Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Missing 6-year-old boy Timmothy Pitzen disappears, family heartbroken when 'teen' boy poses as their son

Episode Date: April 5, 2019

When a young man said he was Timmothy Pitzen, who was six when he vanished in 2011, investigators worked furiously to verify his claim. The boy's family, who have been praying for 8 years that Timmothy would be found alive, waiting in agony for DNA test results. Nancy Grace looks at the case that took a cruel turn with missing children's advocate Marc Klaas -- founder of Klass Kids Foundation, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, Atlanta lawyer and former prosecutor Darryl Cohen, Los Angeles psycho analyst Dr. Bethany Marshall, and syndicated radio host David Mack. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Straight out to KTRH Joe Gomez. Joe, mommy's found dead. Is it by suicide? And explain to me about the note she leaves behind. Where did they find it? What did it say? The note was found on the next to the bed, Nancy. Apparently the note said that the child was safe. Her little boy was safe with some friends of hers. She didn't name who the friends were, though.

This is very important evidence. This is, in fact, the only clue as to where little Timothy could be. We know that Timothy's mother took him on a joyride spanning all across the state of Illinois into Wisconsin. I mean, he could literally be anywhere in these two states and also in a nearby state of Iowa where his mother is from. His mother, of course, was found dead in a hotel room. Her wrists cut, Nancy. Police believe it may have been suicide. My friend Joe Gomez joining me from KTRH radio, that little boy, Timothy Pitson. And in the last days, now seven years after I report he's missing, a man emerges, a teen, saying he's Timothy Pitson. Is it true? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you

for being with us. First, to my longtime colleague and friend, Mark Klass. You know, Mark Klass, founder of Klass Kids Foundation. I was just typing your name last, right before I went to bed, writing a section on safety for children and what parents can do to protect their children, not realizing that today I would be talking to you in the flesh. Mark, do you remember when Timothy Pitson went missing? Well, I do remember, Nancy, and it was an absolutely heartbreaking story. It was a story that kind of led one to believe that perhaps the little boy wasn't alive anymore, which made what happened just recently even bigger in one's mind than it would have been because it follows in the steps of so many other children that have been found alive one way or another in the past

year. So it raised great hope, not only in our hearts, obviously, but in the hearts of his family that was, you know, so desperate to know what had happened to the little boy. Absolutely. And you're talking about cases like J.C. Duggar, who was gone over 10 years, kidnapped on her way to the bus stop. Ben Omby, one example. I mean, there's so many children that go missing. Of course, Elizabeth Smart is the quintessential case where a child goes missing and then years later, you find the child.

And the reason Mark is saying, I think he is, let me speak from just this one time, that it looked like Timothy may be dead was because the mom committed suicide in a motel, leaving a note that Timothy, her little boy, was with friends, could never find the friends. What friends? Where? Why doesn't she want to find the friends? Why did she kill herself? And to Dr. Bethany Marshall, California psychoanalyst, what scared me the most at the time, Timothy went missing. For those of you just joining us, a man appears claiming to be Timothy Pitson, a little boy I first reported on years ago when he went missing.

The joyride, the ride, the meandering ride. Mommy takes the boy on before she commits suicide that aspect of this scenario and you know i'm just a trial lawyer bethany you're the shrink that ride for days it it speaks to me but i don't know the significance or what it means well i wondered about the joyride if she was trying to get her nerve up to do something. She left her home, went out of contact with her own husband, turned off her cell phone like she did not want to be found. She did not take her antidepressant medication with her, so she didn't plan ahead. She disrupted Timothy's activities. You know, she just pulled him

out of everything that was important to him. And I felt at the time that the joy ride was somebody who was contemplating harming herself and her child, but did not have the nerve to do it yet. She was thinking, she was contemplating, she was working up the courage. You know, sometimes when people commit suicide, it's impulsive, and sometimes it's very well thought out and planned, and this had a very planned quality to it. It made me think, and again, I'm just a trial lawyer, not a shrink like you, the long drive where you're away from reality, you're away from work. You're away from school. You're away from soccer practice and cooking supper every night and all the demands that are on moms and dads. And you're almost like going to a vacation. And she took her child, her little boy, Timothy,

