Timmothy Pitzen 6, Missing 5/12/11, Aurora, IL - Mother deceased (suicide)

[grace-land]

Where are you, Timmothy? 

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

[grace-land]

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::

[grace-land]

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

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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.

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[grace-land]

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

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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

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[grace-land]

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.

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

[grace-land]

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

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."

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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."

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[klaasend]

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

 

[klaasend]

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

[grace-land]

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

[grace-land]

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

[grace-land]

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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[MuffyBee]

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


Enduring mystery: Illinois schoolboy Timmothy Pitzen disappeared when his mother killed herself in a roadside motel room


Missing: Timmothy, from Illinois, has not been seen since his mother killed herself in a hotel room in May

[grace-land]

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."

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"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."

[grace-land]

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.
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[grace-land]

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.
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[MuffyBee]

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

[grace-land]

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

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::

[MuffyBee]

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

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::

  

[grace-land]

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.
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[grace-land]

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."
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