said they found 6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen's blood in the backseat of his mother's SUV.  Family members said it may just be from a bloody nose, but they're hoping clues like this keep turning up.

 ::snipping2::

Detectives said cell phone records show the last time they were together was in the Dixon/Rock Falls/Sterling area.  Family members said they also took two other trips to the area in February and March.

"Trying to get him comfortable with that person or those people.  Mom says it's ok, it's ok," Schmidt said.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.wbay.com/story/15262422/2011/08/13/missing-boy-may-have-been-seen-near-waupaca

Missing Boy May Have Been Seen Near Waupaca
Updated: Aug 13, 2011 4:35 PM CDT

Authorities say a missing Illinois boy may have been seen this week near Waupaca.

6-year-old Timothy Pitzen was last seen with his mother checking out of a Wisconsin Dells resort in May.

His mother was found dead of an apparent suicide the next day, but authorities say she left a note saying the boy was safe with someone else.

Waupaca police say he may have been seen in the city on Wednesday.

 ::snipping2::

With newly released videos

http://couriernews.suntimes.com/news/7017122-418/missing-boys-blood-in-back-seat-of-suv.html

Missing boy’s blood in back seat of SUV
By Matt Hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com August 14, 2011 3:16PM

Three months after 6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen went missing, Aurora police have released new details about his disappearance.

Among the most disturbing new pieces of information: Police found a “concerning” amount of Timmothy’s blood in the back seat of his mother’s SUV.

On Thursday, Aurora police also revealed for the first time that months before his disappearance, Timmothy’s mother took two unexplained trips to the area where her son later would go missing.

Police also released three new videos of Timmothy: two short home videos of the boy talking and playing, as well as surveillance footage of his mother checking him out of school.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.wbay.com/story/15270926/2011/08/15/search-for-missing-illinois-boy-intensifies-in-waupaca-county

Waupaca Police Don't Believe Missing Boy was Seen in Supermarket
Updated: Aug 15, 2011 4:15 PM CDT
By Emily Matesic

The search for a missing Illinois boy comes to Wisconsin.

As Action 2 News reported over the weekend, there was a possible sighting of six-year-old Timmothy Pitzen, who's been missing from Aurora, Illinois, for about three months, at a Waupaca grocery store.

 ::snipping2::

Asked to follow up on the tip, the Waupaca Police Department obtained surveillance video from a Pick N Save store.

Officers say after reviewing the video Monday, they don't believe any children in the store are Timmothy Pitzen.

"There's children that are approximately the same age as Mr. Pitzen, however, some of the children are taller, some of them are shorter, different hair color, different characteristics," Detective Sergeant Brian Hoelzel, Waupaca P.D., said.

While the Waupaca Police Department doesn't believe the boy seen in the Pick N Save was Timmothy, they'll still send the video to the lead agency.

"We haven't seen the tape ourselves. I do know that the tape was reviewed by Waupaca and that they are saying that it's probably not him, but we won't close that door 'til we look at the video ourselves," Inda said.

I live in the Rockford area and that I have seen, there has been no new articles in our local news..
keep in mind that we have a river here but I would have thought that he would have been found if she had put him there..I don't think this little boy is still with us...sad and I hope that I am wrong and that mom did give him to someone but wouldn't that someone have come forward by now?

I don't think that Timmothy is alive any more, but I could be wrong.  I think that she loved him; and in her mind, she wanted him to be with her--safe and happy eternally.  However, if she did leave him with someone, they probably left the area and went to another state.  :smt102

Hey everyone - I am the mother of a missing son.  I know this one of the members of this family and how horrible this is for her.  PLEASE remember that this woman was someones daughter. Her mother is now dealing with the loss of a daughter and not knowing what to believe about what happened to her grandson.  Imagine if she came here and read some of your words.  How hurtful it would be.  I remember coming here when my son was lost and I was embraced and shown kindness.  I hope you will all do the same in this case (and others).  This family is suffering enough without all of the speculation and harsh words.  I am sorry if my words offend anyone, that is not my intent....

Blessings
Carolyn Johnson
Mother of Clinton Nelson
Missing from Princeton LA since 9/1/2006

http://www.facebook.com/help.find.timothy (http://www.facebook.com/help.find.timothy)
(http://apps.tradablebits.com/img/welcome/203228266385811/eff539ac-ccb7-e820-c2dc-85b0b35cbcbf/welcome_image_1)

Hi, Miss Carolyn.  So very sorry for your loss.  I think it may have been my words that offended you and I'm sorry.  Sometime when you care passionately about a missing child and you have absolutely no clues or information you begin to speculate on things that could have happened.  If the worst has happened I was only hoping for the easiest way for my mind to see it.  This Mom must have been in terrible agony to not want to live and we all feel for her.  We all hope her soul is finally at rest.  Thank you for listening to me.  I'm not good a expressing exactly what I feel in words so I hope I didn't re-offend!  Foot in mouth disease is something I have! It's happened before but I must say I was just posting my feelings and what could of's.  Easier to do that when you don't know the family suffering I guess. 

MelisB - I am not saying that to anyone in particular.  I just remember how hard it was for me to read some of the things that are said.  I know that you and others are trying to make sense of something that does not make sense.  Just imagine the frustration pain and fear that the families feel, and try to be sensitive. Remember that sometimes they are looking for answers and come to places like this.  Thank you for being understanding and compassionate.  Blessings Carolyn

Thank you Miss Carolyn and God Bless you, your family and your precious Son!

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/7258825-417/search-for-timmothy-police-theorize-disappearance-might-have-been-planned-for-months.html

Search for Timmothy: Police theorize disappearance might have been planned for months
By Matt Hanley and Dan Campana mhanley@stmedianetwork.com August 25, 2011 5:32PM
Updated: August 26, 2011 2:21AM

 ::snipping2::

Three search warrants made public this week only deepen the mystery surrounding the case. In the warrants, Aurora police were seeking Amy’s e-mail records between Jan. 1 and May 14 and her phone records from 60 days before she went missing.

According to the warrant, FBI profilers told police that Amy likely planned her actions for months before she pulled Timmothy out of school. Police previously said that months before his disappearance, Timmothy’s mother took two unexplained trips to the area where her son would later go missing.

Court records show that Yahoo! turned over 34 e-mails and the log-in history for Amy’s e-mail account. According to an affidavit filed in the warrant, Pitzen had an account which her husband had access to, as well as one that she kept secret from him. The account was created in 2007 under “Amy Fry,” according to court records.

Court documents also show that police received records for Amy’s cell phone, which had Internet capabilities and had been used extensively in the days before she took Timmothy out of school. The phone has not been found, police said.

The warrant does not reveal what was in those e-mails or phone records, but police have previously said that they retrieved no useful information from either.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-pitzen-warrants-0830-20110830,0,7078963.story

Secret email account dead end in search for missing Aurora boy
Mother's Yahoo account 'mostly just spam'; blood from SUV being analyzed
By Clifford Ward, Special to the Tribune
August 30, 2011

Police have uncovered a secret email account used by the mother of a missing child in the months before she killed herself, but investigators said Monday that the discovery didn't add any new pieces to the puzzle.

 ::snipping2::

Fry-Pitzen had "a Yahoo e-mail account that her husband has access to and another Yahoo e-mail account that was kept secret from him," according to a June search warrant recently made public.

The secret account was consistent with the input of FBI profilers who think Fry-Pitzen may have used it to help plan her actions up to several months beforehand, the affidavit said.

But it turned out to be a dead end, police said Monday.

"A lot of it was just spam," said Detective Trent Byrne, the lead investigator. "It had absolutely nothing to do with Timmy's disappearance."

Since Yahoo does not maintain records of deleted emails, there is no way of knowing whether Fry-Pitzen used the account and then erased messages, Byrne said.

 ::snipping2::

Prayers sent out for Timmothy and his family!  I hope he is found safe! 

Hey Everyone - Today is Timmothy's birthday.  I hope everyone out there will say some extra prayers for him today.  I emailed his grandma and told her I was thinking of her.  I know that she (as well as the rest of Timmothy's family) is struggling....please pray for peace and answers....most important pray that Timmothy is safe and that he is returned to his family.

Blessings
Carolyn

I can't begin to imagine how difficult it must be for Timmothy's family.  Thank you Carolyn for letting us know it was his birthday and you are so kind to let his grandma know you're thinking of her.  I continue to hope Timmothy is safe and can be found soon. Happy birthday Timmothy, wherever you are!   ::MonkeyAngel::

Thank you MuffyBee!  I know i can always count on you for kind words and prayers!  Alana is Tim's grandma and she is an amazing woman.  Blessings Carolyn

Where are you, Timmothy?  ::MonkeyAngel::

With new video released on Friday.