on this long ride for days and days and days just him and mommy and then she commits suicide and he disappears that's Nancy go ahead well that reminds me of the preacher's wife remember that case you covered years ago where she took her two little girls on a vacation uh she killed her husband and then she went on this long long long vacation. It's like, and they found her somewhere on the East Coast. It's like she unplugged, unplugged from reality and unplugged from her life. Exactly. In the last hours, a man appears claiming, a young man claiming to be Timothy Pitson. Take a listen to Timothy's grandma. I want to go to Linda Pitson. This is little Timmy's grandmother. Miss Pitson, thank you for being with us. We are all hoping and praying

that Timmy is found alive tonight. Why are authorities saying that Timmy was never in that motel room? How do they know that? They saw the surveillance that he wasn't at Sullivan's grocery store at eight o'clock with him, with her. And so they feel that he wasn't with her in the motel room either. You are hearing me speak on HLN, speaking to Timmy's grandma, Linda Pitson. Now, take a listen to what my friend Joe Gomez at KTRH says. It seems to me that if the little boy were with friends, those so-called friends would have come forward by now. Well, certainly, Nancy, this case has gotten a lot of attention. I mean, look, police have been going around scouring the area, alerting everybody as to what happened. I mean, certainly, if you has gotten a lot of attention. I mean, look, police have been going around scouring the area, alerting everybody as to what happened.

I mean, certainly if you had received a little precious 6-year-old boy and you couldn't find his mother after a couple of days, wouldn't you have alerted authorities? I mean, it doesn't really make any sense, Nancy. Well, Joe Gomez was right. But how did it all start? Because that's the way we're going to figure out how it has all ended in the last days. A young man emerging out of nowhere who really looks like Timothy Pitson and says he's Timothy Pitson.

Take a listen to this. How did it start? Little Timothy Pitson was always the apple of his father's eye so tim was a gregarious extrovert type of person oh yeah get along with everybody running down the street it's always happy always fun to be around always looking for the next adventure and now when james pittson closes his eyes he can still see his son timothy in the car as he drives into kindergarten early on a spring morning in Aurora, Illinois. I dropped Timothy off at school. He hopped out the backseat and ran off to school. And that's the last he's seen of Timothy to this day.

I said, love you, buddy. And he says, love you too, dad. And I'll see you later. I'm like, okay. Less than an hour later, a surveillance camera captures Timothy's mother, Amy Pitson, as she signs him out of school, claiming a family emergency. It is the beginning of a tragic journey that's end is still unknown. And as James returns to pick up Timothy after school, he has no idea how bad it is going to get. I go picked him up from kindergarten and take him to daycare. So I go up by the school and his teacher goes, Timothy left like 830. I'm like, what do you mean he left at 830? I go, I want to see the logbook and who checked my son out of school because I'm like supposed to be hearing. The worst words you can hear, I can only imagine when you leave your child at school and you think everything is fine. I want to go to my longtime colleague, tireless advocate, world

renowned Mark Klass, founder of Klass Kids Foundation. Mark was called to, he was led to his calling by his daughter, Polly, who disappeared and lost her life many years ago, totally, completely out of left field. Mark, you're the one that first alerted me to the dangers of school bus, school route, and school pickup problems, how the abductions take place. What went wrong way back when, you know, the banner is, the guy has just shown up that looks like Timothy Pitson that says he's Timothy Pitson, but how did the mom get him out?

Was she allowed to get him out? Was she the signatory parent? She must've been on a list that allowed her to remove the child from school or the secretary or whoever signed him out of school assumed that she was on that list. But I can certainly see how a mother can show up to take a child out of school because of a family emergency and and they say oh absolutely good luck and we hope that everything turns out all right um the statistic that you were mentioning is is the fact that one-third of all abduction attempts occur on school routes and we just saw that with jamie close that was exactly what happened to her it happens time and time and time again but this was a little bit different.

But one has to be somewhat forgiving, I think, of the school authorities for allowing this little boy to leave the premises with his mother. Alarmed, James checks back at home and at Amy's job. But there is no sign of his estranged wife or Timothy. I need to figure out what's going on. I called Amy's cell phone a couple times, always went to voicemail. I'm like, just tell me what you're finding. Just call me. What's going on? So you spent that first night having no idea where they were. Yeah, no idea where they were. I called her mom. I called her dad to see if she'd been there. I'm like, okay, she's upset me for some reason.

