BACK FROM BEYOND
Seven key clues to untangle Timmothy Pitzen mystery as lad, 14, turns up claiming to be little boy who disappeared eight years ago
Investigators hope the boy can answer the riddles that have stumped them for almost eight years
ONE of America's most intriguing missing child mysteries could finally be solved, after a bedraggled teenager turned up hundreds of miles away claiming to have run away from kidnappers.
If the "bruised and skinny" lad in Kentucky really is Timmothy Pitzen, investigators will hope that he can answer the riddles that have stumped them for almost eight years.
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Timmothy's family are anxiously waiting for DNA results as police officers from his home town in Illinois travel to speak to the boy in hospital near Cincinnati, Ohio.
The terrified 14-year-old — described as "scared and agitated" with bruises on his face — flagged down a motorist begging for help yesterday in Newport, on the opposite side of the river in Kentucky.
He claimed he had fled on foot from two muscle-bound men who were holding him at a motel and "kept running across a bridge".
Witnesses who saw him wandering the streets for two hours said they feared he was trying to steal cars — until they realised he was running from danger.
A female driver called 911 and said: "He walked up to my car and he went, 'Can you help me? I just want to get home. Please help me.'
"I asked him what's going on, and he tells me he's been kidnapped and he's been traded through all these people and he just wanted to go home."
When police arrived the boy identified himself as Timmothy Pitzen – a name familiar from the numerous nationwide TV appeals over the years.
Here are seven key clues that investigators will have to consider:
'FAMILY EMERGENCY' LIE
Timmothy was just six-and-a-half when he vanished after his mother's bloody suicide in 2011.
On the morning of May 11, his father Jim Pitzen had dropped him off as usual at Greenman Elementary School in Aurora, Illinois.
Almost immediately after, his mother Amy came to collect him at 8.15am – citing a non-existent "family emergency".
Jim had known their marriage was troubled, but never imagined she would snatch their son away.
He went to collect him at the end of the day, when teachers said his wife had taken him hours earlier.
So why did his Timmothy's mum take him from the school that morning?
FUN-FILLED FINAL TWO DAYS
Police investigating what happened next found she dropped her car at a repair garage at 10am.
One of the mechanics gave her and Timmothy a lift to Brookfield Zoo in nearby Chicago.
Meanwhile Jim's calls to Amy's mobile went straight to answerphone. At 1.30pm she called her mum and brother-in-law to say she was safe.
After the zoo, Amy and her son went back to get the car from the garage at 3pm and drove to KeyLime Cove Resort - a water park in Gurnee, Illinois.
They stayed the night there, then the next day checked in at a second water park 150 miles north, the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells.
CCTV of them checking out at 10am on May 13 is the last known sighting of Timmothy.
So what on earth happened to Timmothy next?
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CRYPTIC SUICIDE NOTE
By now, Jim was frantic with worry. He reported Timmothy missing on May 12.
Three days later, a maid found Amy dead in her room at a motel in Rockford, Illinois.
She had checked in alone, and was also alone when she was spotted on CCTV the night before buying stationery in a shop.
Amy, 43, had apparently slit her wrists. She left a note apologising for the mess.
The note also said: "Tim is somewhere safe with people who love him and will care for him. You will never find him."
Amy posted a similar note to her mother, Alana Anderson.
She : "His mother left me a letter and she said that he would be with people who would love him and take care of him.
"She felt that her life had come to an end and she was going to end her life and she didn't want to leave him without good parenting."
So who was Timmothy with, how did his mother known them and why was she so sure he'd never be found?
BLOOD STAIN IN THE CAR
Police quickly began a huge search for Timmothy spanning three states.
After they note, they were looking at the possibility she had passed him to other people – or perhaps even killed him and hidden the body.
Only her own blood was on the knife used to take her own life.
But in August, three months after he went missing, police revealed there was a "concerning" amount of Timmothy's blood on the back seat of Amy's SUV.
However investigators later concluded it was from an earlier nosebleed – keeping hopes alive that he would one day be found safe.
MISSING PHONE
Tests on the car suggested it had been parked in a grassy area, possibly near a stream, and near a road treated with glass beads.
This could have been the site where she handed her son to the people who were holding him, detectives thought.
Mysteriously, Timmothy's car seat was still in his mum's car – so whoever might have him did not transfer it to another vehicle.
Another mystery concerned Amy's phone which was not in her car or motel room when she died.
It was only found two years later in a roadside ditch.
Detectives' hopes that it would reveal who was holding Timmothy were dashed as it reportedly contained no useful information that could lead them to the kidnappers.
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TEEN'S 'FLIGHT FROM MOTEL'
The trail went cold, despite numerous TV appeals and alleged sightings as far away as Florida.
Last year, a new appeal included a computer image of how Timmothy might look aged 13.
Then on April 3 the "skinny teenager" claiming to be him turned up in Kentucky.
One woman told the boy said he'd been running for two hours and that he had "been passed around for seven years".
He said he had been held against his will until he escaped that morning from a Red Roof Inn.
The boy said he had run across a bridge, focusing the search across the river in Cincinnati.
But there are several branches of the chain motels in the area for cops to check.
The FBI and local officer in Ohio and Kentucky are hoping motel staff might be able to verify his story – and get clues on the suspected kidnappers.
'TATTOOED BODYBUILDERS'?
The boy gave police descriptions of the men he said were holding him - including their distinctive tattoos.
He said they were two white men with "bodybuilder-type" physiques who were driving a Ford SUV with Wisconsin plates.
A police report states: "One had black curly hair, Mountain Dew shirt and jeans, & has a spider web tattoo on his neck.
"The other was short in stature and had a snake tattoo on his arms."
So far no suspects have been identified.
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DAD 'HOLDING IT TOGETHER'
DNA tests that will confirm if the boy is Timmothy could come back as soon as Thursday evening, according to reports.
Meanwhile his father Jim is "trying to hold it together", relatives said.
He lost his job after his son vanished and moved to Iowa. But he has never given up hope of finding his son.
Tim's aunt Kara Jacobs said last year: "I know that he’s out there. We just have to find him."
Maternal grandmother Alana Anderson said the family are "cautiously hopeful" after the dramatic development in Kentucky.
MOST READ IN NEWS
She told a US news channel: “We never forgot, never stopped thinking about him every day, stayed in touch with the police.
"It just went cold and I just prayed that when he was old enough that he would remember us and contact us — that was kind of the best I could hope for for a long time.”
But she added: "We don't want to get our hopes up. We've had false reports and false hopes before.
"I'm cautiously hopeful, very cautiously hopeful. And if it turns out to be him, we'll be thrilled."
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Timmothy Pitzen - Sharon Hall, woman who spotted teen who identified himself as missing Illinois boy, says she originally thought he was going to steal a car
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