THE mysterious disappearance of a then-six-year-old boy who vanished after his mom took him out of school one morning still haunts his family 15 years later as they hold out hope that he is alive and well.

There has been no trace of Timmothy Pitzen, who would now be 21, after his mom was found dead in a hotel room with an eerie suicide note.

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Timmothy Pitzen was last seen after his mother took him out of school early on the morning of May 11, 2011Credit: True Crime Daily
 

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The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children shared an age progression photo of how Timmothy could look at 19Credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The then-kindergartener at Greenman Elementary School in Aurora, Illinois was dropped off at school by his father James Pitzen on the morning of May 11, 2011.

Soon after, Timmothy was unexpectedly taken out of school by his mother, who took him to two water parks and the zoo over the next three days, driving hundreds of miles across Illinois and Wisconsin.

At one point, Timmothy and his mother Amy Fry-Pitzen were seen on surveillance footage checking into a hotel in Wisconsin.

On May 14, 2011, Fry-Pitzen was found dead by suicide in a hotel room in Rockford, Illinois with a note saying her child was safe with people who love him.

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“You will never find him,” she wrote.

Despite 15 years of extensive searches, Timmothy has yet to be found, leaving the Pitzen family to only see Timmothy grow up through age progression photos created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Linda Pitzen, Timmothy’s paternal grandmother previously told The U.S. Sun that she was overcome with emotion after seeing the computer-generated image of her grandson for the first time.

“I like the fact that he’s got reddish brown hair because he had reddish brown hair and he had […] light freckles. So I like that a lot,” she said.

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“He’s handsome. Very handsome. I would love to hug him but I don’t know if that’ll ever happen.”

Jim Pitzen, the boy’s father, told the Chicago Tribune that Timmothy has “always been remembered” as the six-year-old boy who “pushed the boundaries and always had fun riding his bike or riding on his go-kart or just swinging on a swing at the playground.”

“I hope he is a well-mannered young man now and is doing well in his life,” Pitzen said.

“I am waiting to be reunited with my son and make new memories with him,” he said, such as “going fishing and just talking [about] how his day has been.”

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James Pitzen said his son will always be remembered as a little boy riding his bike or playing on the swings at a playgroundCredit: YouTube/HLN
 

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The Pitzen family has insisted for years that Amy Fry-Pitzen would not harm her childCredit: YouTube/HLN
“His disappearance remains one of the most heartbreaking and enduring cases in our community,” the Aurora Police Department said on Instagram on Monday, the 15th anniversary of Timmothy’s disappearance.

There have been no confirmed sightings of Timmothy over the years, which has left his family and the community desperate for answers.

“Timmothy’s case has remained a part of this community. His family has lived with many unanswered questions and that is not something we lose sight of,” Aurora Police Chief Matt Thomas told the Chicago Tribune.

“As many of us at the APD have children of our own, we can only imagine the impact and uncertainty a tragedy like this can bring to a family.”

Timmothy’s Disapperance: A Timeline

May 11, 2011: Timmothy’s mom, Amy Fry-Pitzen, picked him up from school at Greenman Elementary in Aurora, Illinois, at around 8:15 am citing an unspecified family emergency.

The boy’s dad, Jim Pitzen, appeared at the school to pick him up at the end of the day and was confused when he was told by administrators Timmothy had been collected by Amy that morning.

Calls and texts to Amy’s phone went unanswered and Jim began to panic.

In the meantime, Timmothy and his mom went to Brookfield Zoo and later headed to Key Lime Resort in Gurnee, a hotel and waterpark.

May 12, 2011: Amy and Timmothy went to the Wisconsin Dells and the pair checked into the Kalahari Resort, stopping to buy clothes and other items along the way.

Jim reported Timmothy missing to police in Aurora after failing to make contact with Amy for almost 24 hours.

Police did not issue an Amber Alert because Amy hadn’t yet committed a crime and Timmothy wasn’t suspected of being in danger.

May 13, 2011: Amy and Timmothy are captured together on surveillance video for the last time, checking out of the Kalahari resort.

While driving toward Sterling, Amy contacted various family members but not her husband. She assured them Timmothy was fine and nothing appeared odd in her behavior, those contacted would later tell police. The boy was heard in the background of the call and on at least one occasion spoke on the line.

Amy then turned her cellphone off after driving 170 miles along the Rock River and her movements for the next several hours remain a total mystery 13 years on.

She finally re-emerged several hours later, alone, at a grocery store in Winnebago near Rockford at 8 pm, where she stopped to buy supplies that would be used to craft her cryptic suicide note.

May 14, 2011: Amy is found dead in a hotel room at the Rockford Inn by a maid just after 12:30 pm. She left behind a suicide note apologizing for the mess and warning that Timmothy was safe but would never be found.

The boy’s beloved Spider-Man backpack was missing from the room, along with a handful of his belongings.

May 19, 2011: More than 70 volunteers begin searching for Timmothy in the Sterling and Rock Falls area but come up empty-handed.

June 14, 2011: Police conceded they have very little evidence to go on in their search for Timmothy and began examining dirt found beneath Amy’s car.

August 11, 2011: Police confirm a small amount of Timmothy’s blood was found in Amy’s SUV but state it could’ve been the result of a bloody nose.

December 28, 2011: A sighting of Timmothy in a car was reported at a Denny’s in North Aurora but the report turned out to be false.

Another tip earlier in the month also falsely claimed the boy had been spotted in Massachusetts.

Aurora police said they fielded dozens of possible sightings, all of which were false and most were easily dismissed.

April 3, 2019: A boy wandering the streets alone in Newport, Kentucky, claimed to a passerby he’d just escaped his two captors and he was Timmothy Pitzen who vanished from Illinois eight years earlier.

Police were called but the boy turned out to be a mentally ill hoaxer named Brian Rini who had recently watched a documentary about the case and decided to impersonate him.

The entire family believes “Tim is alive and doing well” and that “he will find one of us one day,” Pitzen told the Chicago Tribune.

The family has insisted that there are no circumstances where Fry-Pitzen, who had a history of mental health issues and suicide attempts, would have harmed her child.

Linda, Timmothy’s grandmother, previously told the Tribune that she believes the boy was placed with a Mormon family because his mother wanted him to be raised in the religion she had recently converted to.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Director of Communications Angeline Hartmann said Timmothy’s case “lives in a difficult and complicated limbo.”

“While many fear the worst, we can’t ignore the very real possibility that Timmothy is still out there,” she said.

“Timmothy should be 21 this year. He should be navigating adulthood, not staring back at us from a missing poster.”

There have been tips and false leads over the years, including in 2019 when a man in Kentucky claimed to be Timmothy.

“For hours, the world held its breath until DNA confirmed it was all a cruel hoax,” Hartmann said.

“Thinking back on that day and all the pain this family has endured still brings tears to my eyes.”

Pitzen said these anniversaries are “always a hard time to get through.”

“The pain that was created that day is still fresh,” he told the Chicago Tribune, adding that he would never be “fully healed until Timmothy has been reunited with his family.”

Aurora police said they remain committed to the case and have asked anyone with any information that could bring closure to the family to contact the department at 630-256-5516 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678.