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-missing-aurora-boy-update-nov18,0,2213635.story

New video of missing boy, dead mother
C. Hayes
 
WGN News
 
12:03 p.m. CST, November 18, 2011
AURORA, Ill.— New video is released of a boy who's been missing for six months, and his mother who committed suicide.

Aurora Police are hoping this new video will help them figure out what happened to 7 year-old Timmothy Pitzen.

 ::snipping2::

With video new released on Friday.

http://www.suntimes.com/8920918-417/police-hope-new-lab-results-help-locate-missing-aurora-boy.html

Police hope new lab results help locate missing Aurora boy
BY MATT HANLEY Sun-Times Media mhanley@stmedianetwork.com
November 18, 2011 9:36AM

 ::snipping2::

Laboratory results

In June, Aurora police announced they had hired a private firm to do a detailed analysis of the grass and soil on Fry-Pitzen’s SUV. It’s an unusual step for Aurora police, highlighting the importance and desperation of this investigation.

Police say when Fry-Pitzen’s SUV was found in the motel parking lot, there was a concerning amount of blood in the back seat. The outside was dirty, with grass and weeds embedded on the tires and wheels. Geologists and other specialists began a detailed analysis of the materials, trying to determine whether individual elements, or a combination of several elements, are unique to a specific area.

On Friday, police announced the lab has determined that sediment and plant material on the SUV indicate it was stopped for a time on a wide gravel shoulder or a gravel road near a secondary asphalt road that at one time had reflective road paint.

Near the gravel area where the vehicle stopped, the SUV was backed into a grassy field near a spot that is treeless. The lab results indicate there are birch and oak trees nearby but not directly at the spot where the SUV stopped. Both Queen Anne’s Lace and black mustard plants grow in a row along the border of the field or the shoulder of the road, police said.

The evidence strongly suggests that grasses have been the only major plants growing in the immediate area, which leads scientists to believe that it is a meadow and not a current or former farm field. Also, police said the grass was not cut — likely ruling out a rural residential lawn or park. Police said there is a strong likelihood that there is a pond, small stream, or creek in the area.

 ::snipping2::

With timeline , new video, and lab results

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/8920323-418/police-release-lab-results-in-search-for-missing-aurora-boy.html

Police release lab results in search for missing Aurora boy
By Matt Hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com November 18, 2011 9:22AM

 ::snipping2::

Following Amy and Timmothy’s trail

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11

8:35 a.m. — Shortly after his father drops Timmothy Pitzen off at school, Amy Fry-Pitzen checks the 6-year-old out of his kindergarten class at Greenman Elementary School on Aurora’s West Side.

10 a.m. — After dropping her SUV off for repairs at a LaGrange body shop, an employee drives Amy and Timmothy to Brookfield Zoo.

Around noon — Jim Pitzen comes to pick up his son at school and discovers Amy has already checked the boy out.

3:34 p.m. — Amy and Timmothy check in to Key Lime Cove, a water park resort near Gurnee. Surveillance video catches them checking into the resort.

THURSDAY, MAY 12

11:15 a.m. — Amy buys children’s clothes and toys from a Shopko store in Racine, Wis.

1 p.m. — Jim Pitzen reports his wife and son missing to Aurora police.

2:20 p.m. — Amy buys gasoline and beverages from a Qwik-Trip just off I-94 in Johnson Creek, Wis.

3:43 p.m. — Amy and Timmothy check in at Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells, where they are again seen on surveillance video.

FRIDAY, MAY 13

10:10 a.m. — Amy and Timmothy are last seen together checking out of the Kalahari.

Noon to 1:30 p.m. — Amy calls several family members while driving toward the Sterling-Rock Falls area. Timmothy is heard in the background.

7:25 p.m. — Amy buys pen, paper and envelopes at the Family Dollar in Winnebago.

8 p.m. — Amy is seen alone at Sullivan’s Foods in Winnebago, where she buys crackers and milk. Surveillance footage shows she is alone.

Between 11:15 and 11:30 p.m. — Amy checks into the Rockford Inn in Rockford.

SATURDAY, MAY 14

12:30 p.m. — Rockford Inn staff find Amy’s body. She had cut her wrists and left a note saying Timmothy was safe but would never be found

 ::snipping2::

With pictures of Timmothy, his mom, pictures from video, and the new video.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063256/Family-prepares-Thanksgiving-boy-seven-vanished-months-ago-mother-committed-suicide-motel.html

Family prepares for Thanksgiving without boy, now seven, who vanished six months ago when his mother committed suicide in a motel
By Hannah Roberts
Last updated at 11:29 PM on 18th November 2011

Last Thanksgiving Amy Fry Pitzen prepared a delicious dinner, as the family gathered together to celebrate at the Pitzen house.

A year on, the mother-of-one’s husband and mother are preparing for a very different holiday, as they struggle to cope with the hole in their lives left by Fry Pitzen’s suicide and the disappearance of her six-year-old son Timmothy.

Jim Pitzen, the boy's father, will be visiting his parents out of town for the holiday. Timmothy's grandmother Alana Anderson will be escorting an aunt to Arizona.

 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063256/Family-prepares-Thanksgiving-boy-seven-vanished-months-ago-mother-committed-suicide-motel.html#ixzz1e6rD6uWU

With video of an interview with Alana Anderson--mother of Amy and grandmother of Timmothy.  Heartbreaking.  :cry:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-timmothypitzen-update-20111118,0,7755262.story

Timmothy still daily part of life, six months after he disappeared
After six months, relatives remain hopeful he is alive
By Ted Gregory, Chicago Tribune reporter
9:55 a.m. CST, November 18, 2011

For Timmothy Pitzen's 7th birthday a few weeks ago, his grandmother and dad planted a 7-year-old blue spruce in the grandmother's backyard in Antioch.

"I bought him a birthday card and cut out pictures of the things I would have bought for him," Alana Anderson said. "A lighted skateboard. A remote-control helicopter."

 ::snipping2::

The family holds fast to the belief that the child is alive.

"I just try to do one day at a time," Pitzen said Thursday. "I hope whoever has Tim understands that he's not theirs and he needs to come home to his family."

Anderson said she, too, is trying to take every day as it comes, "trying to put the pieces of my life together. They're just not that many of them left anymore."

Anderson, who lives alone, said she misses her daughter, who helped paint Anderson's house and clear her garden last spring, and her grandson, who would sleep at Anderson's home every other weekend.

"It's been rough," Anderson said. "I think the first couple of months you're in such shock, you're almost numb and it doesn't quite sink in. But now … I don't expect it to be a whole lot better anytime soon."

In the months since Timmothy disappeared, Pitzen lost his manufacturing job. He said he does "what I can do to keep occupied" and to keep his mind off his son's absence.

Pitzen said he is "upset" with his wife but said he will forgive her "at some point."

"I think about her all the time," he said. "I just wonder what she did with our son and why she wanted him to be with someone else."

 ::snipping2::

http://www.wqad.com/news/wqad-video-released-as-search-continues-for-timmothy-pitzen-20111118,0,944872.story (http://www.wqad.com/news/wqad-video-released-as-search-continues-for-timmothy-pitzen-20111118,0,944872.story)

Video released as search continues for Timmothy Pitzen

 

http://www.facebook.com/help.find.timothy?sk=wall (http://www.facebook.com/help.find.timothy?sk=wall)

(http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/308391_279467985428505_203228266385811_801339_2006360157_n.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uZ9BHy89mg

11/19/2011 (GMA - Timothy Pitzen): FBI crime lab results in on mother's vehicle - Hunters take note
Uploaded by seekingthelostnews on Nov 19, 2011

Facebook page: http://facebook.com/find.timothy.pitzen

http://www.wisn.com/news/29805190/detail.html

Plants May Narrow Search For Missing Boy
Vegetation On Mother's Car Leads Investigators To Illinois Meadow Land
POSTED: 11:06 am CST November 18, 2011
UPDATED: 6:49 pm CST November 18, 2011

AURORA, Ill. -- Scientists believe that the mother of an Illinois boy missing since May stopped her sport utility vehicle in a meadow, most likely in northwestern Illinois around the time the boy disappeared.

 ::snipping2::

Scientists further believe that the meadow is most likely Lee or Whiteside counties in northwestern Illinois but have not ruled out areas in Carroll, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago counties.

 ::snipping2::

The last time anyone had contact with Timmothy was on May 13 when he talked to a relative on Fry-Pitzen's cellphone at about 1:30 p.m. That call was traced to a point about 5 miles west of Sterling, Ill., near Route 40.

