Disappearance of Timmothy Pitzen

On May 11, 2011, Timmothy James Pitzen was dropped off at school in Aurora, Illinois by his father James "Jim" Pitzen, however he was picked up shortly after by his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, who took him on a three-day trip to various amusement and water parks, before she was found dead by suicide in a motel room in the nearby town of Rockford, Illinois, with a note stating that Timmothy was safe, but would never be found. He remains missing.

Disappearance and investigation

Timmothy was born in Aurora, Illinois to parents James "Jim" Pitzen and Amy Joan Marie Fry-Pitzen in 2005. On May 11, 2011, his father dropped him off at his kindergarten class at Greenman Elementary School, however his mother checked him out of class at between 8:10 and 8:15 AM CDT, citing a non-existent family emergency. She dropped off her vehicle at a repair shop at 10:00 AM. An employee of the shop drove Pitzen and her son to the Brookfield Zoo. They returned and retrieved their vehicle at 3:00 PM, and drove to the KeyLime Cove Resort in Gurnee, Illinois, at which they spent the night. The next morning, the pair drove to the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and were spotted in security footage in the checkout line at 10:00 AM the next day. At 1:30 PM, Amy Pitzen phoned several family members, including her mother and brother-in-law, telling them that she and Timmothy were safe and not in any danger, however she failed to contact her husband, who had been attempting to locate the pair after being notified by his son's school that he was not present when he arrived to pick him up at the end of the school day on May 11. Timmothy was overheard saying that he was hungry in the background of one of these phone calls. That was the last anyone saw or heard from him. Amy Pitzen was seen on security cameras at a dollar store (where she purchased stationary) and at a grocery store, both in Rockford, Illinois at 7:25 PM that evening, however she was alone at the time. Following this, she checked into the Rockford Inn, where sometime that night or the next morning, she took her own life by slashing her wrists and neck, as well as having taken an overdose of Antihistamines. Her lifeless body was found the morning of May 13, by a hotel maid, along with a note in which she apologized for the mess she had created, as well as explaining that Timmothy was safe, with people who would care for him, and that he would never be found. A similar note was also mailed to her mother from the hotel. Police found that the knife she used to kill herself contained only her blood, and that blood found in her car belonging to Timmothy was from a nosebleed he incurred previous to these events. It was also found that her cellular phone was missing. An examination of her vehicle revealed that it had been parked in a grassy area, possibly near a stream, but close to a highway once treated with glass road making beads for a length of time, as well. It is thought that perhaps Timmothy was handed off to person(s) unknown there, however his car seat was not taken. In 2013, Amy Pitzen's cellular phone was located beside Route 78, but shed no light on the case, which remains active to this day. It is thought that Amy Pitzen, who suffered from depression and had rarely left their home for long periods of time, decided to take Timmothy on one last vacation, before she would end her life, and he would disappear. James Pitzen, as well as his family and investigators, do not believe that Amy Pitzen would have harmed Timmothy herself, given her immense love for him, as well as the possible mental illness motivation to this case, and therefore it is believed that Timmothy is likely still alive. The case was broadcast on the American television series Live PD, in the "Missing" segment of the August 25, 2018 episode, with special guest Angeline Hartmann of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who showed viewers a band-new age progression photograph of Timmothy, now age 13.^[1][2][3]

References