NBC 5 Investigates' Rob Stafford has an exclusive interview with family. Between that note, business surveillance cameras, receipts from the motel room, and witness accounts, detectives were able to map the twos movements from the day of their disappearance as best they could and that revealed a chilling road trip. He asks again, begs. Her body was discovered by a maid at 12:30 p.m. the next day. Satellite trucks rolled up to Amy and Jims home in Aurora and that of Amys mother in Antioch. Timmothy belongs to me. Pitzen's family has spent seven years looking for the boy after he disappeared following his mother's suicide. After conducting some research, Pitzen discovered that his wife had been the one to indicate that Timothy was absent from class in the school logbook. The podcast I listened to said Amy Pitzen was off her meds and had a history of being abused by her father, iirc, so she could have been delusional thinking her husband, Timmothy's father was going to do the same to him and she was 'saving' him, putting him 'somewhere safe' beyond their reach, by killing him. Rini, 24, was in January sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft in a deal with prosecutors. He was super smart, high energy, funny, the father says, leaning forward. Can we come in? they said. After Jim moved back to Clinton, he landed a job as a tooling designer at a tool, die, and machining shop in Eldridge, Iowa. This is your number, this is your moms number, you know where you live, your address, all the stuff you do. Jim remained standing there as he watched his active son race toward his kindergarten teacher while swinging his Spider-Man backpack around. In an August 2015 feature on CNN, James Jim Pitzen said that Amy had told him early in their relationship that she had struggled with depression. The media seized on the story immediately. Oscar Cainer tells all. Amy Fry-Pitzen committed suicide by slitting her wrists and neck inside of a Rockford, Illinois, motel room. Timmothy Pitzen: New Forensic Image Released 10 Years After Boy's Disappearance Timmothy's case has been a mystery since 2011, when police found the boy's mother dead of an apparent suicide along . He and his wife and his 6-year-old son, Timmothy, had been living in another river town at. She reassured her mother that her brother and sister were safe and that they would return in a couple of days. On April 3, 2019nearly eight years into Tims disappearancea woman in Newport, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, spotted a skinny young man who looked bruised and agitated pacing at an intersection. The circus atmosphere made Kara realize how sensational the story had become. He said, Depression is a sickness. He was born in Aurora on October 18th, 2004, and was an only child. Police say they've investigated several false leads since Timmothy's disappearance in 2011. People Magazine feature from October 2015, Michigan School Teachers Admit to Making Adult Movies on the Side. "I'm waiting by the phone for them to call and say, 'We found him. Join Facebook to connect with James Pitzen and others you may know. The investigation continued, but leads went nowhere. I drop her off, give her a kiss. We dont know, one said. Meet Chuck Mawhinney, The Deadliest Sniper In The History Of The Marine Corps, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. That's according. [4], At 7:25p.m. May 13, 2011, Fry-Pitzen was seen, alone, on security cameras at a Family Dollar store in Winnebago, Illinois, where she purchased a pen, notepaper and envelopes. As of now, the search for Timmothy Pitzen continues. But when he called the school they told him that Timmothy had been picked up that morning by his mother. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call Aurora police at 630-256-5500 or local authorities at 911. agrimm@tribune.com and gfsmith@tribune.com. After news broke of the potential return of Timmothy, Anderson, his grandmother, reiterated the hope she and Timmothys father and many others have held onto for all these years. It is raining the day I pull into Clinton, Iowa, an industrial town hard against the west bank of the Mississippi River. Police made the discovery after reviewing photos of the car's interior with James Pitzen, the boy's father and the mother's husband. [17][18] He had a history of mental illness and had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and bipolar disorder, according to his brother.[19]. Amy Fry-Pitzen Had Been Married Three Times Before Meeting Jim Amy Fry-Pitzen was a graduate of Libertyville High School in Libertyville, Illinois, and Iowa State University. Three months in, the police confirmed that the blood they had found in the back seat of Amys SUV was Tims. Then Jim saw a photo on TVa grainy picture of the young man in a faded red hoodie, his hands buried in an army surplus jacket. They were inseparable. Adds Kara: They almost spoke their own language., The father was equally thrilled to have a son, and as soon as the boy was old enough, he took him on go-kart rides and delighted in catering to Tims obsession with Matchbox cars. In the years following Timmothy Pitzens disappearance, police uncovered a slew of strange clues. A boy emerged on April 3 saying that he was Timmothy, and that he had been held hostage for seven years. The complaint was filed against their son as well. 