She'll need some time to cool down. So the next morning comes around, they're still not home. So I called the police department and report Amy and Timothy missing. Another day passes with James left in the dark and then a sign of hope. Amy does not contact her husband, but she checks in with her mother. She said, well, we're fine.

We'll be home in a day or two. You know, just like I just needed some time alone to figure out and try to think about what how to approach this. Amy also calls James's brother. I have no idea why she called my brother. He could hear Timothy in the background playing or hanging out. But there is one part of that relayed conversation that will ring in James Pitson's ears for a long time to come. What'd she say?

Timothy's fine. Timothy belongs to me. Timothy and I will be fine. Timothy is fine. Timothy belongs to me. Timothy and I will be fine. Timothy is safe. Timothy belongs to me? Did your brother find that strange? Yeah, he called me about it. At first he was buoyed with hope because Timothy was alive. The grandma knew that he was alive. The mother was fine.

The grandma, Linda Pitsonon you heard speaking to me earlier, and then this. James admits he and Amy were struggling, but had no idea how much until the mystery unfolds later. At first, he figures police will soon find his wife and son. Then he can finally sit down with Amy and sort everything out. At least you know that they're safe. They're together and safe and nothing can happen.

Yeah, so the cops are looking for him. I figured that everything would be fine and we'd be one big happy family again. And sure enough, three days after their disappearance, there is a knock on his door. It's the police, and they definitely have news. They have found Amy Pitson in nearby Rockford, Illinois, and she is dead by her own hand. Now James Pitson is reeling in shock. As soon as the police officer said that they found Amy deceased. I was like, excuse me? I'm like, what do you mean she's deceased?

I was in total shock at the time. They told me where she was found, in a little motel. How did Amy die? She had a razor blade knife. She cut herself. Then the second piece of bad news drops and James's heart sinks. Little six-year-old Timothy was not with his mother and he is nowhere to be found. You're hearing our friends at Crime Watch Daily to Atlanta criminal lawyer, former prosecutor,

current defense attorney, Daryl Cohen. There was no sign of Timothy Pitson in the hotel room. In fact, some of the last surveillance of Timothy shows him with his mom at a water park in Wisconsin. I mean, when they went on a meandering trip, they really went on a meandering trip. She was taking him to fun parks and restaurants and fun things all along the trip, and it culminated with her committing suicide, but no indication she hurt Timothy. What do you make of that? There is absolutely no logic that I can apply to this. We have to just take it the way it is. We have a mom who obviously did not know how to tell the truth. We have a mom who was obviously contemplating suicide and committed suicide. What happened to her son? I don't know that there's any logical explanation. We could just hope and pray that it will work out and we will hear from him or hear

about him soon. To Joe Scott Morgan, forensics expert, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. Joe Scott, you've dealt with many, many suicide scenes, but very often you'll find a suicide note. Why would anyone have a motive to lie at the very end of their life? She says he's with friends, he's safe, and he will never be found. A lot of suicides are committed. Obviously, they're anger-driven. I would think that this is kind of a final exclamation point that is directed toward probably members in her circle, like the father, just the ultimate cruel intention here relative to this.

If in fact she has spirited this child away, hidden him somewhere, maybe she turned him over to someone that took him out of the country. Who knows? No one knows. But, you know, at the end of the day, to leave a note and to just tug at the heartstrings of this father, giving him hope is just unfathomable. Giving him hope, and for the last eight years, we have been looking for Timothy Pitson and then in the last days a massive earth-shattering

breakthrough a young man who looks like he's in his teens appears and announces he's Timothy Pitson and he looks like Timothy Pitson he acts like Timothy Pitson he walks like Timothy Pitson, and I am elated. Now, taking into account this mom drove 500 miles in just three days with her little boy, and it culminates in a suicide note. Police discover a shocking suicide note on the table, triggering a mystery that haunts James every day. What note did Amy leave at the motel? She apologized for the mess she created and that Timothy was safe with people who loved him

and he would never be found. She said Timothy is safe? Yes. And will never be found? Safe with people who loved him and would never be found. So basically, Amy just hands off Timothy to another person or another couple. Just, here you go. Yeah, pretty much. That's from what I understand.

What kind of people are these that would just take a six-year-old? I have no idea. She might have been in contact with them for months. I don't know what she could have said to them to get somebody to do that, take a child from the rest of his family. Another note Amy mailed to her mother, Alana Anderson, is no less confounding. On a phone interview for the Nancy Grace show, Alana reads the letter on air shortly after Amy's suicide.