 ::snipping2::

Police are asking landowners, hunters or outdoor enthusiasts keep their eyes open for some items that were missing from the SUV: a Spider Man backpack, several toys and a tube of toothpaste Fry-Pitzen had bought for Timmothy before he disappeared, and Fry-Pitzen’s cellphone and I-Pass device.

Photos: Timmothy Pitzen's Missing Toys

"And if they come across them, we would ask them not to touch them and to immediately call either the Aurora Police Department or 911," Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said.

 ::snipping2::

Anyone who may have information is asked to call Aurora Police at 630-256-5500, or their local authorities by dialing 911.

Aurora Area Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to Timmothy. All calls placed to Crime Stoppers are anonymous. The phone number is 630-892-1000

Read more: http://www.wisn.com/news/29805190/detail.html#ixzz1eGSGCTYt

The deer hunting season began for Illinois on Friday, November 18.  Hopefully, the items that the police are looking for are found by the hunters.



http://www.journalstandard.com/features/x1821246694/Illinois-urges-hunters-to-be-safe-Firearm-Deer-Season-begins-Friday

Illinois urges hunters to be safe: Firearm Deer Season begins Friday
By Travis Morse
The Journal-Standard
Posted Nov 17, 2011 @ 05:05 PM

Freeport, Ill. — Safety should be the top priority for Illinois hunters taking part in this year’s Firearm Deer Season, which kicks off on Friday, said Paul Shelton, forest wildlife program manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

Firearm Deer Season is the state’s most popular hunting season, and roughly 230,000 hunters are expected to participate in Illinois this year, Shelton said. The split, seven-day season runs from Nov. 18 to 20, and from Dec. 1 to 4. Legal hunting hours are from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.

 ::snipping2::

Firearm deer hunters in Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Ogle, Winnebago, Boone, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, LaSalle, and McHenry counties are required to bring their deer to mandatory check stations by 8 p.m. on the day they make the kill.

 ::snipping2::

Lots of photos and information in this article from November 19, 2011.  I keep hoping for news.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063256/Missing-Aurora-boy-Timmothy-Pitzen-Lab-results-offer-family-new-hope.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Hope for family of boy, seven, who vanished six months ago when his mother committed suicide after lab results offer clues to where her car was parked

    Timmothy Pitzen disappeared in May when his mother killed herself in a roadside motel room
    Amy Fry Pitzen left suicide notes saying Timmothy was with people who loved him, but that he would never be found
    Police have searched remote areas for a body after boy's blood was found in his mother's car but have found nothing
    Anguished father and grandmother still believe Illinois schoolboy is alive but may have been taken abroad

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/11/18/article-2063256-0EDB8E0A00000578-145_634x468.jpg)
Enduring mystery: Illinois schoolboy Timmothy Pitzen disappeared when his mother killed herself in a roadside motel room

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/08/12/article-2025190-0D66F85900000578-251_634x360.jpg)
Missing: Timmothy, from Illinois, has not been seen since his mother killed herself in a hotel room in May

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-pitzen-investigation-20111229,0,2035220.story

Police 'at mercy of tips' in missing Aurora boy case
Recent possible sighting wasn't Timmothy Pitzen, police say
By Ted Gregory, Chicago Tribune reporter
9:08 p.m. CST, December 28, 2011

On Saturday, Aurora police received the latest tip in the case of missing kindergartner Timmothy Pitzen, who was 6 when he disappeared in May.

Someone reported seeing the boy, who would now be 7, in a Denny's in North Aurora, said Aurora police Detective Trent Byrne, the lead investigator on the case. Police tracked down the owner of a car the boy was riding in and found that the boy thought to be Timmothy was the car owner's son, Byrne said.

Although that lead and another about two weeks earlier that had placed the Aurora boy in Massachusetts turned out to be incorrect, Byrne said investigators continue to encourage people to reach out to authorities with tips. Anyone with information on the case may call Aurora police at 630-256-5500.

"Unfortunately, at this point," Byrne said Wednesday, "we're at the mercy of tips from the public. We've actively pursued everything we found at the beginning and everything we've been able to develop."

 ::snipping2::

"We don't have enough evidence to pull us in one way or another," Byrne said. "We have a lot of little things that kind of pull us in both directions and that's what's frustrating."

Byrne, who said investigators last updated Timmothy's father and grandmother shortly before Christmas, will be moving up to sergeant on Jan. 14. His assistant on the investigation, Detective Lee Catavu, will take over the Pitzen case, Byrne said.

But, as with many investigating Timmothy's disappearance, the case will stay with Byrne, the father of a 6-year-old boy.

"What did this 6-year-old boy do to anybody to deserve being taken away from his family?" Byrne said. "We want to find him — bring him back to his family, bring him back to his life."

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/9687001-418/aurora-mom-remains-mystery-to-police-investigator.html

Aurora mom remains mystery to police investigator
By Matt Hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com
December 29, 2011 9:40AM

 ::snipping2::
Despite equal analysis of Amy Pitzen, she remains a mystery.

“I don’t think I’ve scratched the surface on who she is,” Byrne said this week while reflecting on the case. “People’s perception of her is across the board. I don’t know her very well.”

But that cypher is the heart of the case. It’s what haunts Byrne in his off hours and consumes his time on the clock. Byrne and Detective Lee Cavatu have led an investigation that’s logged thousands of hours on a strange and frustrating case. Byrne has worked the case from Day One, when he happened to run into a patrol officer who had taken the initial missing person report for Timmothy and Amy Pitzen.

Byrne, an Aurora officer for more than 12 years, had worked plenty of runaway cases. Most were resolved quickly when the child returned home or the adult called a family member. But something struck him as odd about this disappearance.

From that day on, the case has been filled with tantalizing gaps in the timeline of Amy’s actions. At 1:30 p.m. May 13, Amy turned off her cellphone for the last time. She reappeared — alone — around 8 p.m., 50 miles away, at a grocery store in Winnebago, west of Rockford. Between Sterling and Winnebago, there are thousands of square miles to search and millions of questions.

“I wish that the evidence that gathered somehow became more clear, but it hasn’t,” Byrne said.

Everything hinges on Amy Pitzen. After a history of suicide attempts did she do the unthinkable and take her son’s life, too? Or did she find a way to pass him off to someone?

This week, Byrne talked publicly for the first time about a trip that Pitzen took the week before she and her son disappeared. It was her regular annual trip to the Bahamas with a female friend from Iowa. Byrnes said the friend reported nothing unusual about the trip. Amy seemed perfectly normal when she returned May 7. It’s just another inexplicable part of this case.

“On just the sheer time investment and emotional investment, there’s nothing I’ve had that comes close,” he said.

Although police officials have tempered the hope of a happy reunion, Byrnes still doesn’t even feel there’s any strong evidence that leans toward Timmothy being alive or dead.
 ::snipping2::

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/29/timmothy-pitzen-missing-r_n_1174706.html

Timmothy Pitzen Missing: Reported Sighting Of Boy Who Disappeared In May False
First Posted: 12/29/11 01:25 PM ET Updated: 12/29/11 01:25 PM ET

An Aurora, Ill. kindergartener who has been missing since May was reportedly spotted in the Chicago area this week, but the tip turned out to be false when police looked into it further.

Timmothy Pitzen, now 7, was last seen when his mother Amy Fry-Pitzen took him out of his classroom at Greenman Elementary School on May 11 in order to visit the Brookfield Zoo, Key Lime Cove and Wisconsin Dells before she killed herself in a Rockford motel room, CBS Chicago reports.

Since Timmothy's disappearance, police have been forced to rely on tips in the hopes of finding the boy. The Chicago Tribune reports that the boy was last "spotted" at a North Aurora Denny's restaurant, but when police tracked down the owner of the car the boy was seen riding in, he was not Timmothy. Another tip this month had falsely claimed that the boy was in Massachusetts.
 ::snipping2::

http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/9723843-418/runaway-case-full-of-frustration.html
Runaway case full of frustration
By Matt Hanley
January 2, 2012,  Updated January 3, 2012

Where are you, Timmothy?  Keeping you and your family in my prayers.  ::MonkeyAngel::

Video at link

http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/28/find-our-children-timmonty-pitzen/

March 28, 2012
Find Our Children: Timmonty Pitzen
Posted: 01:45 PM ET

In Session has teamed up with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to help find missing children. Timmothy Pitzen has been missing since May of 2011. Watch the video to see if you can help us find this missing boy.
 ::snipping2::

 ::MonkeyAngel:: 

Video at link

http://www.wrex.com/story/18309299/one-year-later-still-no-sign-of-missing-aurora-boy

One year later, still no sign of missing Aurora boy
Posted: May 11, 2012 9:24 AM CDT Updated: May 11, 2012 10:10 AM CDT

AURORA (WREX) -
The Aurora Police Department is marking the one year anniversary of the disappearance of 6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen by releasing new surveillance video of the last time he was seen with his mother.
 ::snipping2::
Detectives with the Aurora Police Department say they still receive periodic calls from people across the nation who think they have spotted Timmothy, but after they explore those reports nothing is able to be developed in the case.

