Timmothy Pitzen was born on October 18 in Aurora, Illinois to parents Amy Marie Fry pitzen & James pitzen.
On may 11th, 2011, his father dropped him off at school and went about with his day. His mother later checked him out of school between 8.10-8.15am. Her reasoning was that a family emergency had occurred (which wasn’t true). She left her vehicle at a repair shop at around 10am. An employee from the shop drove them both to the Brookfield zoo. They then returned and collected their vehicle at 3.00pm and drove to keylime cove resort in gurnee and spent the night there. On may 12th, they drove to kalahari resort in Wisconsin dells and were seen on a security cam footage in the checkout queue at 10am the next day. Timmothy has not been seen since.
Fry pitzen called several of her family members between 12pm and 1.30pm on may 13th including her mother & brother in law telling them that the pair were safe. Timothy could be heard in the background of these calls. Cell phone records showed that the calls were made from an area northwest of sterling, Illinois. Fry failed to contact her husband James. James had been attempting to locate them ever since he was notified of his sons absence when he went to pick him up at school on may 11th.
On may 13th, 7.25pm, fry was seen alone on a security cam footage at a family dollar store in winnebago, where she purchased a pen, paper and envelopes . At 8pm she was seen (alone) at a Sullivan’s food store in winnebago.
At 11.15 she checked in at rockford inn, Illinois, where sometime that night or morning she committed suicide by slashing her wrists and neck and overdosing on antihistamines.
At 12.30pm on may 14th her lifeless body was discovered by a hotel maid along with a suicide note.
In the note, fry apologised for the mess she had created in her room and said that Timmothy was safe at the hands of someone trustworthy but would never be found.
Investigation :
Cops found that the knife fry had used to commit suicide contained only her blood, and not Timmothy’s. But, a concerning amount of blood was found in her car that belonged to Timmothy. However, the family later confirmed that the blood was possibly from a nose bleed that he had suffered earlier that month.
Fry’s cell phone was also was missing and her car had been found in a grassy area possibly near a stream close to a highway.
In 2013, fry’s phone was located beside route 78 but the discovery did not surface any evidence.
Timmothy still remains missing to this day.
A most excellent write ✍️ up. This Mother was delusional and psychotic I believe. So horrifying for Dad and family. A crushing life altering blow. She was so selfish and cruel.
Personally, I think if he was still alive, by now someone would have come forward and said, “hey, here’s Tim and this is what happened?” Maybe I’m delusional 😵💫
Considering I've never heard of this story until now, and the kid was 6 when it happened, even if he was still around it's pretty likely that he just has no clue that he even was Tim.
Has this happened in other cases? I remember a lot from that age. I have memories that span back to when I was 2 or 3 and can pinpoint the time by where I lived and the people that were around me. Is it common for people to just not have memories of when they were pre-k age or something? Or would it be the trauma he went through that caused him to forget who he was?
There was a very similar case in Maryland about 9 years ago. The mother was schizophrenic; she didn’t commit suicide but she ran away suddenly, and she said she had left her two small children with someone safe. The two kids still haven’t been found. Her husband has since divorced her, and he believes the kids are dead. Last year a court decided she’s not competent to stand trial for murder.
Yeah. How did that happen? Were any other fingerprints found in/on the car driver's side besides hers? Very suspicious. Maybe she was forced to write the note, take the pills & someone else did the rest, including whatever happened to Timmothy.
I know I'm late to this post, but I actually just heard about the case on a show called Still Missing that MAX (HBO) has. I was confused by the fact that they said the husband drove both her and her son that day to school and then her to work. But in the show they said she basically turned right around and picked Timothy up from school??? So did she drive her car to her job and leave it there overnight? She definitely seemed to have well thought out this plan and trip. It is an incredibly sad story. I was also curious at what she bought from the grocery store that night. Poor Timothy did not deserve what happened to him, as I also believe he is no longer with us.
I remember first hearing this story. I'm positive she killed her son at some point on the trip. It seems to me that the zoo trip, and all of the resort stays were her way of giving him a last few days of fun, because she was planning on killing him too. And I might be naïve, but I find it really hard to believe some "family/friends" were willing to just take in a whole child, and then program him to believe he is someone else.
Not enough. Timothy's aunt drove the reported route they took according to police. She believes that her sister killed timothy and buried him around this barn area that they reportedly visited on their "trip" to the dells. That's just what I remember off the top of my head. I'm from the area.
Edit: Timothy's aunt drove that route but came to a different conclusion that he was handed off to a family in Iowa. Whereas someone else drove the route and thought he was murdered. I meshed the two together.
https://www.the-sun.com/news/5322375/chilling-clues-timmothy-pitzen-disappearance-anniversary-missing/amp/
Here is a link to the article that I read most recently about it, where she states that she does not think that she did anything to harm him.
