On May 11, 2011, six-year-old American boy Timmothy James Pitzen (/ˈpɪtsən/) was
dropped off at school in Aurora,
Illinois by his father James Pitzen.
He was picked up shortly after by his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, who took him on a
three-day trip to various amusement and water parks. Fry-Pitzen's body was
subsequently found in a motel room in the town of Rockford, Illinois, having committed suicide, with a note stating
that Timmothy was safe, but would never be found.
Early life
Timmothy Pitzen
was born in Aurora, Illinois to
parents James Pitzen and Amy Joan Marie
Fry-Pitzen in 2004. On May 11, 2011,
Timmothy's father dropped him off at his kindergarten class at Greenman Elementary School. His mother
checked him out of class between 8:10 and 8:15 AM CDT, citing a non-existent
family emergency. She dropped her vehicle off at a repair shop at 10:00 AM. An
employee of the shop drove Fry-Pitzen and her son to the Brookfield Zoo. They returned and retrieved their vehicle at 3:00
PM, and drove to the KeyLime Cove Resort
in Gurnee, where they spent the
night. The next morning, the pair drove to Kalahari
Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin,
and were spotted on security footage in the checkout line at 10:00 AM the next
day. Timmothy has not been seen or heard from since.
Disappearance
Between 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. on May 13, Fry-Pitzen
telephoned several family members, including her mother and brother-in-law,
telling them that she and Timmothy were safe and not in any danger. Cell phone records indicated the calls were
made from an area northwest of Sterling,
near Route 40. Fry-Pitzen failed to contact her husband, however, who had been
attempting to locate the pair after being notified by his son's school that he
was not present when he arrived to pick him up at the end of the school day on
May 11. Timmothy was heard in the background during the calls, saying that he was
hungry.
At 7:25 p.m. that evening, Fry-Pitzen was seen, alone, on
security cameras at a Family Dollar
store in Winnebago, where she
purchased a pen, notepaper and envelopes.
At 8:00 p.m., she was sighted at a Sullivan's
Food store in Winnebago, again
unaccompanied. At 11:15 p.m., she
checked into the Rockford Inn at
Rockford, where sometime that night or the next morning, she took her own life
by slashing her wrists and neck and taking an overdose of antihistamines. At 12:30 p.m. on May 14, her body was found by
a hotel maid along with a note. In the
note, Fry-Pitzen apologized for the mess she had created, and explained that
Timmothy would never be found, but was safe with people who would care for him.
Investigation
Police found that the knife Fry-Pitzen had used to kill
herself contained only her blood, but that "a concerning amount" of
blood found in her car belonged to her son Timmothy. However, a family member
later revealed that the stains were likely caused by a nosebleed Timmothy had
suffered in the car earlier that month. It was also noted that Fry-Pitzen's
cell phone was missing. An examination of her vehicle revealed that it had been
parked in a grassy area, possibly near a stream, but close to a highway. In 2013, Fry-Pitzen's cell phone was located
beside Route 78, but the discovery did not bring any new evidence.
James Pitzen has
stated that he believes his son is still alive. The case was broadcast on the American
television series Live PD on August
25, 2018, with guest Angeline Hartmann
of the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children showing viewers an age progression photograph of
Timmothy at age 13.
Hoax reappearance
On April 3, 2019, local residents in Newport, Kentucky called the police to report a teenager wandering
the streets after running across a bridge over the Ohio River. When police found the shaken and distraught boy, he told
them he was Timmothy. The next day, the Louisville office of the FBI revealed via Twitter that the boy in their custody was not Timmothy. Aurora Police spokesman Sgt. Bill Rowley said, "Although we are disappointed that this
turned out to be a hoax, we remain diligent in our search for Timmothy, as our
missing person's case remains unsolved."
The man who claimed to be Pitzen was found to be 23-year-old
Brian Michael Rini. He was released
from Belmont Correctional Institution
in Ohio less than a month prior to
his claim, after serving about fourteen months on charges of burglary and
vandalism out of Medina County.
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