The last time anyone had contact with Timmothy was on May 13, 2011, when he talked to a relative on Amy's cell phone at about 1:30 p.m. That call was traced to a point about five miles west of Sterling, IL, near Route 40. Police did aerial and ground searches in Rock Falls, Sterling, Rockford, and the Dixon area after his disappearance, but turned up nothing. Investigators say they have learned Amy made two trips to the area where they were last seen during the winter months. Amy had no known ties to that area, and her family members have been unable to explain the reason for those trips.
 
Amy turned up dead inside a room at the Rockford Motel on 11th Street on May 14, 2011. She left behind a suicide note, but little other clues to Timmothy's whereabouts.
 
As the investigation into Timmothy's disappearance continues, police are asking people in northwestern Illinois to search their properties for several missing items that may help pinpoint what happened to Timmothy. Some of those clues include items missing from the Pitzen vehicle: Timmothy's Spider Man backpack, several toys and a tube of toothpaste Amy had bought for Timmothy before he disappeared, and Amy's cell phone and I-Pass device.
 
Police say no further ground searches are planned at this time.
 ::snipping2::

Three-page article

http://www.wisn.com/news/south-east-wisconsin/racine-kenosha/Grandmother-believes-missing-Illinois-boy-still-alive/-/10151828/13076254/-/mfogwaz/-/

Grandmother believes missing Illinois boy still alive
Timmothy Pitzen last seen one year ago
UPDATED 11:01 AM CDT May 11, 2012

MILWAUKEE -
Friday marks one year since a then-6-year-old Illinois boy disappeared.

WISN 12 News reporter Shelby Croft spoke exclusively with Timmothy Pitzen's grandmother, who discussed the daughter she lost and the grandson she hopes to find.

"I'm not numb anymore. I've had a whole year to find out what it's like to live without them, and I don't like it," Alana Anderson said.

Anderson collapsed in tears at the mention of her daughter Amy Pitzen and grandson, Timmothy.

"We're not a crazy family. She wasn't a crazy person. She did a wrong, crazy thing and hurt a lot of people," Anderson said.

One year ago, Pitzen took her son from his Aurora, Ill., school. They were spotted over several days at Wisconsin Dells water park resorts.

On May 13, Pitzen was found dead from suicide in a Rockford hotel. Timmothy has never been found.

"She wrote a letter to me," Anderson said. "She said she was sorry, and she hoped I could forgive her, that Tim was safe with people who loved him."
 ::snipping2::

Video released on Friday at link

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/12378488-418/one-year-later-where-is-timmothy-pitzen.html

One year later: Where is Timmothy Pitzen?
May 11, 2012 9:10AM

 ::snipping2::
Last November, police issued their first appeal based on the forensics findings of Microtrace LLC, a private forensics lab based in Elgin, with whom they contracted last summer to process the dust, vegetation, and other materials found on Amy Fry-Pitzen’s SUV. Those findings indicated that:
 
Based on sediments and plant material, the vehicle was stopped for an unknown period of time on a wide gravel shoulder, gravel road, or short gravel turnout either adjacent to, or just off of, an asphalt secondary road that had at one time, been treated with glass road-marking beads. In close proximity to the gravel shoulder or road where the vehicle stopped, it backed into a grassy meadow or field to a spot that is nearly treeless. There are birch and oak trees in the general area but not directly over or at the spot where the SUV stopped. Both Queen Anne’s Lace and black mustard plants grow in a row along the border of the field or the shoulder of the road.
 
In addition, there is no corn growing in or adjacent to the spot where the SUV stopped, nor is there any indication that the area had been used for agriculture in the recent past. Instead, the evidence strongly suggests that grasses have been the only major plants growing in the immediate area which leads scientists to believe that it is a meadow and not, for example, a field that had once been farmland and not recently sown. Forensic results indicate that the grass was not cut which helps rule out a rural residential lawn or a park. There is also a strong likelihood that there is a pond, small stream, or creek in the area.
 
Scientists further believe that the meadow is most likely in Northwestern Illinois with Lee and Whiteside Counties as the most likely locations. However, areas in Carroll, Ogle, Stephenson, and Winnebago Counties cannot be ruled out. Microtrace has since performed other tests but has not been able to further narrow down the six-county area - an area much too large for police to conduct ground searches.
 ::snipping2::

You are not forgotten, Timmothy!  With the continued investigation and prayers, you will be found, dear one!   ::MonkeyAngel::

http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/news/12475303-418/one-year-later-where-is-timmothy-pitzen.html

One year later: Where is Timmothy Pitzen?
May 12, 2012 3:04PM
Updated: May 12, 2012 5:57PM

It’s the anhydrite that gives Christopher Palenik hope.
 
Anhydrite is a mineral often found in the limestone that is the bedrock foundation of most of Northern Illinois. It’s not a major component of limestone. It’s not even a minor component. It’s barely there. In fact, it’s so insignificant that anhydrite usually dissolves whenever limestone is exposed. In other words, it isn’t supposed to by lying around where a blue Ford Expedition can drive over it.
 
But somehow Amy Pitzen’s Expedition picked up a bit of anhydrite. So when Palenik, a research microscopist with Microtrace laboratories in Elgin, found this misplaced mineral it was like an alarm bell: this is solid clue. We can help find this boy.
 ::snipping2::
Still hopeful
 
While investigators continue to pursue any information that may come in, they have no leads about whether Timmothy is still alive. Aurora Police still receive periodic calls from people across the nation who think they spotted Timmothy. After following up on every report, no further information has developed. Police continue to occasionally send in soil samples from Northern Illinois, hoping for a match.

While the case remains difficult, Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said it is not hopeless.
 
“No, we don’t believe it’s hopeless at all,” he said. “All the police officers investigating this believe nothing is impossible.”

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/18538430-418/police-beat-training-causes-paradigm-shift-in-thinking-about-runaways.html

Police Beat: Training causes paradigm shift in thinking about runaways
February 28, 2013 12:42PM
Updated: March 1, 2013 2:20PM

 ::snipping2::
In my new role as the investigations commander, I applied for the training with the Timmothy Pitzen case in mind. NCMEC supplied the Aurora Police Department with some great resources in that investigation, and I was hoping to learn about other tools available to our detectives when investigating missing children cases.

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/20026649-418/two-years-after-he-went-missing-search-for-timmothy-pitzen-goes-on.html

Two years after he went missing, search for Timmothy Pitzen goes on  
May 12, 2013 2:16PM

It is impossible for Aurora Police Detective Lee Catavu to fathom the number of hours he has spent trying to bring Timmothy Pitzen home.

Impossible to get the case out of his head. Impossible to give up on the little boy, who Catavu believes is alive and well — somewhere.
 ::snipping3::
The investigation

Leads and possible sightings continue to trickle in from callers across the country at a rate of about five a month. Nothing has panned out yet, but detectives aren’t giving up hope. The recent recovery of three Cleveland women, who were held captive for more than a decade, has restored Catavu’s faith that if Timmothy is out there, he will be found.

“It really gives us all a lot of hope,” Catavu said.

Detectives continue to look for several missing items Fry-Pitzen purchased for her son at a Shopko store in Racine, Wis., at 11:15 a.m. on May 12 while on their way to the Wisconsin Dells. Those items, which include clothes and toys, have never been recovered. Similar items are available to be viewed on the Aurora Police Department website.

A cell phone and I-Pass device are also missing, Catavu said.

Fry-Pitzen last used the phone around 1:30 p.m. on May 13 to call several loved ones after leaving the Dells. Catavu said nothing about those calls, made from the Sterling-Rock Falls area, raised alarms. Timmothy was either heard in the background, or had direct conversation with the callers, and seemed alive and well at that point in time. But that’s where Timmothy’s trail turns cold.

Detectives said later that day, around 7:25 p.m., Fry-Pitzen purchased paper, pens and envelopes in Winnebago, Ill. Thirty minutes later, she was spotted alone at a Winnebago grocery store buying milk and crackers. At 11:15 p.m., Fry-Pitzen checked herself into a Rockford hotel where she committed suicide. She was found dead at 12:30 p.m. the next afternoon.

Friends and family members have all been re-interviewed. As have fellow church members, school friends, and those from Fry-Pitzen’s distant past. Catavu said everyone has been cooperative, but that doesn’t mean there is not more work to do.