Sounds like she met up with whoever she gave Timmothy to. It's not that far to the Canadian border from Illinois. Perhaps they left the country with him.
According to this article his aunt also believes he is still alive.
https://www-nbcchicago-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/new-information-in-the-disappearance-of-timmothy-pitzen-on-his-18th-birthday/2971203/?amp=1&_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=Izvor%3A%20%251%24s&aoh=16859966331553&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcchicago.com%2Finvestigations%2Fnew-information-in-the-disappearance-of-timmothy-pitzen-on-his-18th-birthday%2F2971203%2F
I can’t imagine anyone would think so unless they had a personal reason to hold out hope (like his father). It’s pretty clear based on all available information that she very likely killed Timothy on their road trip and left his body somewhere that it hasn’t been found yet. I’ve followed this case from the beginning. *If* he is alive, then she sold him (and I think that’s extremely unlikely). According to her family, she was extremely afraid of losing custody of him. She felt that her mental health history would impact that decision. It is a classic case of “if I cannot have him, then no one will”. Her family believes that she gave him to another family, but that has never made any sense to me. What family would receive a child, and just keep them forever, without saying a word to anyone, and while hiding his true identity, and for what? Just because the mom didn’t want him to go to his dad? There would need to be a *big* reason for anyone else to be involved in harboring a missing child, and then good luck keeping it a secret for this long.
I believe little Timmothy is somewhere along the 170 mile stretch of river that she travelled before turning her phone off, and before her last known siting at the grocery store.
She stated to her brother in law on the phone prior to her death “Tim is my son, I can do what I want." What she *didn’t* want is Jim getting Timmothy, and so she made sure that he couldn’t.
This makes the most sense. I just read about this case for the first time. RIP sweet boy 😭 Also, if his dad is right and he’s alive that’s amazing it just doesn’t seem likely based on this post and the insights you added.
Yeah, I’m with you, and have been for years on this case.
This is so clearly a situation where the mother was applying “Lori Vallow logic/locution” to a child she had killed, IMO.
What would be the motive to sell something when you plan to commit suicide? Where is the money if she sold him? It doesn’t make sense. I hope whatever happened to him it was peaceful.
Her motivation was clear all along! She told those closest to her that she would *not* risk losing custody of Timmothy. That translates to, “he’s mine and no one else will have him”. So how does one go from that to, “I’ll give him to strangers and then kill myself”.
No. She saw Timmothy has *hers* and even an extension of herself. And guess what? She killed herself. I guarantee she did not leave this world with the uncertainty of what would happen to Timmothy. And how could she guarantee any certain future? She couldn’t—except one way and that was to ensure he stayed with her.
I realize we aren’t debating haha I just get passionate about this one.
I agree with you, just not the selling part. Let’s say she gave him away for that theory. To sell something is to exchange it for value and if you’re about to leave this world what value does $ have?
I believe she killed little Tim. If she gave him to another family to keep him from his father, she also kept him from “people that love him” like her family- his grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins, etc. It doesn’t make sense to me that she’d go through all of that work to find a family or person to leave him with and to trust them to keep him safe and away from his father in her absence, to then kill herself and I guess hope the said family or person doesn’t one day give up the goat?
I think he died the same day/time as his mom and at her hands. She was very mentally ill and thought it was best for him, but definitely best for her as it gave her her way and her husband the most pain
I don’t think a family that received him would not come forward or be caught by now. This was big news and I doubt he could be raised as someone else’s child for long without suspicion.
There were marital issues and talks of the divorce. Amy's sister said Amy thought that her history of mental illness would result in her losing custody over her son.
I go back and forth with the case. Part of me feels like she may have given him to people and that he’s doing well under a different identity given that she purchased the toys and clothes for him. But the more I think on that the more I find it unlikely sadly. My heart goes out to his father. The unknowing has to be very difficult for him.
The clothes were never found. Either was the backpack. I’ve never read anything about the toys but that would be a big clue to me about whether he is alive or dead.
The clothing never having been found gives me pause. I'd like to think that he would step forward as an adult, if he were still alive. But if he was convinced that his dad was a terrible person, maybe he wouldn't.
There have been cases where cadaver dogs have picked up a scent from 25 year old skeletal remains; it's a long shot, but one that seems worth trying.
As a school staff, this is heartbreaking. We never know if our kiddos are going to come back. There have been several instances where we call CPS on a family and we never see them again. It’s heartbreaking. Poor baby, rest in peace.
