The cracks inTimmothy Pitzen’s apparent rescue storyappeared early to those in the know.
Courtesy Jim Pitzen; Taylor Castle
Timmothy’s dadJim Pitzen, 47, Amy’s devastated husband in a marriage that had been teetering, was left searching for his only child — a search given sudden, brief hope last week, until a hoax pushed Jim once more to heartbreak.
On April 3, a young man told strangers on the streets of Newport, Kentucky, that he was a kidnap victim on the run from sex traffickers he’d left behind in a Red Roof Inn. He gave his name as Timmothy Pitzen.
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An Aurora police detective, Lee Catavu, phoned Jim with the news while on the five-hour drive to investigate.
Before nightfall, a second call from the detective fed Jim’s doubts that Timmothy had really been found.
The young man told investigators he’d had no pets growing up — and Timmothy had three cats and a dog. “That was one of the first flags that popped up,” says Jim.
Age-progressed image shows how Timmothy may look today.National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
The detective also told Jim, “from the body cam footage, the way that he carried himself was older than a 14-year-old,” which would have been Timmothy’s age, says Jim.
By then Jim’s mother, Linda Pitzen, 71, who’d greeted the earliest report from her son with “tears of joy,” also had started to question what she was seeing and hearing in media reports. “I thought, nobody comes up and says I’m so-and-so after eight years — I’m Timmothy Pitzen,” she says.
“It seemed like it was just too perfect,” she says.
It was.
Brian Rini.Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
The next dayDNA results revealed the young man to be 23-year-old Brian Rini, an ex-con recently released from prison after serving time for stealing and burglary who’d previously tried to pass himself off as a sex trafficking victim. He said he adopted Timmothy’s identity after learning about Timmothy’s case on ABC’s20/20, according to a criminal complaint charging him with making false statements to a federal agent.
The setback doesn’t deter the determination of Timmothy’s dad, who still believes he son will be found.
“I’m waiting for an answer from the police department, ‘yes, this is Timmothy Pitzen,'” he says. “It’s a big waiting game I play all the time on when he’s coming home.”
“The longer he’s away, the less time I’m going to have with my son,” he says. “One thing you can’t do is make up for lost time.”
“I guess he’s just missed more every day.”
Anyone with information about Timmothy or any other missing child is urged to alert theNational Center for Missing & Exploited Childrenat 1-800-THE LOST.
source: people.com