“The most important thing is to keep vigilant. To keep our eyes peeled,” he said.

Detectives continue to work with police departments across Illinois, hoping to tie trace evidence found on Fry-Pitzen’s vehicle to specific locations, helping pinpoint where the two had traveled.

The vehicle had allegedly traveled on a paved road with a gravel shoulder, located near a meadow. No corn pollen was found, helping detectives narrow the search. Soil and gravel samples are being taken from multiple locations across northwestern Illinois, with hopes that someday they will find a match, Catavu said.

“There are lots of working theories on the table,” Catavu said. “...but whoever she left him with, she was confident no one would be able to locate him.”
 ::snipping3::

Where are you, Timmothy?  Thinking of you and hoping you come home.

http://wgntv.com/2014/05/09/new-age-progressed-photo-of-missing-aurora-boy-timmothy-pitzen-released/ (http://wgntv.com/2014/05/09/new-age-progressed-photo-of-missing-aurora-boy-timmothy-pitzen-released/)

New age-progressed photo of missing Aurora boy Timmothy Pitzen released   
2 hours ago

(http://tribwgntv.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/timmothypitzen.jpg?w=640&h=400)

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-05-09/news/chi-image-shows-what-6yearold-boy-missing-three-years-would-look-like-now-20140509_1_timmothy-pitzen-amy-fry-pitzen-6-year-old-boy (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-05-09/news/chi-image-shows-what-6yearold-boy-missing-three-years-would-look-like-now-20140509_1_timmothy-pitzen-amy-fry-pitzen-6-year-old-boy)

Image shows what 6-year-old boy, missing three years, would look like now
May 09, 2014

The last recorded image of Timmothy Pitzen was taken shortly after 10 a.m. three years ago Tuesday. Security camera footage shows the 6-year-old Aurora boy walking from a Wisconsin Dells water park hotel with his mother.
 ::snipping3::
The boy’s mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, had a history of depression and her marriage was strained, family members said. But, in her suicide note, Fry-Pitzen said her son was safe and being cared for by someone who loved him. Authorities have contended Fry-Pitzen might have been planning her son’s disappearance for months.

Investigators also have noted that they recovered a significant amount of Timmothy’s blood from the back seat of his mother’s SUV, although Timmothy’s father told police the boy had suffered a serious nosebleed days before his mother took him from his school on May 11, 2011.

And, family members have insisted that Fry-Pitzen never would have hurt the boy.

“Maybe that’s hard for some people to grasp,” Timmothy’s aunt, Kara Jacobs, said in the NCMEC video, “but she just had nothing but kindness and consideration for other people in her life.”

Jacobs also said the family believes “with every fiber of our being that (Timmothy’s) alive. Without any kind of logic to give you, I can just tell you, I know that he’s alive. We just have to find him.”

Police had reason for optimism in October, Aurora Police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said, when they recovered Amy Fry-Pitzen’s cell phone. But a search of the phone failed to yield significant leads in the case, Ferrelli said.

“That was a big disappointment,” Ferrelli said. “Unfortunately, like everything else in this case, the cell phone was a brick wall.”

Video at the link

http://www.wifr.com/news/headlines/3-Years-After-Vanishing-Family-Holds-Out-Hope-for-Timmothy-Pitzen-258726801.html (http://www.wifr.com/news/headlines/3-Years-After-Vanishing-Family-Holds-Out-Hope-for-Timmothy-Pitzen-258726801.html)

3 Years After Vanishing, Family Hopes for Safe Return of Timmothy Pitzen
Updated: Fri 11:26 PM, May 09, 2014

ANTIOCH (WIFR) -- Three years after Timmothy Pitzen went missing, detectives still believe the now nine year old is alive and his grandmother isn't giving up hope.

Alana Anderson keeps a photo album brimming with pictures of her grandson Timmothy Pitzen but she hasn't been able to add a single new image for the last three years. Detectives with the Aurora Police Department say the boy was last seen in May 2011 while with his mother Amy Fry-Pitzen at a hotel in the Wisconsin Dells. However, the boy was nowhere to be found less than a day after his mother committed suicide in a Rockford motel.

"Whatever crazy things my daughter did to herself, she would never have hurt her child. She was an extraordinary mother,” says Alana Anderson, Timmothy;s grandmother.

Anderson has been able to add one new picture to her collection, a photo created by forensic artists with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It shows what Timmothy Pitzen would look like now as a 9-year-old.

"She loved that little boy more than anything else in her whole life and there’s no way she would have done anything like that, no way,” says Bryan Fry, Timmothy’s uncle.
 ::snipping3::
Amy Fry-Pitzen’s cell phone was found in October 2013 along Route 28 in Illinois but detectives say nothing was found on it to indicate what happened to Timmothy. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Aurora Police at (630) 256-5500.

Thank you for the updates, grace-land.  I hope Timmothy is safe and someday can come forward.

 ::MonkeyAngel::

You're welcome, MuffyBee.  I hope Timmothy comes home, too.  He is loved and not forgotten.  ::MonkeyAngel::
 

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/27483343-418/aurora-police-receive-tip-after-issuing-age-progression-photo-of-timmothy-pitzen.html#.U3bSumdOXIW (http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/27483343-418/aurora-police-receive-tip-after-issuing-age-progression-photo-of-timmothy-pitzen.html#.U3bSumdOXIW)

Cops not hopeful on tip on missing boy
May 16, 2014 10:08AM
Updated: May 16, 2014 9:45PM
 
Aurora police do “not hold a lot of hope” that a weekend tip into the disappearance of Timmothy Pitzen is credible.

Aurora Police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said Friday that police were called over the weekend by a Northern Illinois Rockton woman, who says she saw the missing Aurora boy at a garage sale on May 9.

Rockton is about 15 miles from Rockford, where Timmothy’s mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, committed suicide in a motel. She left a note saying that Timmothy was safe, but would never be found.

Over the years, police have received dozens of tips about the missing child, but none have panned out. Ferrelli said that “based on the description of the way the child was acting,” investigators do not believe the child was Timmothy.

The woman was sent a video of Timmothy to determine whether or not she believes he was the boy she saw. As of Friday morning, she had yet to contact police about the clip.

“The description of the child’s behavior was the opposite of Timmothy’s personality,” Ferrelli said.

Still, investigators are following the lead.
 ::snipping3::

http://www.wifr.com/content/news/Five-Years-Since-Disappearance-of-Timmothy-Pitzen-379053961.html

Five Years Since Disappearance of Timmothy Pitzen
Posted: Wed 5:20 PM, May 11, 2016  | 
Updated: Wed 5:39 PM, May 11, 2016

(http://media.graytvinc.com/images/690*442/Timmothy+Pitzen+2015.JPG)
Photo on left of Timmothy Pitzen age 6, Photo on right is an age progressed photo of what Pitzen might look like around age 10.

ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- It's been five years since Timmothy Pitzen disappeared on May 11, 2011. He was last seen alive in the Stateline area before his mom Amy committed suicide in a Rockford hotel. What happened to Timmothy has been a mystery ever since.

Timmothy would be 11 years old today. Investigators say they aren't giving up on their search.  ::snipping3::

Thinking of you, Timmothy, and hoping you come home.

http://www.wifr.com/content/news/Timmothy-Pitzen-still-missing-after-six-years-422040623.html

Timmothy Pitzen still missing after six years
By WIFR Newsroom |
Posted: Thu 4:09 PM, May 11, 2017  | 
Updated: Thu 5:55 PM, May 11, 2017

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – It has been six years since an Aurora boy disappeared in the Stateline.

Investigators say in 2011, 6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen was in the Rockford area before his mom Amy took her life at a motel. What happened to Timmothy has been a mystery ever since.
 ::snipping3::
Anyone with information is asked to call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-80-843-5678 or Aurora Police at 630-256-5500.

http://www.fox19.com/2019/04/03/missing-child-possibly-located-tri-state-fbi-says/
Timmothy Pitzen, Chicago-area boy missing for 8 years, possibly found in Cincinnati area
April 3, 2019

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - A Chicago-area boy missing for nearly a decade may have been found in the Tri-State.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Timmothy Pitzen is the only missing child from Aurora, Illinois.

A bone-chilling note by Pitzen’s mother Amy Fry-Pitzen read, “you’ll never find him,” CNN reports.

Fry-Pitzen was found dead in a Rockford, Illinois hotel room after committing suicide at the time her son was reported missing, CBS Chicago reports.

The FBI’s Louisville office and the FBI’s Cincinnati office confirm they’re actively coordinating with Newport police, Cincinnati police, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, and Aurora, Illinois police.

