‘Teen’ Found in Kentucky Is Not Timmothy Pitzen, but a 23-Year-Old Man: Reports

The boy was 6 when he disappeared in 2011 (Aurora Police Department)

A DNA test disproved a man’s claim that he was an Illinois boy who went missing in 2011, said the FBI on April 4.

The man was found wandering the streets in Newport, Kentucky, said he was Timmothy Pitzen, who was 6 years old when he disappeared, reported The Associated Press.

Early reports said the person was a teen, but he’s not, said a police official. His name, according to the official, is really Brian Michael Rini, and he is 23 years old, reported NBC News.

Pitzen was the name of a boy from Aurora, Illinois, who went missing after his mother was found dead of an alleged suicide. She also apparently left a note that read, “You'll never find him.”

“DNA results have been returned indicating the person in question is not Timmothy Pitzen,” FBI Louisville wrote on Twitter.  “A local investigation continues into this person’s true identity.”

He said that federal “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.”

According to NBC, Rini told police that he escaped two kidnappers who had bodybuilder-type builds. He said he was staying a the Red Roof Inn with his abductors and ran across a bridge from Ohio into Kentucky.

“I asked him what was going on, and he told me he’s been kidnapped and he’s been traded through all these people,” said a woman, who saw him. “He just wanted to go home. He needed help.”

She said he looked like he was beaten up and “had a really big bruise on his face.”

Sharon Hall, a local from Newport, saw Rini and thought he was trying to steal a car, adding that he appeared nervous.

“From out the window, I couldn’t see who was standing to the curb,” she told Fox19. “But I looked out and came back in and … there was a young man standing by my neighbor’s car.”

According to WKOW, his father issued a statement.

“It’s terrifying not knowing where he’s at,” Timmothy’s father, Jim Pitzen, told the outlet. “I keep hoping every day that he comes home.”

The boy’s grandmother, Alana Anderson, said she is hopeful.

“Well 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 that he’s going to come back to us,” Anderson said.

Rini described his two kidnappers as white men with body-builder type builds.

One suspect had black, curly hair, jeans, a Mountain Dew T-shirt, and a spider web tattoo on his neck.

Last Seen

Timmothy was last seen in May 2011 when his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, took her son out of school before taking him to resorts in the Wisconsin Dells resort area before she allegedly killed herself. She also allegedly left behind a suicide note that his family will never find him.

“I was totally taken by the situation and sort of paralyzed at the time,” Jim Pitzen said, reported WKOW.

“[We] never stopped looking for him, thinking of him,” Anderson said, adding that “we love him and we’ll do everything to get him back to a good life.”