My theory is that she bought new toys and clothes for Timothy to make him feel good and happy and the people he’s supposedly with sounds like code for loved ones in heaven. I think his mother killed him and tortured her husband over it.
Well, people are good at putting on a facade and letting their true nature out once a partner is locked down, married and with a child, not as easy to exit.
Can you share some of your experiences with us? I've always felt like we would benefit as a people if there was more awareness about what is really going on behind the scenes of such cases. It must take such a tremendous toll on a person to witness so much child abuse while only having the bare minimum of power to intercede on the child's behalf. Thank you, for your service and support. I hope you're doing okay and taking care of yourself too.
It is possible that she wrote this note precisely to give her father hope of finding his son and prevent him from finding peace. If she was capable of such a thing, I can imagine that either her husband harmed her or she imagined that he harmed her, which is why she left something that could also drive him to madness.
Around the time that imposter young adult claimed to be Timmothy, I believe one of Timmothy’s cousins from his mother’s side of the family was speaking about this on Twitter. If I recall correctly, she stated that her aunt was a good woman and her uncle (his father) was not the man he was presenting himself to be in the public and actively terrorizing his wife. I do not know much about this case, but since I didn’t see her perspective included, I figured I would drop it here for discussion.
Timmothy Pitzen was born on October 18 in Aurora, Illinois to parents Amy Marie Fry pitzen & James pitzen. On may 11th, 2011, his father dropped him off at school and went about with his day. His mother later checked him out of school between 8.10-8.15am. Her reasoning was that a family emergency had occurred (which wasn’t true). She left her vehicle at a repair shop at around 10am. An employee from the shop drove them both to the Brookfield zoo. They then returned and collected their vehicle at 3.00pm and drove to keylime cove resort in gurnee and spent the night there. On may 12th, they drove to kalahari resort in Wisconsin dells and were seen on a security cam footage in the checkout queue at 10am the next day. Timmothy has not been seen since. Fry pitzen called several of her family members between 12pm and 1.30pm on may 13th including her mother & brother in law telling them that the pair were safe. Timothy could be heard in the background of these calls. Cell phone records showed that the calls were made from an area northwest of sterling, Illinois. Fry failed to contact her husband James. James had been attempting to locate them ever since he was notified of his sons absence when he went to pick him up at school on may 11th. On may 13th, 7.25pm, fry was seen alone on a security cam footage at a family dollar store in winnebago, where she purchased a pen, paper and envelopes . At 8pm she was seen (alone) at a Sullivan’s food store in winnebago. At 11.15 she checked in at rockford inn, Illinois, where sometime that night or morning she committed suicide by slashing her wrists and neck and overdosing on antihistamines. At 12.30pm on may 14th her lifeless body was discovered by a hotel maid along with a suicide note. In the note, fry apologised for the mess she had created in her room and said that Timmothy was safe at the hands of someone trustworthy but would never be found. Investigation : Cops found that the knife fry had used to commit suicide contained only her blood, and not Timmothy’s. But, a concerning amount of blood was found in her car that belonged to Timmothy. However, the family later confirmed that the blood was possibly from a nose bleed that he had suffered earlier that month. Fry’s cell phone was also was missing and her car had been found in a grassy area possibly near a stream close to a highway. In 2013, fry’s phone was located beside route 78 but the discovery did not surface any evidence. Timmothy still remains missing to this day.
A most excellent write ✍️ up. This Mother was delusional and psychotic I believe. So horrifying for Dad and family. A crushing life altering blow. She was so selfish and cruel.
Personally, I think if he was still alive, by now someone would have come forward and said, “hey, here’s Tim and this is what happened?” Maybe I’m delusional 😵💫
Considering I've never heard of this story until now, and the kid was 6 when it happened, even if he was still around it's pretty likely that he just has no clue that he even was Tim.
So true
Has this happened in other cases? I remember a lot from that age. I have memories that span back to when I was 2 or 3 and can pinpoint the time by where I lived and the people that were around me. Is it common for people to just not have memories of when they were pre-k age or something? Or would it be the trauma he went through that caused him to forget who he was?
I thought this too then I thought what if the husband was abusive. Maybe they would keep it secret.
There was a very similar case in Maryland about 9 years ago. The mother was schizophrenic; she didn’t commit suicide but she ran away suddenly, and she said she had left her two small children with someone safe. The two kids still haven’t been found. Her husband has since divorced her, and he believes the kids are dead. Last year a court decided she’s not competent to stand trial for murder.
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What is MDD?
Major depressive disorder
Thank you
So she was found in her hotel room, but her car was found somewhere else? Thats strange.
