Timmothy Pitzen Missing 10 Years: Cops Hope New Pic Brings Leads

AURORA, IL—For 10 years, the family of Timmothy Pitzen has seen the missing boy grow only in age progression photos.

From 10 to 12, and now 16 years old, the Aurora boy would look much different today than he did at 6, when his mother unexpectedly picked him up from school and never returned him.

On May 11, a decade after his disappearance, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children released a new age progression image showing what Timmothy might look like today. His cheeky smile and sparkling eyes seem to penetrate through the photograph, giving officers a glimpse of the boy they’re seeking.

“I believe we’re going to keep going until we find him, regardless of what that means,” said Aurora Police Department Lt. Gregory Spayth. “If he’s alive or if he’s deceased, we owe that to the family to investigate until we find him.”

After Timmothy was picked up early from Greenman Elementary School on May 11, 2011 by his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, the pair spent an afternoon at the Brookfield Zoo before checking in to Key Lime Cove in Gurnee. They then headed to the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells for some more water park action.

This was where they were last seen together on surveillance camera footage leaving the resort.

Days later, on May 14, 2011, Fry-Pitzen was found dead in a motel in Rockford, Illinois and there was no sign of Timmothy. Investigators say she committed suicide and left behind a note indicating that Timmothy would be well taken care of. He’s never been found.

“We are keeping an open mind in this case,” Spayth said. “We continue to look at and keep everything open in this case as if he is alive.”

Police are concentrating on the northeastern parts of Illinois, as well as parts of Wisconsin and Iowa. These were the last places the pair was seen, as well as where Fry-Pitzen’s phone last pinged, police said.

“We’re hoping he’s somewhere alive and hope this photo will spark somebody’s memory and let them give us a call, so we can follow up with them,” Spayth said.

And although police aren’t losing hope today, dreams were dashed a bit in 2019 when a man in Kentucky told police he was Timmothy Pitzen and that he had been kidnapped. An investigation by the FBI and Aurora police, however, determined the man was from Ohio — and nine years older than Timmothy would have been at the time.

Officers have waded through dozens of tips throughout the last decade— from a potential spotting at a local garage sale to a supposed YouTube video sighting— but have failed to bring home the little boy.

They’re asking the public to study the age-progression photo and keep their eyes and ears open for clues that might help lead them to Timmothy.

Anyone who may have information is asked to call The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or the Aurora Police Department’s Timmothy Pitzen Tip Line at (630) 256-5516.