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, who was suffering from depression and going through an unhappy marriage at the time, was found dead from suicide May 14, 2011, inside a motel room in Rockford, Illinois, according to . The problem was that she didnt always take them, and when she didnt, she was a different person. Shed been married once before, per the network, and Jim said he thought her depression would improve once she was in a healthy relationship. She had expressed concern about their future together prior to both her death and Timothys disappearance. Something Jim did. Was Amy actually setting up an illegal adoption meeting, or scouting a dump site? Police would later determine they visited a zoo and two water parks within a three-hour drive of their Aurora, Illinois, home.Three days later, police found Amy dead of suicide in a Rockford, Illinois, motel room . Eight years after an Illinois boy disappeared, his family began to think that their nightmare might be over at last. AURORA Ill. (WMTV) - Ten years since to the day since Timmothy Pitzen disappeared, a new age progressed image shows what the boy might look like today as a teenager. Timmothy Pitzen missing-person case: Mom checks boy out of school, UPDATES: bit.ly/2FRRwFZ "She apologized for the mess she created, and that Timmothy was safe with people who loved him and he would never be found," said Timmothy Pitzens father, James. James gave his wife an ultimatum, saying if she did not stop contacting her ex, he would file for divorce and full custody of Timmothy. Aurora Police spokesman Sgt. One person is going to solve the case, say to Tim, Hey, is this you? Then the cops are going to take over, and Im going to ask two questions: Why did you do this? 2020 Chicago magazine / A Chicago Tribune Media Group website, Photograph: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. He was a graduate of New Washington High School and had served in the Army National Guard. When Fry-Pitzen died, she was on her fourth marriage, Anderson said. The mystery haunts the centers media director, Angeline Hartmann, who has taken a special interest in the case and all the theories about what might have happened to Tim. The man who allegedly claimed to be missing child Timmothy Pitzen is now charged . he asked. They lived in Aurora, Illinois, and in early 2004, Amy fell pregnant. I am sorry to the family.. One of Tims favorite places, Brookfield Zoo, was not far away, and a mechanic dropped the mother and son off there. She was united in marriage to James Pitzen and together had a son, Timmothy James. I thought, Maybe theres a possibility its him, but I dont think so.. Fry-Pitzen's body was subsequently found in a motel room in the city of Rockford, Illinois, having died by suicide, with a note stating that Timmothy was safe, but would never be found. Rini, a man from Ohio, was found guilty by a federal judge in 2020 of making a false claim, and he was sentenced to serve two years in prison and one year on probation. In total, Amy was divorced three times prior to meeting Jim. Is a 14 year old boy the missing Aurora, Illinois seven year old child, Timmothy Pitzen, missing since 2011? "She absolutely adored her son, and he adored her," Anderson said. What Happened to Timmothy Pitzen? After the hoax was uncovered, Pitzens family said in a statement, Unfortunately, this child is not our beloved TImmothy. ', Timmothy vanished in 2011, after his mom, Amy Fry-Pitzen, committed suicide in a motel room and left a note saying the boy was safe but would never be found. At her moms house in Antioch, where she had been awaiting word, she put her head in her hands and sobbed. The FBI says DNA testing ruled out the teenager as being Timmothy Pitzen, missing from Aurora, Illinois. He told the police he had escaped the abuse of his long-time captors. Among other missing items are the clothes Amy was wearing when she left the Wisconsin resort, and Timmothys Spider-Man backpack. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Aurora PoliceOn the morning of May 11, 2011, Amy Fry-Pitzen signed her 6-year-old son Timmothy out of his kindergarten class and hit the road. Pitzen declined to comment on his wife's mental health, saying only she was a loving wife and mother and "all-around great person." She made cellphone calls later that day from the Sterling area, about 80 miles west of Aurora, telling relatives that she and her son were not in danger, police said. Amy grew up in Libertyville and graduated from Libertyville High School and Iowa State University. In early April 2019, a young man surfaced in northern Kentucky claiming to be Timmothy Pitzen. Police say the story of the teenager found wandering streets in Newport, Kentucky, on Wednesday didn't check out. He looked at the men, eager to hear the details. I believe to the core of my being that Amy knew what she was going to do to herself, and that she did not want her son to grow up with a legacy of suicide, her sister speculates. At around 10 a.m., she pulled into an auto repair shop in La Grange, which suggests she knew shed need her SUV in good shape for the hundreds of miles she planned to drive. In a 2015 interview with People , Jim Pitzen said that he often tells himself, Maybe Ill see Tim in the morning. The counseling, the medicationnone of it really worked.. One of the ways Amy sought to fill this hole was through motherhoodthough not initially. I said, Love you. She said, Love you, too, Jim says. When Jim asked why the police didnt run the persons fingerprints to see if they matched Tims, police said he had refused to cooperate. Its that kind of tale that helps keep Jims hopes alive. When Mr. Pitzen went to pick up his son from school, later on, he was taken aback by the fact that he was unaware of his wifes behavior and was surprised by it. Powered by. "I think seeing us was upsetting to him." It was speculated that the couple's marriage was tense and maybe she was taking some time away. The bag and toys belonging to Timothy were nowhere to be found, and according to the police, the concerning amount of blood that was found in her SUV belonged to Timothy. When James Pitzen, Amy's husband and Timmothy's father, didn't hear back from his wife for nearly 24 hours, he reported the pair missing. They returned to the shop in the afternoon to pick up the SUV and then drove a little more than an hour north to the KeyLime Cove Water Resort (now the Great Wolf Lodge) in Gurnee. 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