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A family remains cautiously optimistic after news of a teen who claims to be Timmothy PItzen, an Illinois boy who went missing in 2011, came forward.
Pitzen made national headlines when the 6-year-old boy from Aurora, IL, vanished seven years ago. He was last seen at a water park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin with his mother, who was later found deceased in Rockford, IL, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Police are still confirming the boy's identity after he said he was 14-year-old Timmothy Pitzen.
The teen alleged he escaped from his two captors while they were staying at a Red Roof Inn. He proceeded to run across a bridge and crossed state lines into Kentucky.
A recording of a police officer calling in a report was obtained by USA Today.
Audio of police responding to report of teen saying he's Timmothy Pitzen, Illinois child who disappeared 7 years ag… https://t.co/vAoa4XhT1g— USA TODAY Video (@USA TODAY Video) 1554341996.0
Newport Police Chief Tom Collins said someone alerted the police of a boy "walking around the east side of Newport and didn't seem like he belonged there. ... Things didn't look right."
Collins said:
"You can only imagine the challenges we're going through in the process of identifying who he is."
#NEW at 11PM: A Newport woman we talked with said the boy, who claims he's Timmothy Pitzen, who vanished in 2011, w… https://t.co/WeyFaQ1Vp6— Dan Griffin WLWT (@Dan Griffin WLWT) 1554341137.0
@WLWT #NEW at 11PM: The woman was shaken and teary-eyed thinking about the boy she met by chance on Wednesday morni… https://t.co/CcUwdr0lGB— Dan Griffin WLWT (@Dan Griffin WLWT) 1554341181.0
@jasmineminortv @WCPO @ABC Please let the lady know that she did an amazing thing by helping that poor boy. God bless her! Thank you.— tmazgal (@tmazgal) 1554339809.0
"He was lost & scared," says a Newport woman about a 14y/o boy on the street today. Teen tells police he's Timmothy… https://t.co/35EZSTQt2f— Brad Underwood (@Brad Underwood) 1554338940.0
Campbell County, Kentucky, dispatchers contacted the Sharonville Police Department in Ohio on Wednesday and requested them to investigate the Red Roof Inn where the teen alleged to have escaped.
"Apparently, Timmothy had just escaped and kept running across a bridge into KY," read the Sharonville police report.
The FBI in Louisville confirmed they are working with authorities from Newport, Cincinnati, Hamilton County and Aurora while the teen is under care at at a local hospital.
Aurora police said that a DNA test to confirm if the teen is Timmothy Pitzen will take 24 hours.
The FBI told USA:
"There will be no further statement made on this matter until we have additional information."
STUNNING ESCAPE CLAIM: The FBI and local authorities are investigating a 14-year-old boy found in KY who says he es… https://t.co/1rVHbL9op6— World News Tonight (@World News Tonight) 1554339383.0
@ABCWorldNews @WhitJohnson prayers i think investigators should go further in the mothers suicide because to me it… https://t.co/lNrVO9Ij9b— Cella (@Cella) 1554348524.0
The boy described his captors as two white men with a "bodybuilder-type build." One of the men has curly black hair with a spider web tattoo on his neck and the other has a snake tattoo on his arm.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Amy Fry-Pitzen picked up her son from kindergarten on May 11, 2011 to take him to on a 3-day vacation to the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois and a water park in Wisconson.
She was reported to have been depressed and in an unhappy marriage.
Fry-Pitzen was found dead in a Rockford motel room leaving behind "a note that says her child is safe with people who cared for him but that he'll never be found."
However, with the breaking news of this young man's escape, the public is optimistic that young Timmothy has been found.
@usatodayvideo I pray this is you Timothy God does miracles every day 🙏— EM (@EM) 1554345157.0
@ABCWorldNews @WhitJohnson I hope this boy has a chance to really heal and recover from whatever trauma he experienced— Chunky D!amonD (@Chunky D!amonD) 1554346552.0
@MsHood2HiClass @ABCWorldNews @WhitJohnson A rare outcome it's almost never happens I pray can resume somewhat of a… https://t.co/x5nJC7YRcu— Taquae Anderson (@Taquae Anderson) 1554384069.0
This could be the end to a drawn out nightmare.
STUNNING! Is this the boy who’s been missing seven years? Amazing! Police are heading to the Cincinnati area to as… https://t.co/jpNJ5KqWiB— Melanie Lawson (@Melanie Lawson) 1554339589.0
@MelanieLawson13 Let’s pray it is because his dad and relatives would love to have him back safe and sound— SueAnn Sorensen (@SueAnn Sorensen) 1554348453.0
Timmothy's father, Jim Pitzen, believed his son was alive days after he went missing.
He told ABC News.
"He's out there somewhere, and I know he's OK. I just want him to come home to his family."
Timmothy's grandmother Alana Anderson, who lives in Chicago is "cautiously hopeful."
"I'm very hopeful that it's him, and that he's OK and he's been in a good place when he was gone and he's gonna come back to us."