So I've taken him somewhere safe. He will be well cared for and he says that he loves you. Please know that there is nothing you could have said or done that would have changed my mind. Cryptic words that only a dead woman can decipher. An inspection of Amy's SUV by police shows that she had pulled off an unpaved road somewhere on her final journey, backing into a field and leaving grass and dirt under the rear bumper. It was on a gravel blacktop road. That's where she was or that's where the switch happened.

But alarmingly, investigators also find dried blood on the back seat of Amy's car. The family says it's a false lead, the result of a nosebleed from Timothy months before that road trip. But cops conduct an exhaustive search for the boy in some of the remote areas along Amy's long-distance route. Our friends at Crime Watch Daily and me speaking to Timothy's grandma, to Joe Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon,

explain in a nutshell how they determined the alleged handoff took place on a gravel top road. Well, there's specific evidence that ties it back that the car actually came in contact with that particular surface. And then there's evidence left behind by the car as well as what is found within the car. So that gives you an indication of where they were located. To Mark Klass, founder of Klass Kids Foundation, who has devoted his life to saving children. Mark Klass, what do you make of their analysis that the handoff mom made of Timothy Pitson, who has now seemingly emerged alive and well on a gravel-top road. Where did that lead police?

Well, it led absolutely nowhere. And there are so many roads that fit that description within a 500-mile path that it's unfathomable and impossible to really research or investigate i believe that the things that she said at the end were just so cruel nancy just unbelievable that she would say he's fine but you'll never find him where does that leave everybody it leaves them with an open wound that can only be healed by the discovery of the little boy the discovery of the little boy. The discovery of the little boy, and you're right, Mark. You're right. And you have lived through this every day of your life since Polly disappeared.

Nancy, can I say something quickly? I was just in a meeting with the governor of California just two weeks ago, and he looked me in the eye, and he said that he's not going to be the governor to execute 700 people or two people a day for a year, and he said for that reason, he was declaring a moratorium on the death penalty, and when he said that, I felt that I had been betrayed. I felt that I had been betrayed by somebody in a position of trust, and a little bit of me died at that moment. And, you know, that's how people feel when you're dealing with the death of a child. You're being taunted one way or the other time and time and time again.

There never seems to be any kind of finality. So, you know, for this family to go through all of that for all of those years, and then finally yesterday, this amazing discovery that a man walks into the town and declares he's the little boy. He looks like the little boy. He acts like the little boy. He knows the little boy's birthday. It's a eureka moment. And he knows everything about Timothy, the disappearance. It's got to be him. And over all the years, the dad never gave up hope. James Pitson, along with all who knew Amy best, insists that she would never harm Timothy under any circumstances. I know his life. His life's somewhere.

Amy would never do anything to hurt Timothy. Timothy was like her little prince. And he continues to hope that someday, soon he will get another knock on the door, this time with the best news of his life. I every day get up and check my phone and wait for the detective to say, hey, we found Timothy here. It's going to be a glorious day when he comes home. Just can't wait. It's going to be happy. I'm going to cry a lot.

I'm going to cry a lot when he comes home. That's Timothy's dad with our friends at Crime Watch Daily. I mean, Mark Klass, I don't know if you've ever had these dreams or even dreamed it in your waking moments, but that dream where Polly comes back and you see her. You see her again and you're with her again. I've dreamed that about Keith, my fiance. And that sounds like what Timothy's dad dreamed. It's so heartbreaking.

It is a dream that you have. And it turns out that it's the only way that you can really have a conversation with your loved one that is passed on. It's absolutely the only way. And these are the kind of dreams that first startle you. And then finally, you accept exactly what's going on. and you start having that communication. But I'll tell you what, Nancy, over time, even those fade. And it becomes more and more a sense of the child that you nurtured and loved and hoped so much for. The hope ultimately starts to fade. It doesn't disappear, but it begins like a big, wide boulevard. And by the time you get to a certain point, it's like you're teetering on a fine thread, just hoping beyond hope that something's going to happen

and that you're going to be able to recover what you had lost. And then our friends at WCPO-TV break the news. Good evening, everyone. Tonight, the FBI is conducting a DNA test trying to determine if a teenager found right here in the tri-state is Timothy Pitson. Pitson actually went missing from northern Illinois back in 2011. Now, multiple police agencies from several states are investigating this case, and the FBI and officers from Aurora, Illinois, are likely in Cincinnati right now.