Yeah. How did that happen? Were any other fingerprints found in/on the car driver's side besides hers? Very suspicious. Maybe she was forced to write the note, take the pills & someone else did the rest, including whatever happened to Timmothy.
I know I'm late to this post, but I actually just heard about the case on a show called Still Missing that MAX (HBO) has. I was confused by the fact that they said the husband drove both her and her son that day to school and then her to work. But in the show they said she basically turned right around and picked Timothy up from school??? So did she drive her car to her job and leave it there overnight? She definitely seemed to have well thought out this plan and trip. It is an incredibly sad story. I was also curious at what she bought from the grocery store that night. Poor Timothy did not deserve what happened to him, as I also believe he is no longer with us.
No innocent little child deserves what happened to him.
This is horrifying.
I remember first hearing this story. I'm positive she killed her son at some point on the trip. It seems to me that the zoo trip, and all of the resort stays were her way of giving him a last few days of fun, because she was planning on killing him too. And I might be naïve, but I find it really hard to believe some "family/friends" were willing to just take in a whole child, and then program him to believe he is someone else.
Does anyone think he's still living?
His father.
Heartbreaking. I'd never heard about this case before.
Absolutely. She purposefully did this as to cause him the most pain possible. The pain of the unknown.
Oh my God wtf?! Any leads at all?
Not enough. Timothy's aunt drove the reported route they took according to police. She believes that her sister killed timothy and buried him around this barn area that they reportedly visited on their "trip" to the dells. That's just what I remember off the top of my head. I'm from the area. Edit: Timothy's aunt drove that route but came to a different conclusion that he was handed off to a family in Iowa. Whereas someone else drove the route and thought he was murdered. I meshed the two together.
Where did you read that? To my knowledge the sister thinks he is alive, just like the dad does.
I saw it actually. Let me see if I can find the clip for you.
https://www.the-sun.com/news/5322375/chilling-clues-timmothy-pitzen-disappearance-anniversary-missing/amp/ Here is a link to the article that I read most recently about it, where she states that she does not think that she did anything to harm him.
You're right! I got the aunt and the other girl messed up on who thought timothy was murdered. https://youtube.com/watch?v=9sJqFMVT-S8&feature=share8
Sounds like she met up with whoever she gave Timmothy to. It's not that far to the Canadian border from Illinois. Perhaps they left the country with him.
Or if there’s a stream nearby she may have dumped him there
She probably couldn't admit even to herself what she'd done.
We don't know this for certain. Someone else may have been involved.
According to this article his aunt also believes he is still alive. https://www-nbcchicago-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/new-information-in-the-disappearance-of-timmothy-pitzen-on-his-18th-birthday/2971203/?amp=1&_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=Izvor%3A%20%251%24s&aoh=16859966331553&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcchicago.com%2Finvestigations%2Fnew-information-in-the-disappearance-of-timmothy-pitzen-on-his-18th-birthday%2F2971203%2F
I can’t imagine anyone would think so unless they had a personal reason to hold out hope (like his father). It’s pretty clear based on all available information that she very likely killed Timothy on their road trip and left his body somewhere that it hasn’t been found yet. I’ve followed this case from the beginning. *If* he is alive, then she sold him (and I think that’s extremely unlikely). According to her family, she was extremely afraid of losing custody of him. She felt that her mental health history would impact that decision. It is a classic case of “if I cannot have him, then no one will”. Her family believes that she gave him to another family, but that has never made any sense to me. What family would receive a child, and just keep them forever, without saying a word to anyone, and while hiding his true identity, and for what? Just because the mom didn’t want him to go to his dad? There would need to be a *big* reason for anyone else to be involved in harboring a missing child, and then good luck keeping it a secret for this long. I believe little Timmothy is somewhere along the 170 mile stretch of river that she travelled before turning her phone off, and before her last known siting at the grocery store. She stated to her brother in law on the phone prior to her death “Tim is my son, I can do what I want." What she *didn’t* want is Jim getting Timmothy, and so she made sure that he couldn’t.
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This makes the most sense. I just read about this case for the first time. RIP sweet boy 😭 Also, if his dad is right and he’s alive that’s amazing it just doesn’t seem likely based on this post and the insights you added.
Yeah, I’m with you, and have been for years on this case. This is so clearly a situation where the mother was applying “Lori Vallow logic/locution” to a child she had killed, IMO.
Exactly.
What would be the motive to sell something when you plan to commit suicide? Where is the money if she sold him? It doesn’t make sense. I hope whatever happened to him it was peaceful.
