Soon after, his mom, Amy Fry-Pitzen, picked him up and took him on a three-day trip to different amusement and water parks.
Later, Amy was found dead in a motel room in Rockford, Illinois.
She left a note saying Timmothy was safe but would never be found.
Born on October 18, 2004, he was the only child of James Pitzen and Amy Fry-Pitzen.
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| James Pitzen, Amy Fry-Pitzen and Timmothy Pitzen |
Disappearance
On May 11, 2011, his dad dropped him off at kindergarten at Greenman Elementary School.
A little later, his mom took him out of school, saying there was a family emergency, which wasn't true.
She then took her car to a repair shop at 10:00 am.
An employee from the shop drove Amy and Timmothy to the Brookfield Zoo.
They came back to get their car at 3:00 pm and went to spend the night at KeyLime Cove Resort in Gurnee.
Meanwhile, when Timmothy's father came back to pick him up from school, he was told that his mother had already taken him.
This made him worried and he immediately started searching for them
The next day, Amy and Timmothy went to Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.
Security footage showed them in the checkout line at 10:00 am on May 12.
That was the last time Timothy was seen.
The next day which was May 13, 2011, Amy Fry-Pitzen called several family members, including her mom and brother-in-law.
She told them that she and Timmothy were safe and not in any danger.
Timmothy was heard in the background during the calls, saying he was hungry.
Amy didn't call her husband, who had been trying to find them after learning from the school that Timmothy was missing.
Cell phone records showed the calls came from an area northwest of Sterling, Illinois, near Route 40.
At 7:25 p.m. that same day, Amy Fry-Pitzen was seen alone on security cameras at a Family Dollar store in Winnebago, Illinois, buying a pen, notepaper, and envelopes.
At 8:00 p.m., she was seen alone again at a Sullivan's Food store in Winnebago.
At 11:15 p.m., she checked into the Rockford Inn in Rockford, Illinois.
Sometime that night or the next morning, she took her own life by cutting her wrists and neck and overdosing on antihistamines.
Her body was found by a hotel maid at 12:30 p.m. on May 14, 2011.
She left a note apologizing for the trouble she caused and saying that Timmothy was safe with people who would care for him, but he would never be found.
Investigation and Recent Developments
After her body was found, the police were called in and an official investigation began.
Police found that the knife Amy Fry-Pitzen used to kill herself had only her blood on it.
However, a concerning amount of blood found in her car belonged to her son, Timmothy.
A family member later explained that the blood might have come from a nosebleed Timmothy had earlier that month.
Fry-Pitzen's cell phone was also missing.
An examination of her car showed it had been parked in a grassy area, possibly near a stream but close to a highway.
In 2013, her cell phone was found beside Route 78, but it didn’t provide any new evidence.
James Pitzen believes his son is still alive and that Amy gave him to someone who took him.
On April 3, 2019, local residents in Newport, Kentucky, called the police to report a teenager wandering the streets.
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 Timmothy Pitzen was actually 23-year-old Brian Michael Rini.
He had been released from prison in Ohio less than a month before making the claim, after serving about fourteen months for burglary and vandalism.
Rini had a history of mental illness and had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and bipolar disorder, according to his brother.
He was sentenced to two years in prison for the hoax.
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Timmothy Pitzen's disappearance is a sad mystery that has deeply impacted his family and grabbed public attention for years.
Even though there have been thorough investigations and occasional false leads, like the 2019 hoax saying Timmothy was found, the case still isn't solved.
There are still many questions without answers, but his family holds onto hope.
They urge anyone with information to step forward and help them find closure.
[source]
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