They're trying to figure out if the teenager's claims are valid. Police found the teenager in Newport this morning after receiving calls from concerned neighbors. He told police he was Timothy Pitson and had escaped from two kidnappers. Wow. Joining me right now, syndicated talk show host Dave Mack. Dave, tell me where he came from. How did they find him? How did he emerge? How did he make himself known? What happened? According to Sharon Hall, Nancy, she lives in Newport, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. She said she saw a young person in a hoodie hanging out on the street at 730 in the morning, claiming that he looked nervous. He seemed a little standoffish she said we literally thought he was going to collapse so she is approached by

this young man okay he says call 9-1-1 i've just escaped from two kidnappers officers arrive the police immediately are getting a report from him he claims he he is the missing Timothy Pitson, and he's got a lot of information. One of the reports, they claim that he had been held against his will. One of the guys was a black curly-haired man wearing a Mountain Dew T-shirt and that he was in a Red Roof Inn just across the bridge in Cincinnati. There was another man with him with a snake tattoo on his arms, very specific that he was a little smaller than the other man. They were in a Ford SUV with Wisconsin license plates. Well, the Newport police Lieutenant Chris Fangman said that

the person that they found was emaciated and in need of medical attention. So they followed standard procedures trying to identify him to verify that he actually was who he claimed to be. You know what, Dave, Matt, you're so right. Take a listen to our friends at WCPO-TV. It's Kirsten Swilley talking to Timmy's grandma. I'm very hopeful that it's him and that he's okay. After years of wondering what happened to her grandson, Alana Anderson's nightmare could be coming to a close. Cautiously hopeful. Very cautiously hopeful.

And if it turns out to be him, will be thrilled. Timothy Pitson is Aurora, Illinois, only missing child case according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a public information officer with Aurora PD tells our sister station what happened here in the Tri State

is a strong lead and the Department is in touch with Pitson's dad. It just tugs at your heart. I'm a little speechless here which is unlike me to a certain extent. Many people here remember when then six-year-old Pitson went missing in 2011. They now hope this family and this community get the answers they've been waiting for. Absolutely my thoughts and prayers are with him for the best outcome for everyone. Anderson hopes he's okay both physically and mentally. He's been in a good place when he was gone and he's going to come back to us.

And if the teen is in fact her grandson, she wants to pass this message along. That we never stopped looking for him, thinking about him, and that we love him and we'll do everything to get him back to a good life. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. You've been saying of all the sightings over the years, this felt like the most promising. It did. So now getting this news today, how is that? It's devastating.

It's like reliving that day all over again. And Timothy's father is devastated once again. As are we. I was very close to Tim. He spent a lot of time here. The last morning I had him, he crawled in bed with me and told me I was the best grandma in the whole wide world. So he's a wonderful little boy and I hope he has the strength of personality to do whatever he needs to do to find us. My prayer has always been that when he was old enough, he would find us if we couldn't find him. Dave Mack, syndicated talk show host.

Mark Klass, Daryl Cohen, Bethany Marshall, Joe Scott Morgan. Devastating. Absolutely devastating. Mark Klass, before I get to the imposter, I mean, I can't even imagine being told that Keith is alive and then find out it's a hoax. And that was a fiance. My children are the closest thing I've ever had, the greatest love I've ever had on earth. And I can't imagine it. You've suffered that when Polly was taken away from you. Excuse me. What do you think this did to Timothy's father? It's it's cruelty bordering on sadism, because, I mean, like I mentioned, you know, you're on a thread of hope. And then this eureka moment occurs, and everything looks exactly perfect. You see the light at the

end of the tunnel. And then to find out it's a hoax. It's devastating. It's psychologically crippling these poor people to have to go through something like that, why would this man do what he did knowing that his hopes would be found out in a very short amount of time? It's just absolutely horrible. To Dave Mack, syndicated talk show host, how did they determine this guy who looks like Timothy, talks like Timothy, walks like Timothy, knows so many details about Timothy and his life and his disappearance. How did they determine it's not him? Nancy, it was very simple. They ran DNA. And this guy had a long time to make this plan. This wasn't something he just created at the spur of the moment trying to get a free meal. This guy plotted and planned this, and I think we know where he was able to do it.