Pitzen was reported missing May 12, 2011 when he was 6 years old. He would be 14 years old today.

Aurora Police Public Information Officer Bill Rowley said two police detectives are on their way to the Cincinnati area to assist with the investigation.

The male child in question was found on the west side of Newport Wednesday.

Newport police say a neighbor spotted him and noticed he didn’t belong in the neighborhood. A source tells us that happened around 7 a.m. near the area of 8th Street and Columbia Street.

He told police he’d been held captive.

According to an incident report from the Sharonville Police Department, the boy said he escaped from two kidnappers that have been holding him for seven years.

They boy described the two kidnappers as two white males with body-builder type builds. One had black curly hair, a Mt. Dew shirt and jeans, and has a spider web tattoo on his neck. The other was short in stature and had a snake tattoo on his arms.

Police said the vehicle they were driving is described as a newer model Ford SUV with WI plates. It’s white with yellow transfer paint and has a dent on the back bumper.

According to the report, the boy escaped and kept running across a bridge into Kentucky and said they’d been staying at a Red Roof Inn but did not know where.

Police said after checking Red Roof Inn’s and surrounding hotels, nothing was found.
The boy was taken to a hospital in Newport to be checked out and police say he is being interviewed by detectives and other uniformed officers.

Police say at this moment they aren’t sure he is who he says he is. They don’t believe he is a missing person from the Tri-State.

No officials will confirm whether the boy is claiming to be Pitzen.

A source says DNA is being rushed to the lab and they hope to have it back at some point Wednesday.

The boy looks to be no older than 14 years old, the source says, which would line up with the age of Pitzen.

The source says the child appears to have disabilities.

Rowley said because the case is nearly 10 years old, they receive thousands of tips a day about Pitzen.

CBS Chicago reports that the note his mother left also said the boy was O.K., and she had left him in the care of unnamed people.

FBI officials say there will be no further statements made until they have additional information.
 ::snipping3::

http://www.fox19.com/2019/04/03/woman-says-boy-found-nky-possibly-missing-years-was-acting-fidgety/
Woman says boy found in NKY, possibly missing for years, was acting ‘fidgety’
Source says DNA is being rushed to the lab to identify the boy
April 3, 2109

NEWPORT, KY (FOX19) - A Chicago-area boy missing for nearly a decade may have been found in the Tri-State.
 ::snipping3::
Aurora Police Public Information Officer Bill Rowley said two police detectives are on their way to the Cincinnati area to assist with the investigation.

The male child in question was found on the west side of Newport early Wednesday. Newport police say a neighbor spotted him and noticed he didn’t belong in the neighborhood.

Sharon Hall, of Newport, says she thought he was trying to steal her neighbor’s car.

“From out the window, I couldn’t see who was standing to the curb,” she said. “But I looked out and came back in and ... there was a young man standing by my neighbor’s car.”

Hall described the boy as acting fidgety and moving around.
 ::snipping3::
A source tells FOX19 the boy was spotted around 7 a.m. near the area of 8th Street and Columbia Street. He told police he’d been held captive.

According to an incident report from the Sharonville Police Department, the boy said he escaped from two kidnappers that have been holding him for seven years. They boy described the two kidnappers as two white males with body-builder type builds. One had black curly hair, a Mt. Dew shirt and jeans, and has a spider web tattoo on his neck. The other was short in stature and had a snake tattoo on his arms.

Police said the vehicle they were driving is described as a newer model Ford SUV with WI plates. It’s white with yellow transfer paint and has a dent on the back bumper. According to the report, the boy escaped and kept running across a bridge into Kentucky and said they’d been staying at a Red Roof Inn but did not know where.

Police said after checking Red Roof Inn’s and surrounding hotels, nothing was found.

The boy was taken to a hospital in Newport to be checked out and police say he is being interviewed by detectives and other uniformed officers.

Police say at this moment they aren’t sure he is who he says he is. They don’t believe he is a missing person from the Tri-State.
 ::snipping3::

 ::donkey3::


Illinois boy who vanished in 2011 may have been found in Cincinnati area, officials say
April 3, 2019

EXCERPT

An Illinois boy who disappeared in 2011 mayhave been found in Ohio eight years after he vanished, officials said Wednesday.  Timmothy Pitzen was 6 years old when he vanished. Investigators believe his mother, 43-year-old Amy Fry-Pitzen, picked him up from school in May 2011 and took the boy to the zoo and a water park in Wisconsin before she apparently killed herself in a hotel room in Illinois. ........

Read more:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/illinois-boy-who-vanished-in-2011-may-have-been-found-in-cincinnati-area-officials-say

Thanks for the updates, Muffybee!  ::MonkeyKiss::

Waiting for confirmation...

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20190403/police-off-to-ohio-to-see-if-teen-who-escaped-kidnappers-is-long-missing-aurora-boy
Police off to Ohio to see if teen who escaped kidnappers is long missing Aurora boy
Susan Sarkauskas
Follow @dh_ssarkauskas
Updated
4/3/2019 5:40 PM
 ::snipping3::
"We cannot confirm that the person of interest here is Timmothy Pitzen," William Rowley, a spokesman with Aurora police, said in an emailed statement. "At this time we have no further information to provide."
 
Timmothy's grandmother, Alana Andrews, said she is "cautiously optimistic," ABC 7 Chicago reported. She had a message for her grandson.
 
"We never stopped looking for him, thinking about him, and we love him and we'll do everything we can to get him back to a good life," Andrews said.
 ::snipping3::

 ::HelloKitty::

Made my heart so happy when I read this today.  I hope it's him, but my heart breaks for him too if it is Timmothy...for what he's been through.  ::MonkeyTears::

Thanks everyone for the updates!   ::MonkeyKiss::

 ::HelloKitty::  You're welcome!

Waiting for the DNA results...

https://abc7chicago.com/teen-tells-kentucky-police-that-hes-timmothy-pitzen-aurora-boy-missing-since-2011/5232478/
Timmothy Pitzen case: Teen tells Kentucky authorities that he's Aurora boy missing since 2011
By Ravi Baichwal and Liz Nagy
Updated 33 minutes ago
 ::snipping3::
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Aurora police said they could not confirm that the boy is Timmothy. One of the two detectives headed to Ohio is a cold case investigator.

DNA results are expected Thursday afternoon. The boy was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for evaluation.
 ::snipping3::

just heard hoping it is him

new york post has a current img, forgot how to load

Family of Timmothy Pitzen ‘cautiously optimistic’ about DNA results
By Jackie Salo April 4, 2019 | 11:27am | Updated
https://nypost.com/2019/04/04/family-of-boy-missing-8-years-cautiously-optimistic-about-dna-results/

img
https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/timmoth-pitzen-new.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1236&h=820&crop=1

short vid interview with grandmother at Time
A 14-Year-Old Boy in Ohio Says He Is the Illinois Child Who Went Missing in 2011
BY COREY WILLIAMS AND CARYN ROUSSEAU / AP UPDATED: APRIL 4, 2019 10:26 AM ET
http://time.com/5564054/timmothy-pitzen-child-missing-boy-child-illinois/

forgot a link

Listen: Police respond to report of teen who says he's Timmothy Pitzen
Listen to Newport police radio traffic
KAREEM ELGAZZAR
10:07 p.m. EDT Apr. 3, 2019

https://www.cincinnati.com/videos/news/2019/04/03/listen-police-respond-report-teen-who-says-hes-timmothy-pitzen/3358406002/

a search for Pitzen @ cincinnati enquire
https://www.cincinnati.com/search/%20Pitzen/

WOW!!!!!!!!! Totally WOW! It hit my local news in Maine. https://www.wabi.tv/content/news/Timmothy-Pitzen-Chicago-area-boy-missing-for-8-years-possibly-found-in-Cincinnati-area-508103771.html  Video

APRIL 4, 2019

Aurora Illinois Police Department

Good morning Aurora Community.

We have been advised by our investigators that they plan to continue their investigation this morning, however, the details of that investigation remain confidential.

We still have no confirmation of the identity of the person located, but hope to have something later this afternoon or early this evening.

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.

As you might imagine, we are keeping the Pitzen family and everyone involved in this ongoing investigation in our thoughts, and ask you all to do the same.