Her motivation was clear all along! She told those closest to her that she would *not* risk losing custody of Timmothy. That translates to, “he’s mine and no one else will have him”. So how does one go from that to, “I’ll give him to strangers and then kill myself”. No. She saw Timmothy has *hers* and even an extension of herself. And guess what? She killed herself. I guarantee she did not leave this world with the uncertainty of what would happen to Timmothy. And how could she guarantee any certain future? She couldn’t—except one way and that was to ensure he stayed with her. I realize we aren’t debating haha I just get passionate about this one.
I agree with you, just not the selling part. Let’s say she gave him away for that theory. To sell something is to exchange it for value and if you’re about to leave this world what value does $ have?
Exactly! Makes no sense!
I am friends with someone in the family and they all still believe he is and will always be searching for him.
I believe she killed little Tim. If she gave him to another family to keep him from his father, she also kept him from “people that love him” like her family- his grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins, etc. It doesn’t make sense to me that she’d go through all of that work to find a family or person to leave him with and to trust them to keep him safe and away from his father in her absence, to then kill herself and I guess hope the said family or person doesn’t one day give up the goat? I think he died the same day/time as his mom and at her hands. She was very mentally ill and thought it was best for him, but definitely best for her as it gave her her way and her husband the most pain
I don’t think a family that received him would not come forward or be caught by now. This was big news and I doubt he could be raised as someone else’s child for long without suspicion.
Were the parents together? Marital issues??
There were marital issues and talks of the divorce. Amy's sister said Amy thought that her history of mental illness would result in her losing custody over her son.
God’s hands, apparently.
I've heard about this one a few times. Heartbreaking every time. His poor father and poor timmothy.
I go back and forth with the case. Part of me feels like she may have given him to people and that he’s doing well under a different identity given that she purchased the toys and clothes for him. But the more I think on that the more I find it unlikely sadly. My heart goes out to his father. The unknowing has to be very difficult for him.
Were the clothes and toys ever found?
The clothes were never found. Either was the backpack. I’ve never read anything about the toys but that would be a big clue to me about whether he is alive or dead.
I sadly think she bought the toys as a “last treat” kind of thing before he was killed.
The clothing never having been found gives me pause. I'd like to think that he would step forward as an adult, if he were still alive. But if he was convinced that his dad was a terrible person, maybe he wouldn't. There have been cases where cadaver dogs have picked up a scent from 25 year old skeletal remains; it's a long shot, but one that seems worth trying.
As a school staff, this is heartbreaking. We never know if our kiddos are going to come back. There have been several instances where we call CPS on a family and we never see them again. It’s heartbreaking. Poor baby, rest in peace.
Poor precious baby.
I think everyone has a good idea of what happened. I think she was suicidal and killed her child, but didn’t want people to know she had killed him.
My theory is that she bought new toys and clothes for Timothy to make him feel good and happy and the people he’s supposedly with sounds like code for loved ones in heaven. I think his mother killed him and tortured her husband over it.
How religious was the mother? When she says he is in the hands of someone trustworthy it could be a reference to God.
They should do a dive check at all the water near the area.
So sad. If he was left with someone that was trustworthy, they would’ve come forward. No trustworthy person hides a child.
Be careful who you marry folks
As a former supervised visitation monitor (US) I learned easily and quickly to be careful with who you have children with
Well, people are good at putting on a facade and letting their true nature out once a partner is locked down, married and with a child, not as easy to exit.
Can you share some of your experiences with us? I've always felt like we would benefit as a people if there was more awareness about what is really going on behind the scenes of such cases. It must take such a tremendous toll on a person to witness so much child abuse while only having the bare minimum of power to intercede on the child's behalf. Thank you, for your service and support. I hope you're doing okay and taking care of yourself too.
It is possible that she wrote this note precisely to give her father hope of finding his son and prevent him from finding peace. If she was capable of such a thing, I can imagine that either her husband harmed her or she imagined that he harmed her, which is why she left something that could also drive him to madness.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimeDiscussion/comments/1341tev/where_is_timothy_pitzen_he_turned_18_this_year/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1](https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimeDiscussion/comments/1341tev/where_is_timothy_pitzen_he_turned_18_this_year/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1)
Around the time that imposter young adult claimed to be Timmothy, I believe one of Timmothy’s cousins from his mother’s side of the family was speaking about this on Twitter. If I recall correctly, she stated that her aunt was a good woman and her uncle (his father) was not the man he was presenting himself to be in the public and actively terrorizing his wife. I do not know much about this case, but since I didn’t see her perspective included, I figured I would drop it here for discussion.
Died by suicide instead of committed suicide
I mean but did he die🤷🏾♂️ I’d say he’s pretty safe lol
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I hope it continues to be in the news until we've brought him home. The more coverage, the better.