'Bruised and skinny' teen begged a passing driver for help in Newport, Kentucky, saying he'd just run away from two kidnappers with bodybuilder physiques
A "BRUISED and skinny" teenager found wandering the streets has told cops he’s Timmothy Pitzen – a boy who went missing eight years ago after his mum killed herself.
The 14-year-old said he had just escaped on foot from two burly kidnappers who held him against his will in a motel and "kept running across a bridge into Kentucky."
He was found yesterday in Newport, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio - almost 500 miles from where Timmothy was last seen in May 2011.
Witnesses said the "scared and agitated" teen with bruises on his face was seen running around for two hours before he flagged down a female motorist and begged for help.
She told a 911 dispatcher: "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 he gave his name as Timmothy Pitzen – potentially ending eight years of torment for his family.
They are anxiously awaiting DNA results which will confirm if he really is the missing boy.
Timmothy was just six when he was last seen at a water park resort in Wisconsin on May 13, 2011.
Two days before, his dad Jim Pitzen had dropped him off as usual at his elementary school in Aurora, near Chicago, Illinois.
His mum Amy, 43, then unexpectedly took him out of class, claiming a family emergency, and took him to the zoo.
Then they went to two water parks, one in Illinois and another at Wisconsin Dells in the neighbouring state.
CCTV showed them checking out at 10am - the last time Timmothy was seen.
Police later found Amy dead in a hotel 100 miles away in Rockford, Illinois.
She left a cryptic suicide note, saying her son was in the care of others who would "love and care for him" and added: "You’ll never find him".
A search in three states and numerous TV appeals failed to find any trace.
Now officers from Aurora are on their way to Cincinnati to meet the boy who claims he is Timmothy.
Police Sgt Bill Rowley said: "We've probably had thousands of tips of him popping up in different areas.
"We have no idea what we're driving down there for. It could be Pitzen. It could be a hoax."
An police report reveals the boy told police he had just escaped from two white men with bodybuilder physiques who were driving a Ford SUV with Wisconsin plates.
It says: "One had black curly hair, Mt. 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."
The boy he fled from a Red Roof Inn - but there are several of the chain motels in the area for cops to check.
The FBI said its offices in Louisville and Cincinnati were working on a missing child investigation with police in Aurora, Cincinnati, Newport and Hamilton, Ohio.
Timmothy Pitzen's grandmother, Alana Anderson, said the family are "cautiously hopeful" after the dramatic development.
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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