We remain #AuroraStrong

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-cb-timmothy-pitzen-what-we-know20190404-story.html

 ::MonkeyTears::

Timmothy Pitzen Case: DNA Shows Boy Found is Not Missing Kid, FBI Says
Published Apr 4, 2019 at 6:57 AM | Updated 3 minutes ago
EXCERPT
According to Newport, Kentucky police the person claiming to be Pitzen is actually 24-year-old Brian Michael Rini of Medina, Ohio. Further information on him was not immediately available.
Read more:
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/timmothy-pitzen-found-dna-test-508100901.html

Sad news...

https://twitter.com/dh_ssarkauskas

Susan Sarkauskas‏ @dh_ssarkauskas · 7m7 minutes ago 

FBI: Boy found in Ohio is NOT Timmothy Pitzen

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20190404/fbi-boy-found-in-ohio-is-not-timmothy-pitzen

FBI: Boy found in Ohio is NOT Timmothy Pitzen
Susan Sarkauskas
Updated
4/4/2019 4:02 PM

Hopes of finding missing Aurora boy Timmothy Pitzen were dashed again Thursday, when the FBI announced DNA evidence showed a teenager in Ohio, who claimed to be the boy, is not.

"DNA results have been returned indicating the person in question is not Timmothy Pitzen," said Tim Beam chief division counsel for the FBI's Louisville field office. "A local investigation continues into this person's true identity."

"To be clear, law enforcement has not and will not forget Timmothy, and we hope to one day reunite him with his family. Unfortunately, that day will not be today."
 ::snipping3::

https://fox8.com/2019/04/04/fbi-teen-found-in-ohio-is-not-missing-illinois-boy-who-was-kidnapped-7-years-ago/

Kentucky police: Person who claimed he was missing Illinois boy is 23-year-old Northeast Ohio man
Posted 4:49 pm, April 4, 2019, by fox8webcentral and Associated Press, Updated at 05:20PM, April 4, 2019
 ::snipping3::
The teenager told police that he was Timmothy and that he had escaped two kidnappers.

The Newport Police Department in Kentucky tells FOX 8 News the person who claimed he was Timmothy is actually Brian Michael Rini, a 23-year-old man from Medina, Ohio.

FOX 8 News is working to learn more on this
 ::snipping3::

https://abcnews.go.com/US/mystery-surrounds-discovery-timmothy-pitzen-disappeared-2011/story?id=62166730

FBI says that the person claiming to be missing teen Timmothy Pitzen is not him
Police say the individual was actually a 23-year-old man from Ohio.
By Meghan Keneally Apr 4, 2019 4:31 PM
 ::snipping3::
On Thursday, in the wake of the DNA test results, Pitzen's maternal grandmother spoke about the devastation that their family is feeling.

"It's been awful. We've been on tinderhooks," Abramson said to reporters, adding that the family has been "alternatively hopeful and frightened."

When asked about the person who claimed to be Timmothy, Abramson said that she thinks the man "obviously had a horrible time and felt the need to say he was someone else, and hope that they can find his family."

They are not giving up hope that their real relative is found.

"My prayer has always been that when he is old enough, he would find us if we couldn't find him," Abramson said.
 ::snipping3::

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/04/03/five-things-we-know-missing-teen-who-identified-himself-timmothy-pitzen/3359020002/

What we know: DNA tests confirm the person found in Newport is not Timmothy Pitzen, is Brian Rini
Max Londberg, Sarah Brookbank and Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer  Published 7:34 p.m. ET April 3, 2019 | Updated 6:46 p.m. ET April 4, 2019
 ::snipping3::
Who is Brian Michael Rini?

He was found in the 740 block of Columbia Street in Newport on Wednesday, where he told police he was held captive for seven years by two men.

He gave Pitzen's name and date of birth to police.

Fox19 reported that the side of his face was "bad" and he looked like he'd been "jumped."

It's unclear what part of the story, if anything, is true.

Rini's name came up in a DNA database, officials said.

What is his criminal background?

2015 and 2016: Rini has been convicted twice, in 2015 and 2016, of making false alarms involving a law enforcement agency, records show. He also has convictions for passing bad checks and falsification.

2017: Rini was among four men charged in Medina County in 2017 after officials said they hosted a party and caused more than $1,000 in damage to a former model home.

According to the Medina Gazette, Rini had visited the $400,000 home as a potential buyer. Two days later, he introduced himself to neighbors and told them he had purchased the house and was hosting a party that night, the Gazette reported.

March 7, 2019: Records show Rini was released from an Ohio prison after serving more than a year for burglary and vandalism.
 ::snipping3::

FBI: Man pretending to be missing Illinois boy has twice made similar claims

https://www.wabi.tv/content/news/FBI-Man-pretending-to-be-missing-Illinois-boy-has-twice-made-similar-claims-508165471.html

CINCINNATI (AP) — A man who authorities say claimed to be an Illinois boy who disappeared eight years ago has twice made similar claims in which he falsely portrayed himself as a juvenile sex trafficking victim, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court Friday.

Brian Rini of Medina, Ohio, was jailed in Cincinnati on Thursday. The FBI has identified Rini as the person who claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen, who disappeared in 2011 at age 6.

The FBI declared the man's story a hoax Thursday based on DNA testing one day after he identified himself to authorities as Pitzen.

Enough evidence exists to charge Rini with lying to federal authorities, the affidavit said. The U.S. attorney's office in Cincinnati scheduled a Friday news conference on the case. No attorney was listed for Rini in court documents Friday.

Rini was found Wednesday in Newport, Kentucky, "wandering the street and looking confused and in need of assistance," according to the six-page affidavit from FBI agent Mary Braun.

After identifying himself as Pitzen, Rini complained of abdominal pain and was taken to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Emergency Room, the affidavit said. Rini refused to be fingerprinted Wednesday and Thursday but agreed to a DNA test which on Thursday identified him as Rini, according to Braun.

Even after Rini was advised of his rights and warned against making false statements, he continued to insist he was Pitzen and that he had escaped from a hotel where he'd been forced to have sex with men against his will, the affidavit said.

Rini finally acknowledged his identity after being confronted with the DNA results, said he had watched a story about Pitzen on ABC's 20/20 news program, and had wanted to get away from his family, according to Braun.

An FBI investigation found that Rini had twice portrayed himself as a juvenile sex trafficking victim, and in each case was later identified after being fingerprinted, the affidavit said. SNIP

KYRON HORMAN'S MOTHER - APRIL 4, 2019

Desiree Davidson Young

Every time there's a story, a report, a tip that one of our missing might be returned home safe, it gets our hopes up, all of us, parents of missing children, our hopes soar even if it isn't our child. We are a group of our own kind of family, a network of fighters, a group of co-supporters, of each other.

If you know a parent of a missing child today, please hug them. You see....most of us are barely getting by, day to day, and then our hopes go up in the hope that one of us will get to come home. And sometimes our hopes are dashed. We go about the rest of the day in tears, we don't know why except for the family who's hopes were also dashed. It's a constant roller coaster, everyday we hope for that phone call, we hope for that one thing above all else, to bring our child home, to bring all of our missing children home.

So please hug them, if for other reason than to say, I am sorry that your happy ever after hasn't happened yet. I am sorry it isn't your day yet, but I support you in this moment because I know it's hard. It's hard for everyone out there supporting our missing children. My heart goes out to the Pitzen family, I am so sorry that today isn't that day for you, I am so sorry for the pain that you are feeling now and everyday.

https://www.facebook.com/desiree.davidsonyoung/posts/2243216155700036


 :smt049

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/brian-michael-rini-who-claimed-be-timmothy-pitzen-has-criminal-n991256

Brian Michael Rini, who claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen, charged with making false statement
April 5, 2019, 7:28 AM CDT / Updated April 5, 2019, 10:58 AM CDT
By Elisha Fieldstadt

The man who surfaced in Kentucky claiming to be Timmothy Pitzen, a boy who went missing at the age of 6 in 2011, was charged Friday with making false statements to a federal agent, according to the FBI.
 ::snipping3::
Rini also told investigators that "he wished he had a father like Timmothy's," the U.S. attorney's statement said.

"False reports like this can be painful to the families of missing children and also divert law enforcement resources in order to investigate these untruthful claims," Herb Stapleton, the acting special agent in charge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Cincinnati, said in a statement.

"Law enforcement takes false reports very seriously, and we caution that people making false claims can and will face criminal penalties," the statement said.

Rini, 23, appeared in federal court Friday, and is being held without bond, Glassman said. He is expected to appear at a detention hearing Tuesday.

Rini could spend eight years in federal prison if convicted, the U.S. attorney said.
 ::snipping3::
His estranged brother, Jonathan Rini, told NBC Chicago that the 23-year-old had stopped getting treatment for numerous mental health issues. "I'd tell the family that I’m sorry for what he’s done, but for him, I wouldn’t even speak to him," Jonathan Rini said.
 ::snipping3::

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/us/timmothy-pitzen-case/index.html

Timmothy Pitzen's dad hopes news about his missing son creates new leads in the case
By Joe Sterling, CNN
Updated 8:23 AM ET, Mon April 8, 2019

CNN) — Reports that missing boy Timmothy Pitzen had turned up nearly eight years after he disappeared proved to be a cruel hoax.