Where? In prison. He spent 14 months in prison in Ohio where he had nothing but time on his hands to study this case, the Timothy Pitson case. He knows he looks young. He's a 23-year-old man named Brian Reaney. He looks 14. When you actually see him, he does look young, but he's got a long, extensive criminal record in Northeast Ohio. He was there when this all happened, so he was intimately familiar with the missing case of Timothy Pitson. So in his time in jail, he had access to the Internet, had plenty of time to study this, and that's how he knew so much information about Timothy Pitson and his disappearance. So he knew his birthday, so he knew so much information about Timothy Pitson and his disappearance. So he knew his birthday. So he knew basic things about Timothy's life.

And he was immediately at 730 in the morning ready to get that on the hook. But he had to know this is the evil part, Nancy. The guy was in the criminal justice system. He knew they had his DNA. He knew they had his fingerprints. He knew he would be found out very quickly. I'm just sick. You said he was in prison.

Dave Mack, what is his criminal history? just sick. You said he was in prison. Dave Mack, what is his criminal history? All right. He's got a long one. In 2017, Brian Rainey threw a party inside a $400,000 Ohio home that was up for sale. It was a model home. He told neighbors he'd planned to buy the house, was going to throw a big party, actually ran a Facebook page, said, we're going to party, bring your own drugs. They did a bunch of damage to the home. He was charged with burglary and vandalism. That's what he was sent to prison for in January of 2018. He was sentenced to 18 months. He served 14 months of that sentence. Now, prior to this, he had a history of bad checks. In 2011, he was pulled over for a simple moving violation,

and he gave out his brother's, his younger brother's identity. The young brother didn't even know about it until a couple of days later when they had a warrant for his arrest. I mean, this guy has done horrible things to his own family, and now he's inflicting this kind of damage, this emotionally devastating story. It just goes beyond comprehension, Nancy. You know what's sticking out in my mind to Dr. Bethany Marshall, and I'm going to follow up with Daryl Cohen, the nature of the crimes. It's not a smash and grab. It's not an armed robbery.

What they are are deceptive crimes, crimes of deception, writing a series of bad checks, making false alarms to law enforcement, faking owning a half a million dollar home and doing $2,000 worth of damage in it, throwing a party with drugs. For instance, he would dial 911 to falsely claim to police his ex-girlfriend was going to commit suicide. Who would come up with a lie like that? Passing bad checks, pled guilty all the way back in 2013 to, quote, falsification. All of his incidents are about lies, Daryl Cohen. And when you do a calendar call with 150 felons like you and I did, you know, me for 10 years, there's a difference between a killer and a smash and grab or a car thief and somebody that commits crimes by deception. Nancy, in many ways, someone who

commits the type of crimes that he has committed far worse than someone who does a smash and grab, someone who does a burglary, a legitimate burglary. What he does is he's tearing the hearts out of people. He's tearing their souls. And what he has done for this young man that's still missing, what he has done to that young man's father is beyond belief and beyond comprehension. And I would love to go back in the DA's office and prosecute him for everything that he has done. Everything. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, what does this mean?

All of his history are crimes by deception and lying and fabricating and falsifying. Well, to me, it seems like shallow, thrill-seeking behavior. In every single crime, he has something to gain, but what he's trying to gain is very impulsive, momentary. It's a quick, cheap thrill that will never pay off in the long run. Look, someone goes in and robs a bank. They're going to take $100,000. They're going to hold on to that. They're going to spend it over a course of time and hope not to get caught. You give out your brother's identity or you throw a party in a $400,000 home or you pretend to be a missing little boy. What are you getting?

In this case, he's getting the cheap thrill of the attention of the police. Yeah, I've been trying to figure out what he wanted. But Joe Scott Morgan, I don't care how great of a fake he is dna doesn't lie ever no it doesn't nancy and it's it's a solid backstop that we have now that we haven't had in the past this is a case where if folks at home will just think about its basic paternity uh when it comes down to it you know they've they've got DNA on file through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The FBI have access to it. It is a backstop that stops this kind of thing. To Mark Klass, founder of Klass Kids Foundation, that leaves us at the beginning.