But James Pitzen, the boy's father, says a week's fresh coverage of the mystery surrounding his son's 2011 disappearance could turn out to have a silver lining.

"Exposure helps get his face back out there," he told NBC News in an interview aired this weekend. "Get a description of what he may look like at this time out."

The father said he believes his son, who would be around 14, is probably around 145 or 150 pounds and between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet 3 inches tall.
 ::snipping3::
"I lost my whole family that day,' James Pitzen said.

Timmothy's aunt Kara Jacobs said the news of the hoax was "like reliving that day all over again" and she said Timmothy's father is devastated once again."

But the father told NBC he won't lose hope.

"As soon as you give up hope, then what should I do declare him dead? I'm not going to do that."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-missing-aurora-boy-timmothy-pitzen-false-claim-20190409-story.html

Ohio man who said he was missing Aurora boy Timmothy Pitzen to remain held without bond, judge rules
Dan Sewell
Associated Press
April 9, 2019, 1:50 PM |CINCINNATI

A U.S. magistrate ordered an Ohio man to remain jailed without bond Tuesday on a charge that he lied to federal agents about being a missing boy from Aurora.

Authorities charged Brian Michael Rini, 23, of Medina, Ohio, on Friday, a day after DNA testing proved he was not Timmothy Pitzen, who disappeared in 2011 at age 6.

“I believe Mr. Rini poses a risk of flight,” Magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz said during a brief hearing in which Rini stood before her in a uniform from the jail with his wrists and ankles shackled.

She cited his lack of a permanent address, past mental health issues and “a lengthy criminal history” that goes back to age 13. She also noted that he had just been released on probation last month from state prison after serving more than a year on burglary and vandalism charges.

Federal authorities said he also has twice before portrayed himself to be a juvenile sex trafficking victim, as he did in this case,

Litkovitz scheduled an April 19 preliminary hearing for Rini, who was represented by a federal public defender. He could face up to eight years in prison if convicted of making false statements to federal agents.

He is being held at the Butler County Jail, north of Cincinnati.
 ::snipping3::

https://www.boston.com/news/national-news/2019/04/18/brian-rini-missing-child-timmothy-pitzen
More charges for man accused of claiming to be missing child
April 19, 2019

CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio man accused of claiming to be a missing child from Illinois is facing new charges.

A federal grand jury has indicted 23-year-old Brian Michael Rini of Medina, Ohio, on two counts of lying to federal agents and one count of aggravated identity theft.

He had been arrested earlier on a single false statement count after DNA testing proved he wasn’t Timmothy Pitzen, who disappeared in 2011 at age 6.

Rini is being held without bond. Arraignment is scheduled Friday.  ::snipping3::

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/19/us/timmothy-pitzen-investigation-plea/index.html

Man who claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen pleads not guilty to federal charges
By Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 5:51 PM ET, Fri April 19, 2019

(CNN) — The Ohio man who allegedly claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen, a boy who disappeared in 2011, pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges of making false statements to federal agents.

Brian Michael Rini, 23, of Medina appeared in federal court, where he entered his pleas. He faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.
 ::snipping3::

http://www.chroniclet.com/state-news/2019/04/22/Trial-date-set-for-man-in-missing-child-hoax.html

Trial date set for Medina man in missing child hoax
Associated Press
Published on  April 22, 2019 | Updated 3:18 p. m

CINCINNATI — A federal judge has set a June 24 trial date for the 23-year-old man charged with impersonating a long-missing child.
 
U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett in Cincinnati scheduled pretrial conferences May 14 and June 13 in the case of Brian Michael Rini of Medina.

Rini pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of lying to federal agents and one of aggravated identity theft. The false statements charges carry possible sentences of up to eight years in prison and the ID theft would mean at least two years with conviction. Rini is being held without bond.
 ::snipping3::

https://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/missing-child-hoax-suspect-to-be-evaluated-for-competency-to-stand-trial

Missing child hoax suspect to be evaluated for competency to stand trial
Posted: 3:28 PM, May 20, 2019
Updated: 2:28 PM, May 20, 2019

CINCINNATI — The man accused of impersonating a missing child is being sent to an institution for evaluation.

Brian Rini, 23, will be institutionalized for "some time" to determine whether he is competent to stand trial, officials said during a brief court hearing Monday.
 ::snipping3::
A trial was scheduled to start June 24;  it wasn't immediately clear whether that would be delayed after Monday's hearing.

Authorities have asked anyone with genuine information about Timmothy Pitzen's whereabouts to call Aurora police at 630-256-5000 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.

https://wgntv.com/2019/06/13/hearing-set-for-man-charged-with-claiming-to-be-missing-aurora-boy-timmothy-pitzen/

Hearing off for man charged with posing as missing child
Posted 7:29 AM, June 13, 2019, by Associated Press, Updated at 12:07PM, June 13, 2019

CINCINNATI — A pretrial hearing has been canceled for the 24-year-old man charged with impersonating a long-missing child.

A court notice was posted Thursday morning, a few hours ahead of what had been scheduled as the final pretrial hearing for Brian Michael Rini of Medina, Ohio.

U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett on May 20 granted a sealed motion filed by Rini’s attorney. Barrett had earlier set a June 24 trial date, but that appears likely to be postponed.
 ::snipping3::

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/06/24/brian-rini-case-on-hold-missing-child-timmothy-pitzen/1545764001/

Case on hold for man charged with posing as missing child
Associated Press  Published 10:37 a.m. ET June 24, 2019

CINCINNATI (AP) – The case of a 24-year-old Ohio man charged with impersonating a long-missing child is on hold in federal court.

U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett on May 20 granted a sealed motion filed by Brian Michael Rini's attorney and canceled what had been scheduled as a final pretrial hearing before a June 24 trial date. Court records Monday didn't show any new dates

Rini has pleaded not guilty to two counts of lying to federal agents and one of aggravated identity theft.

Federal prison records indicate he's being held in Oklahoma City.
 ::snipping3::

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/10/31/brian-rini-man-who-claimed-timmothy-pitzen-competent-stand-trial/4116091002/

Man who claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen found competent to stand trial
Fox19 Published 6:11 p.m. ET Oct. 31, 2019

CINCINNATI (FOX19) – An Ohio man accused of impersonating Timmothy Pitzen, the Illinois boy who went missing in 2011 at age 6, was found competent to stand trial.

Man who claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen found competent to stand trial

A DNA test determined that 23-year-old Brian Rini was not Pitzen.

Pitzen was reported missing in 2011 right around the time his mother committed suicide in an Illinois hotel.
 ::snipping3::
U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman said Rini faces up to eight years in prison if convicted of making false statements to a federal agent.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/crime-and-courts/2020/01/06/brian-rini-set-plead-impersonating-timmothy-pitzen/2828804001/

Man who pretended to be missing boy Timmothy Pitzen set to plead guilty in federal court
Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer Published 6:50 p.m. ET Jan. 6, 2020 | Updated 10:40 a.m. ET Jan. 7, 2020
 ::snipping3::
Rini, now 24, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal aggravated identity theft charge, court documents show.

He is expected to appear Wednesday before a judge in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati and formally enter his plea.

At an October hearing, Rini was deemed mentally competent to stand trial. Rini's federal public defender previously described him as having "a significant mental health past."

Rini was evaluated at a federal prison in Chicago, and a doctor found that he understood the legal proceedings and could assist in his own defense.

The competency report said Rini has "some symptoms of depressive disorder, which are in remission," according to a transcript of the October hearing. "But he does not appear to be suffering from any severe mental disease or defect."
 ::snipping3::
Rini also was charged with making false statements to federal agents, although that charge was dropped as part of the plea. Aggravated identify theft is punishable by a mandatory two-year prison sentence.

https://www.wlwt.com/article/man-who-claimed-to-be-missing-boy-timmothy-pitzen-pleads-guilty-to-aggravated-identity-theft/30429646

Man who claimed to be missing boy pleads guilty to aggravated identity theft
Updated: 1:17 PM EST Jan 8, 2020

CINCINNATI (AP) —A man who claimed to be a child who disappeared at age six has pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft.

Brian Michael Rini, 24, of Medina, Ohio, claimed to be missing child Timmothy Pitzen when he was found in Northern Kentucky on April 3.

After a monthslong court battle, Rini was ordered to a mandatory two years in prison with credit for time served, and one year of supervised release.
 ::snipping3::