Where is Timothy? they? Well, Nancy, the cryptic nature of her final notes, I think we're almost the nail in the coffin. I mean, of course I can be wrong. Of course, children continue to be found and recovered and brought back to their families. But this family has been subjected to such evil and such cruelty over such a long period of time now. I only hope that they can get an answer that brings them finality, whatever that answer is, whether they discover the remains of the little boy or whether, in fact, another young man comes forward in the coming years or coming days or coming weeks and turns out to actually be Timothy. But they deserve closure. The family says their prayer is and has always been that one day when Timothy is old enough, he will find his family. Nancy, we're just now getting

new information from the FBI and federal prosecutors in Cincinnati about Brian Rennie. They are charging him with lying to the FBI and the FBI releasing an arrest affidavit with details, including that Rennie told investigators he got the idea to pose as Timothy Pitson after seeing a 2020 segment on the case. And he said he'd always wanted to have a father like Timothy's. Now let's listen to U.S. District Attorney Benjamin Glassman. The DNA test that was the buccal swab that had been extracted from him was submitted from the FBI to the Hamilton County Coroner's Office, which was able to turn around a quick analysis of that swab and comparison of that DNA to the DNA of Timothy Pitson's parents indicated that the person in question

was not, in fact, Timothy Pitson. So then yesterday, FBI agents returned to talk again to the individual claiming to be Timothy Pitson. They identified themselves to him as an FBI agent. They administered Miranda warnings. They warned him that lying to a federal agent is a violation of federal law. Nevertheless, he again repeated that he was Timothy Pitson and had escaped from a hotel where he had been held captive. Then law enforcement confronted him with the DNA results, and at that point, the person immediately stated that he was not Timothy Pitson, and of course law enforcement knew by virtue of the DNA analysis that he was, in fact, Brian Rini.

Further investigation by law enforcement indicated that Rini had actually, on two prior occasions, claimed to be a victim of juvenile sex trafficking and that on those occasions he had been discovered – his true identity had been discovered when he had been fingerprinted. Based on all of that information, the United States has proceeded to file a federal criminal charge against Brian Rini for lying to a federal agent within the jurisdiction of the United States. The crime in this case is punishable by up to eight years in federal prison because it does involve lying with respect to a material matter about an investigation that involves sex trafficking of children. I want to say that first that on behalf of the United

States my heart goes out to the family of Timothy Pitson. I can only imagine the kind of pain that they have been through and that this episode has caused for them. Mr. Rini appeared in federal court on this charge about 45 minutes ago. At the United States request, he was held without bond at the current time, and he will have a detention hearing on Tuesday. So I'm going to yield the podium momentarily to Acting Special Agent in Charge Sableton and then to Special Agent in Charge Brown and Hamilton County Coroner Samarco. After they've had an opportunity to make comments, I will return and answer any questions you have. The only additional point that I want to make before yielding the podium is that the investigation with respect to Mr. Rini remains open and ongoing. So if anyone who is watching has additional information with respect to his information about him or his immediate whereabouts prior to being encountered by the Newport police asked

them to contact FBI Cincinnati with that I will yield the podium to mr. Stapleton on Wednesday April 3rd 2019 Newport Kentucky police responded to a report of a male acting suspiciously this individual as, as Mr. Glassman said, allegedly claimed to be Timothy Pitson, who had been missing since 2011 from Aurora, Illinois, and he also made statements about being abducted and trafficked and sex trafficked, a victim of sex trafficking. The individual was taken to a local hospital for treatment, including an interview with a forensic psychologist, and for confirmation of his identity. While our agents and other law enforcement partners were skeptical that this person was who he claimed to be, we felt that it was our duty to the victims and the family of Timothy Pitson

to follow up all logical leads with respect to this case and do our best to confirm or discount the identity of the person claiming to be Timothy Pitson. After scientific testing to determine if the identity of the individual matched the DNA from Timothy Pitson, the results determined it was not the same person. And a further search of the DNA database revealed that the individual encountered in Newport was actually Brian Reaney, an adult from Medina, Ohio. Clearly, false reports like this one can be painful to the families of missing children. And they also divert valuable law

enforcement resources in order to investigate untruthful claims. Law enforcement takes dishonest reports very seriously. And as these charges today show so does the united states attorney's office and we caution that people making false claims can and will face criminal penalties for their uh for their false claims keep updated on this story and others on nancy's crime and justice website crimeonline.com. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.